With 'investigate' the enemies have peripheral vision just like humans. When Drake enters this peripheral vision the enemies will look over in the direction they think they saw him in and depending on how long he was in this vision cone, they may just look or they may walk over and check out what they think they saw.

With the 'hunt' behaviour the enemies have already spotted Drake and are in combat with him. While in combat the enemies make certain assumptions on where Drake is based on his last known location.

If they lose eye contact with Drake for a few seconds, one or more enemies will start hunting around the area, starting with his last known location, and then spread their search out if he's not found.

If they are to hunt for Drake they'll need the ability to climb on the environment, jump across gaps, and drop down from ledges to get to him. The benefit to this was our combat wasn't limited to flat terrain anymore.

With 'investigate' the enemies have peripheral vision just like humans. When Drake enters this peripheral vision the enemies will look over in the direction they think they saw him in and depending on how long he was in this vision cone, they may just look or they may walk over and check out what they think they saw.

With the 'hunt' behaviour the enemies have already spotted Drake and are in combat with him. While in combat the enemies make certain assumptions on where Drake is based on his last known location.

If they lose eye contact with Drake for a few seconds, one or more enemies will start hunting around the area, starting with his last known location, and then spread their search out if he's not found.

If they are to hunt for Drake they'll need the ability to climb on the environment, jump across gaps, and drop down from ledges to get to him. The benefit to this was our combat wasn't limited to flat terrain anymore.

I look at this game the same way I look at RE5: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I didn't really mind the bullet sponge enemies in the last game. I'm just ready to see a whole bunch of new, exotic locales, and watch Nathan Drake squirm his way out of certain death. With some sequels, I think "I want this changed, and this added, and this fixed, and then I'll be happy." With Uncharted 2, and RE5, I will just say to the developers "Please sir, I want some more."

they say AI improves in every sequel......2 words....big and whoop

"I look at this game the same way I look at RE5: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I didn't really mind the bullet sponge enemies in the last game. I'm just ready to see a whole bunch of new, exotic locales, and watch Nathan Drake squirm his way out of certain death. With some sequels, I think "I want this changed, and this added, and this fixed, and then I'll be happy." With Uncharted 2, and RE5, I will just say to the developers "Please sir, I want some more.""

True that, the enemies in the first game were like tanks son.

I can't put my finger on my issue with the combat in Uncharted, I don't remember them being bullet sponges - and I played through twice, once on hard.

I definitely remember them being bullet sponges at certain times. Maybe it was the fact that at those times I was really frustrated with the games and noticed it, but Ryan is right. 4 or 5 shotgun blasts to the face of someone, even with an Army of Two-style face mask should at least bring you down and at the most blow that head smooth off.

totally agree with the enemy in Uncharted 1 point made. appreciated how the enemies would react to getting hit by bullets but a low life thug with a T-shirt taking 12 bullets and still being able to aim and shoot was for the birds. for shitty birds like Pigeons.
i hope this "visual cone" thing works out. Hideo Kojima had the sweaty balls to actually show the cone of sight in Solid Snake's radar business in MGS but that game like most games have a very limited line of sight for enemies when it comes to distance. hopefully these fools are optimizing their "sound cones" too.

It seems like I've read the exact same AI descriptions in developer blogs for various games over the past 5 years.

I agree with SmokePants. However the part about enemies being able to better navigate the terrain will help I'm sure.

This is harkens back to the MGS days, it could be interesting to see how this works, though like Duckbutter said you had the radar that you could see.  And I also hope they "fix" the damage that your enemies can absorb before dying.

sounds awesome, now i expect to see the two main gameplay elements, platforming and shooting, to be intertwined this time around, instead of just being on or the other the entire time. 

I loved Uncharted and I liked the combat and gameplay quite a bit. Totally looking forward to the sequel, although I hope the sneaking missions don't suck.

Drake? DRAKE? DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!

Really my only issue with the combat in Uncharted was that it tended to outstay its welcome. I got used to it as the game went on, but certainly in the early parts I just felt worn out by wave after wave of enemies - moreso when it seemed I'd finally cleared an area only to move forward a bit and have another bunch come streaming in.

Other than some annoying instant-death moments involving snipers or grenade launchers I felt they got the difficulty level about right. Hopefully making the enemies smarter won't turn the combat into an exercise in frustration. Maybe smarter but fewer enemies would be a good bet.

I CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!  Uncharted still remains one of my fav ps3 games

personally i loved the game but the combat is what really killed it for me. its good to see them address the issue and hopefully it makes the game a much tighter package this time around.

Resistance 2 was a great improvement mainly because of the toning down of the amount of bullets needed to kill an enemy, I think the same needs to apply in uncharted 2.

Good. Hopefully the game is more platform/puzzle-ish too. While I enjoyed the first game a lot, the one-man-army thing went kinda far.

I would actually be more interested if the AI got dumber.

YEah they need the AI to react to being shot.  INstead of behaving the same at 100%-5% health and then finally falling down and dying, being shot in the arm or leg should have consequences.

my number 1 complaint with Uncharted was having to unload an entire clip into a dude before he'd die, even if I was getting head shots.

Let's get a few things straight:

• Headshots are one hit kills on all difficulties. Always.
• Shotguns are one hit kills assuming you're close enough that most of the pellets hit the enemy on all difficulties. Always.

 Uncharted Drake's Fortone was an amazing game, no doubt about it, and now with this sequel, I'm looking forward to playing the game the same way I did the first, In a dark room, door shut and only me and the game, until I complete it, and with improved AI, there will be an element of stategy and stealth to game

"Drake? DRAKE? DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!"

 

• Shotguns are one hit kills assuming you're close enough that most of the pellets hit the enemy on all difficulties. Always.

 

Hey, the evolution of Artificial intelligence is always a good thing.

The only time the enemies don't go down in one shot of the shotgun when you're at an appropriate distance is on Crushing, or near the end of the game when you are fighting soldiers with vests. Headshots always kill in one hit. The first game has very frantic firefights where you might miss or be too far away, the trick to surviving as hiding and making them face you one or two at a time, as would be the only way you could possibly survive.

YES! stealth was the missing bit that kept Uncharted from achiving greatness.
The smarter they are the more I enjoy killing them.

This is teh game that i'm waiting for in 2009!

I always expect great thing from Naughty Dog.

Sounds good

COOL!  So when I appear behind a bush in the western side, they'll start moving east?

Bullet sponges=fail. I need to get the first game, I haven't had my PS3 for too long though so thats why I don't have it yet. Don't wanna start on 2 though o,o

"AndrewGaspar said:

 

• Shotguns are one hit kills assuming you're close enough that most of the pellets hit the enemy on all difficulties. Always.

 

Shotguns should ONLY be 1 hit kills if you are POINT BLANK.  At a distance of 10 feet or more Shotguns should almost NEVER be 1 hit kills."

That definitely sounds pretty awesome. Hopefully it will live up to it deeply.

I liked the first Uncharted, and I did have gripes about the combat as well.

It was worse for me, because after playing Metroid Prime 3, I now officially suck at all games requiring dual analog controls for shooting.

Still, I'll probably be able to bear through countless deaths again in this sequel. Still glad to see that Naughty Dog is addressing this.

I love Drake's Fortune. Hope they don't **** up this one.

This is Naughty Dog. Remember Crash Bandicoot? No? You aren't alive.

sounds like an improvement on a rip-off.

I have never loved a game more that frustrated me so much.  Uncharted remains my favorite PS3 title, and I'd even say it ranks on my all time top 10 list, however, there are many failings that irritate the hell out of my when playing. Of course, the bullet sponge-thing that's been mentioned by others is one, but also the difficulty in acquiring fresh ammunition and weapons.  Maybe, it's just me, but I found picking stuff up from the ground tedious.  Too often, I'd have to wiggle the joystick over a patch of ground trying to get the little "stuff here" balloon to pop-up.  I also hated the hand to hand combat (especially, at the end).  It felt very restrictive and unnatural.

But, I am truly looking forward to the sequel. I hope that in adding new gameplay, Naughty Dog doesn't create new ways to frustrate me.   

hope they fix them all