I'm curious because apparently the AI will be so comprehensive an all. And do you think SP is going to design the game so that gamers can increase the difficulty before taking the game online if they are wary of players that are just insane skill/kill wise? I ask this because in most multiplayer class based games. Mostly battlefield. I end up playing medic because everything is so over the top frantic and with the more open environments you don't even have a chance. Everyone is OHKing you. It's frustrating. That's why I'm personally so attracted to brink. I'm pretty humble about my skills. I'm not some super competitive player. But I'd love to be part of a community and at least become skilled enough to serve an appreciated role aboard a team. Which is why I think I'll go with the heavy medic. I'll be harder to take out. I'll be nearby to back up my team with heavy firepower. And I'll have enough syringes to keep getting my team mates up.

OK so I'm getting OT terribly.

Do you think there will be multiple difficulties so that guys like me that start on medium and then make the jump to hard then very hard before playing online can be prepared instead of getting smeared from the face of the ark?

I can't say for sure with regard to the difficulty settings of the AI. Of course, the level of difficulty will differ based on the skills of the player as well (One man's EXPERT is another man's EASY). Still, a certain amount of progression has to be something that is anticipated by the developer.

I think they said that it was variable difficulty, and that they react to your actions. So there's a difficulty slider, but you may have the option to set the AI to just stay around your skill level, even as you get better. This applies to both teams though, so your enemies will be good, but you wont have have to babysit your own team.

Also, the AI are programmed to use anything you can use. That includes SMART, skills, weapons, and even team strategy. When you unlock the Light body, expect to see the AI using all of the high roads to flank you. When you get to level 6, 11, or 16; expect to see them using the new abilities. They will be planting mines at choke points, turrets at critical locations, flanking, ambushing, etc.

In one of the interviews, a dev mentioned that even seasoned game reporters were often unable to tell that the AI were not in fact people. And when told, some of them apparently got angry.

If I'm not an amazing elite player. But I want to be part of a good reliable team. What would be the best direction to head in?

Well, if there's a slider, you can always spend some time finding a happy medium.

I just read in an article "You don't have to babysit your bots... and if you're doing badly sometimes they babysit you." HAHA.

I'd quite like the bots to have gamertag style names so you can't even tell when playing with a mix of players and bots.

Iirc they have proper names. In the expo-demo you could tell AI from players just because players had the same names with different numbers at the end. But most people didn't even realise they were playing 4+4v4+4 instead of 8v8; because there were two groups of 8 playing at the same time, but in different games.

Since I don't have internet then I need games that have offline modes against bots (like KZ), which is why I have my sights on Brink. The AI in KZ2 was quite good, brilliant actually..... not impossible but tough enough to train against and keep you on your toes making you a better player. I love that and from what we've been told the AI in Brink is exactly that. BTW, my christmas gift was a fully paid pre-order for Brink! Now all we need is a release date..... looking at Splash.