Nova Prospekt
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Nova Prospekt is a fictional location in Valve Software's 2004 computer game Half-Life 2. Previously a sea-side high-security prison, Nova Prospekt has been transformed by the Combine into a facility for the storage of political prisoners (Alyx Vance ominously says that Nova Prospekt "used to be a high-security prison, but is something... much worse than that now").
When Gordon Freeman finally reaches the facility to rescue Dr. Eli Vance and Judith Mossman, accompanied by a pack of Antlions, he discovers that it is a processing facility for captured humans.
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[edit] Naming and present function
The name of Nova Prospekt continues with the Eastern European motif seen throughout the game (various signs and graffiti are written with the Cyrillic alphabet, a church built in the Russian Orthodox Style in Ravenholm, and the fact that Father Grigori appears to have some sort of Eastern European accent). Translations proposed have included new prospect, new perspective, or new hope - it is unclear which language Nova Prospekt is supposed to be in; whereas Nova is a root meaning new in all Slavic languages and other European languages, Prospekt can have meanings ranging from prospectus to view to street depending on the language.
One theory on the name of Nova Prospekt (if the translation is assumed "new perspective"), is that the political prisoners are subjected to massive propaganda, torture and manipulation by the Combine in order for them to accept or be forced to accept Combine rule and join their cause, hence the New Perspective. Following this theory, the torture or "conversion" entailed at Nova Prospekt would not be unlike the methods described in the book Nineteen Eighty-Four, taking on the role of the Ministry of Love, which both have quite sadonic and misleading names. However, this process would likely be time-consuming and costly even to the Combine. Though there is evidence of torture inside the complex (a dead vortigaunt, a creature sensitive to electricity, is seen bound to a chair with a beam of energy entering it at the neck), it is likely that mechanical implants are used instead to "turn" prisoners to the Combine's cause. Metal obtrusions from the head of an exposed Combine soldier, and the apparent lobotomised state of skeletal beings known as Stalkers, suggests a much more surgical and efficient method of slave-manufacture devised by Earth's oppressors.
Throughout Nova Prospekt, the player catches glimpses of Stalkers, later seen while Gordon is fighting his way through the Citadel. Additionally, the player may see a human being changed into a Combine Overwatch soldier; his skin is pale and he seems to have multiple bionic implants. This recalls the propaganda heard early in the game in which Dr. Breen hails the Combine for "aiding" the evolution of the human species.
[edit] Layout
Nova Prospekt appears to be separated into two parts (old, and new) illustrated respectively in the two levels of the game titled "Nova Prospekt" and "Entanglement".
[edit] "Nova Prospekt" (Old Nova Prospekt)
The old section of the building follows the motif of an Alcatraz-styled maximum security prison riddled with open confinement chambers (useless to the Combine), labeled cell blocks, offices, and large shower and maintenance facilities. The Combine appear to have made little use for this particular area as they have moved all Combine related facilities and processes into the new section of the massive complex. This section exhibits many signs of disrepair and disuse, such as large pools forming in the sub-basements, crumbling ceilings and massive holes in the ground dug by Antlions. Some of the less visited corners of the old section also contains vermin such as barnacles, headcrabs and headcrab zombies, which adds to the fact that the Combine care little for the older section. These sections of Nova Prospekt are also slowly absorbed into the new Nova Prospekt by means of Combine technology.
[edit] "Entanglement" (New Nova Prospekt/Depot)
The new section of Nova Prospekt houses the processing facilities utilized by the Combine to convert POWs into Overwatch soldiers, as well as the developmental technology for Combine teleports.
The architecture of this section is an example of Combine land development technology, seen in the final scene of "Nova Prospekt" and in City 17 later in the game. This technology in its predeveloped stage is a massive wall of assorted bars, wires, and machinery arranged randomly. The random positioning of any particular part of the structure, working with every other part of the structure each with its own variable function, allows for millions of permutations of arrangements that, according to a specified program, will build into whatever Combine facility it has been told to become. This mode of automated construction allows for the Combine take-over of any particular area. This development is shown in the final scene of "Nova Prospekt" when the player happens upon an absolutely wrecked part of the old facility bordered on all sides by this wall of random machinery. As the player progresses through this odd valley of destruction, the walls begin to slowly change position eating up more of the old facility and becoming more specific in its arrangement. Shortly after this scene the player enters into the train depot of new Nova Prospekt, upon close examination of the wall, it is discovered that the depot has been composed entirely out of the moving machinery seen earlier. Later in the game startlingly detailed examples of similar Combine architecture are seen in the City 17 Nexus, and in the Citadel.
[edit] Cell blocks
Nova Prospekt's prison areas are divided into 12 different cell blocks. All other cell blocks are seen as abandoned or in complete disrepair.
[edit] Old Nova Prospekt
- A3 - Highest security cell block.
- A5 - Larger but infrequently patrolled cell block.
- A6 - Inundated cell block.
- A7 - Larger very commonly patrolled cell block.
- B2 - Secondary prison command block.
- B4 - Primary prison control (central) cell block (besides New Nova Prospekt/depot cell blocks).
- B7 - Extremely small cell block, annexed to block B2.
[edit] New Nova Prospekt
- C1 - Cell block encompassed by depot, other areas of this block contain kitchen and laundry facilities.
- C2 - Abandoned cell block.
- C3 - Flattened entirely by Combine mobile walls and the depot.
- D7 - More commonly used control cell block, in which Combine prisoner caskets are installed.
- D8 - Cell block within and under the depot structure. Scarce amounts of human architecture remain in the block.
[edit] Significance in the game
In Nova Prospekt Gordon starts to notice for the first time that the things are not going so well with the Combine. And maybe they are not so almighty as they seemed before. Multiple visual clues suggest that the Combine, with all their technological superiority, were losing ground to the "lowlife" (as they would refer to anyone resisting them), even before Gordon arrived:
- abandoned, crumbling structures
- areas, guarded only by automatic turrets
- presence of headcrabs and zombies in their base
- soldier bodies at some remote places. Why didn't anyone come to remove them?
Nova Prospekt is a turning point in the story. Up till this moment, the combine forces seemed to be in full control over the situation, successfully eliminating (or infesting with headcrabs) underground resistance, destroying most of their outposts, including their primary base, and capturing the resistance leader. They were chasing Gordon, and he was constantly on the run. In Nova Prospekt it drastically changes. Gordon stops running and engages them in their very base.
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Half-Life 2
As mentioned above, the player visits Nova Prospekt during the chapters "Nova Prospekt" and "Entanglement" along with a pack of Antlions. The Antlion swarm heading into the complex, goaded by Gordon Freeman, seemed to trigger practically all the Antlions in the area surrounding the complex to help invade. This can be seen in-game by Combine having to fend off endless hordes of Antlions either flying or tunneling into the structure. Even a few of the extremely-tough Antlion Guards come to join, smashing through thin walls with impunity and ramming any Combine they find, as well as Gordon himself. Although the Combine Overwatch attempted to defend the older section, they were overpowered by the numbers of Antlions as well as the occassonal Antlion Guards and the efforts of Gordon Freeman himself. The older sections are assumed to be overrun and destroyed by hordes of Antlions as towards the end of the chapter, "Nova Prospekt", the player can hear the P.A. system ordering the soldiers to retreat from the older section.
The Combine-occupied newer section remained untouched by the Antlions as witnessed in the chapter "Entanglement"(Although background noises suggest that antlions are present in some area of the new cell block, they are never seen by Freeman himself.) Thus, this portion of Nova Prospekt suffered minimal structural damage. This was until Gordon and Alyx used the main Combine teleporter located deep within the newer section in an attempt to flee the facility with Eli Vance and Judith Mossman. While the teleportation was successful, the teleporter went unstable during the process and exploded just after the teleportation was done. It is assumed that the explosion destroyed most or all of the newer sections. The destruction of Nova Prospekt was the event that signalled the beginning of the rebellion and the one week long urban battle that resulted with the destruction of the Citadel's dark energy reactor.
[edit] Half-Life 2: Episode One
While Nova Prospekt in not seen or mentioned in Episode One, during the second half of the chapter "Exit 17", one can see a train platform labeled "Nova Prospekt" in a very similar way to the one seen in Half-Life 2's first chapter. However, the player can observe that the platform is largely sealed and littered with crates and other useless items which suggests that the Combine stopped using Nova Prospekt after the teleporter (and presumably, the rest of the facility) exploded.
