[Oddsville]

My guess is that the Hickens are just suspossed to be an annoyance in the plot, kinda like when certain characters in storys keep preventing the main character from accomplishing something important and the such. Like Lorne said we are suspossed to hate the Hickens, so they just might be there to get you more into the main characters deilema and make you feel like your part of the story.

As for the Salamander things, well in the prod. designs I have to admit that they looked not so bad but when I saw them in the CG sequence doing that little screaming thing it just reminded me of something from "Croc". I do think that prehaps if OWI changed them quite abit and just made them like little people (I always imagine them as high-pitched and miniature little things running around...yes..) that always wanna help Steef or something but just get him into more trouble/ always ruin his plans then prehaps I'd like them alittle more. But at the moment they don't look to appealing