Far Cry 2: Exclusive dev team interview

GR: Will interaction with the savannah's wildlife come into play at any point? We'd love to start a stampede as a decoy while attacking an enemy camp.

CH: Well, animals do react to the player and to AI, but unfortunately, they behave more or less like animals. They are unpredictable. It is possible to scare animals, and even possible to scare them so that they generally run toward an enemy camp. It is also possible for the enemy AI to notice the startled animals and start watching them or even taking shots at them, but more typically they become alerted and start to wonder what spooked the animals. So there are a lot of variables there.

I have personally tried many times to do what you suggest, and it has on occasion created limited opportunities for me to exploit. However, I feel obliged to report that the effort is usually not worth it – starting a fire, or simply sneaking in and avoiding the enemy all seem to work better. The times when it is interesting are really the times when it happens by accident. That's when it seems to add the most life to the game.

I was once walking though the jungle and heard gunshots, I took cover, but the gunshots persisted. I had no idea who was attacking me or where he had come from. Suddenly a gazelle went racing past me and scared the hell out of me. I thought for a moment how weird it was, as gazelles are usually in the open plains… Then I realized one of the AI had somehow chased the gazelle, and was still chasing it. I waited behind a rock, and a moment later the enemy went running past still in pursuit. He hadn’t seen me and had no idea I was there. So I shot him in the back.