Bot: Jumbot
Author:: Rich 'TheFatal' Whitehouse
Version: 0.95
Reviewer: Cube
Date: 25/11/99
Sadly the Half-Life bot scene has never seemed to gain as much following from bot authors as other games have, and the number of bots for the game have been few and far between (which is not to say there aren't thousands out there wanting them).
However, there is one Half-Life bot that has flourished regardless of other factors, Rich Whitehouse's Jumbot. In some ways it could be said that the Jumbot (and Rich) have been
the centre of the Half-Life bot community, the bot having gathered an excellent following which doesn't look like receding.
The latest release is 0.95, and Jumbot development has now slowed down considerably, as TheFatal moves into a paying job in the games industry.
The bot is able to play Deathmatch, Teamplay and Co-Operative play (although in the last case there are certain limitations) and by now all have been thoroughly tweaked for the bot.
First impressions on installing the bot were good, I was quickly into a deathmatch with a couple of bots, only having to use one console command more than I would normally do to start a standard deathmatch game.
And so I proceeded to have a fairly enjoyable deathmatch for ten minutes, although since Half-Life deathmatch isn't my strongpoint it was harder than I might of expected.
My initial problem with the bot was that with a number of bots in the level (around seven) I noticed that gameplay was choppy, not very choppy admittedly, but I could definitely tell the difference.
However I did have a bit of salvation; there are various commands included with the Jumbot to turn off more advanced features, to speed up the game. With one of these changed all choppiness was virtually eliminated
and I could down to setting up the bot more to my liking.
There are a *lot* of options available for those who want to play around with settings of the bots, but to start with I just set about changing some of the bot settings in the configuration file used by the bots.
This allows for changing of the bot's model and the two changeable colours used on the model, plus an option for setting an individual skill. I didn't venture into some of the other options yet, preferring to play a bit more with standard settings.
Playing against the Jumbot is a good experience, the bots move quite smoothly and tend to spread around the level well. They have a small problem in that bots can occasionally get stuck facing a wall and consequently stop moving.
This naturally leads to an easy kill but it is rather unfortunate as apart from this the movement and navigation is very good. Jumbot does use waypoint files and there are two ways they can be generated. It can either be done automatically (no placing of nodes by the player) or manually, the latter of which takes longer but should give better
results. Time does become a factor on the larger levels though as it can take an age to get everything in place.
In combat the bots behave very well, appearing to use circle strafing, and definitely taking use of aim leading and other tricks that lead to them being a very formidable opponent, even with the lowly Glock.
They are perhaps a little to good with some of the lower weapons, and it can be very frustrating if a glock-wielding bot is able to kill you while you desperately try to target your RPG.
Having said that once you get used to the bots it does become easier (and feels fairer), and what's more it is enjoyable. Magnum fights are especially enjoyable (as long as you have good aim!).
Some weapons are not supported that well, or at all. Grenade/Det Pack usage is a little low for my liking and due to the nature of how trip bombs are used they are a no-go with bots. With the other weapons though
the bot is adept at using them, including the various secondary fire modes.
As well as Deathmatch, Teamplay and Co-Operative are also supported. Teamplay (or Team Deathmatch as it should really be called) is great fun, perhaps more so than Deathmatch, and on the bigger maps it leads
to big battles, and with the firepower available carnage usually ensues. It is a shame that there aren't any more team-orientated game mods available, as I'm sure the bot (if adapted) would be excellent at a game such as Team Fortress Classic (which, of course, would
necessitate the release of the TFC source code). I'm not a fan of Co-Operative personally, and I didn't really play it long enough to form any lasting impressions. As you cannot play it using the Half-Life single player maps all that is at your disposal are user-made maps, that
can only be of one unit.
As well as the three gamemodes there are several other features available for the user to activate, including the hilarious crowbar-only mode.
The options for tweaking the bot are, as mentioned above, a large number so it could take some time to find that ideal mix, and a lot of them do have a fair degree of effect on gameplay.
I think my biggest complaint regarding the Jumbot would have to be speed of the bots. Even with some tweaking I still have the definite feeling that there is a
definite speed drop when playing against bots. Whether this is due to the bot itself or the troublesome engine used by Half-Life remains to be seen, but it is certainly off-putting.
The Jumbot is obviously an excellent achievement, and even without much competition to compare it to it is obvious that TheFatal has done a superb job on the bot and if it weren't
for the slowdown and odd navigational errors I think it would've got near or above 90%. It is the standard for future Half-Life bots (of which we hope there will be more) to be set against.
Score: 83%
