I actually thought it was cool that they floated after being activated. 
Same. Felt oddly more realistic.
My Facorite part of the whole cascade sequence has got to be the emotion behind it. In AM every single scientist and guard is given a personality. To see that guard outside of the chamber dead with the scientist saying “breathe dammit” was powerful.
Another scene with power is the scientists in the falling elevator. In HL that was almost comical, but DAMN in BM it was tough to witness.
The worst part was that the game more or less makes you responsible for killing the people in that elevator. That and the sequence with the scientist hanging off the ladder getting punted off the bottom when you jump to the ladder above him. Honestly, I felt pretty guilty during these sequences.
Fuck, they floated? I missed that. Time to go play through the RC again
The blast doors to the test chamber have this release handle for an emergency exit. When shit went down and the cascade was happening, I got really immersed and pretended to try pulling that switch, eventually just banging on the door, then coming to a halt, turning around and just waiting to see what will happen to me. (Even though I played HL1 and know what’s going to happen…)
With my immersion input, the scene felt really authentic. And having “bonded” with the NPC’s beforehand, the immediate aftermath where everyone was dead and everything is in shambles was really gripping.
Good times. Good game.
Off topic, but the glass breaking effect when the elevator falls was really well done. I actually flinched the camera away like I’m trying to cover from the glass.
I do kind of wish there were some way to avoid being responsible for the deaths of the people on the lift, though. In the original, I could do the irresponsible thing and call the lift, or I could break the glass. Sure, it causes the lift to fall anyway, but at least then it’s not my fault.
Personally, I’d like to see a choice of buttons. On the one side is the lift call button, but on the other, perhaps we can have an emergency door release handle. Both would essentially do the same thing, but one would make it feel like it’s not my fault. I don’t so much mind what happens as I mind the game forcing me to make a very obviously bad judgement call.