10 Best Enemy AI In Video Games

4. Ghosts - Pac-Man

Resident evil 7 marguerite
Namco

Look, hear me out.

Pac-Man looks, plays, and sounds like an antique, but it has a remarkably complex set of rules that covertly govern its AI. What, you thought the enemies of everyone's favourite split tennis ball just recklessly hunted their prey with wild abandon? Well yes, but also no. Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde (don't ask which one is which) all have distinct laws that govern their behaviour.

If Pac-Man nibbles on a Power Pellet and triggers Scatter mode, the quartet of ghosties will all scarper to the same locations every time. Those are the basics; some board states — like Pac-Man guzzling a specific number of pellets — will piss Blinky off something fierce and send them into 'Angry' mode. Clyde, something of an introvert, will gravitate toward his quarters in the lower left if not actively on the hunt.

Don't believe me? Literal essays dissecting the intricacies of Ghost movement down to a specific pixel are out there. Namco's '80s gaming icon is the definition of easy to learn; difficult to master.

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.