[quote=dablakpantha]I thought I was the only one that saw this error. In most games where you relied on AIs for assistance, you usually had control over general direction. Even in the the novels, Master Chief gives direction several times to Marines and other Spartans in combat, so why does this not come into play in H3, H2 or HCE? Even if it were simple commands like advance left or right, retreat, cover me or throw grenades, this would really enhance game play and maybe even extend AI life expectency on legendary while multiple skulls are active...

My two cents.[/quote]

Well I don't think it's so much an error as an omission. Also, looking at how some games have implemented this feature, it is not hard to see that it's difficult to do well. I like the Half-Life series as well as Halo, but Half-Life's implementation of the AI control feature is so frustrating to use that I'm tempted to think leaving it out would be better. When it works, it's brilliant. When it fails, it fails spectacularly.

Even something simple like "wait here" can be frustrating when it leads directly to AI death. Then some people will want "wait here unless there's a wraith blast incoming, in which case you can move a few meters to avoid it".

I think what people want is something fairly high level, something similar to what control of UT bots *appears* to offer.

There should be an option to just let the AI do whatever it would normally do.
There should be an option to indicate to the AI that the player intends to drive *even if he is not currently in the driver's seat of a particular vehicle* and that passengers should position themselves accordingly and efficiently. That means the guy with the shortest range, weakest weapon should man weapon turrets and the guys with snipers and rocket launchers should take other seats. Other nearby marines not in the player's vehicle should prioritize other nearby vehicles to follow the player once the player's choice of vehicle is clearly indicated (by driving a certain distance away, or perhaps by a toggle of some sort, like a ready button-- a way of indicating to the AI that the player is setting up the situation, swapping weapons, changing vehicles, etc-- and flipping the toggle into "go mode" when it's all done.

There should be an option to tell the AI to guard the nearby area, avoid fire when possible, return fire from position when possible, but not to roam too far away.

Those three behaviors, plus the ready/go toggle, if they could be implemented, would give a startling level of control over the play experience without too much involvement in a spatial interface, which is where HL2's system breaks down.

I am sure, however, that from an engineering perspective, it would be what they call "non-trivial" :)