Just saw the new Icthyosaur animation test and it reminded me of something I intensely disliked about the Icthies (Icthys?) in the original Half Life: their animation (or lack thereof). They’d move forward, instantaneously turning direction at really sharp angles.
The new animation looks very nice and I can’t wait to see ol’ Icthy in action!
Your description was better than it ever will be sorry 
I’m looking forward to seeing how the dev’s have made sense of some of the really nosensical area’s in the game (of which I’ve found there are quite alot.) For example, the room with the swinging crates, there is no point to that room at all, except to provide a jumping puzzle for any protagonists that may be passing through.
No, no no! It’s a box smashing room. Or some kind of retarded storage room where the crates go in a circle to be stored.
If the player thinks it is nonsensical then it is nonsensical no matter what intentions the developer had with it. Failure to convey the message is only the developer’s fault.
You could always label the game “not for retards”.
Actually, I’ve come up with a fairly decent (in my own mind) theory regarding the “box smashing” room. It is my theory that this is where they deliver high explosives and other Very Dangerous StuffTM[/SIZE] (VDS).
To get to the room, you have to go through what can only be described as a ‘corrugated metal corridor’ (there are posts that jut out into the very narrow corridor). It is my belief that the corridor closes (leading to a scientist pancake :sick: ) whenever a VDS needs to be delivered.
At the bottom of the room, there is an alcove with a box blocking the way. I believe that the alcove is actually a tunnel leading to a shaft leading up to the surface where VDSs can be delivered. Inside the room, BM scientists can work with the VDSs and keep the rest of the facility safe.
At least, that’s my opinion on that room.
Not sure where “box smashing” came from:
You are talking about this room aren’t you?
I was confused about that as well. I always interpreted it as some kind of suspended conveyor system for moving the boxes that was frozen in place after the resonance cascade, though it never made complete sense other than as a cool bit of platforming. The boxes seemed to be transported down to the lower level and then onwards, with one of them blocking the way so you couldn’t see where they went next. None of it had anything to do with ‘smashing’ though.
I wonder if originally the boxes were all supposed to be suspended from the track above in a line, but then the weird zig-zag pattern with them attached to nothing in particular was added to make the platforming more interesting without much thought given to the logic of the room? You can see that while most are hooked randomly to the ceiling, two in the middle (and possibly the one on the far right?) are sensibly dangling from the track as though they were in the middle of sliding down it.
that part, although memorable, STILL makes no sense. but I think what daniel sangeo was talking about was in on a rail with the intermittent cargo boxes that would force Gordon off of the car if he wasn’t careful (at least that what I THINK he meant)
I believe the “box smashing” thing came from a freeman’s mind episode. In a hallway leading to that room the ceiling had like interlocking grooves on it like it was meant to close in, and he said it almost looks like a trash compactor. Then as you go into that large room the ceiling still had those grooves and boxes so he called it a box smashing room with no real purpose.
Its probably like you said, an exaggerated conveyor meant to provide an interesting jumping puzzle.
Strangely enough, I’m mostly looking forward to On A Rail. It was my least favorite chapter in HL, so I’m willing to see what the devs do to it in BM!
Mostly the rooms where crates were flying across the tracks. I never really got that. 
If you pay attention that room, you’ll notice there are tracks on the ceiling which boxes are hanging from. You could take that to mean the room is also meant for storage of boxes. not sure why you’d store boxes dangling above a deathly fall, but hey. At least it SORTA makes some kind of sense.
In any case, I’m eager to see how the devs have interpreted or reimagined this room.
Surface Tension… I want to shoot down some military choppers… the thought just fills me with warm fuzzies.
Runner up: Basically any segment where you’re constantly running, ducking behind cover, and behaving in extremely paranoid fashion. Oh, wait, that’s most of the game, isn’t it?
^^ Wrong moving crate room, he means the one in On A Rail with the Grunt ambush (those two guys behind boxes) Also, I’d like to see what the devs do to that ambush, do the grunts kick the boxes over, perhaps?
Ineffable: Yeah, ST is my fav too. You ninja.
You guys got that complaint on the room by Freemans Mind didn’t you?
Its been stated. lol but Yes I think so.
Freeman’s mind has made me question pretty much every part of the game :retard:
Every part in game will make me anxious.
the most part that am really anxious to see is XEN 
Rofl, noclip x)
Just kidding, i remember passing this for the first time and being like “you gotta be kidding me…” What’s the point of hanging crates on the ceiling, on a fixed point? o_O
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