Ichthyosaur (Half-Life)



The Ichthyosaur (whose scientific name according to a poster is Xenotherus ichthycanthus) is a fictitous aquatic creature in the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life. It is one of many alien species encountered in Half-Life, having been teleported to Earth from the borderworld Xen. The speed and viciousness of the attacking monster make the underwater areas of Half-Life some of the most frightening parts of the game, even though they tend to be short.

Although it is named after the extinct reptile group, the Ichthyosaurs, it resembles them only in its carnivorous ecology and its general size. In Half-Life, Ichthyosaurs are encountered in several water bodies, including a flooded laboratory and in a reservoir behind a hydroelectric dam. They are often placid at first, but quickly become hostile, especially should the player take action against them.

When an Ichthyosaur is first encountered in Half-Life, a scientist remarks that while he has been told it originated in the Challenger Deep (in the Pacific Ocean), he is of the opinion that its first taste of a terrestrial ocean was its arrival at the Black Mesa Research Facility.



Half-Life 2
The Ichthyosaur also makes a single appearance in Half-Life 2. During a teleport malfunction ("harmonic reflux"), Gordon Freeman is momentarily transported underwater, and is almost attacked by an Ichthyosaur before being transported elsewhere. Although this encounter is scripted, when an Ichthyosaur is spawned using console commands or a mod such as Garry's Mod it also attacks the player, suggesting that the developers planned on Gordon Freeman encountering them more than once. Some implementations find that Ichthyosaurs are able to survive on land for limited periods before dying, but also show that the monster will actually drown if underwater for too long. This latter behaviour may indicate that the creature was not fully implemented in the final game, although equally it is what might be expected from an air breathing organism similar to dolphins, whales and even real ichthyosaurs.

Interestingly, most of the sound files associated with the Ichthyosaur contain the prefix "watery death". This is the same prefix with files and sounds associated with the Carnivorous Leeches. This piece of information directly implies that the designers had originally entitled the Ichthyosaur the purpose of the Leech: To appear out of the foggy waters in the ocean, attack the player, and disappear in a similar manner; keeping the player out of deep water. Since the "watery death" and the Leeches themselves are just included in a large trigger entity in Valve Hammer Editor, using the Ichthyosaur in this fashion would have made an easy way to keep the player out of water, and explain the creature's lack of artificial intelligence.