Anyone else think that Nova Prospekt was lacking ?

[Neo_Kuja]

"It used to be an abandoned prision ... but it's something worse now ... " - Alyx

And with those words I approached Nova Prospekt in the "Saving Private Ryan Beach" bit before you entered the prison walls. All I could think was "Wow, they must be guarding something good here ... ". The problem was, it didn't.

Don't get me wrong, Valve made the level design very good, but Nova Prospekt lacked that ... essence of other areas. I mean here's this abandoned prision, in the middle of nowhere, heavily fortified, certainly a great place to infiltrate with a army of antlions. But once inside, wow, where was the substance ? I mean "The Vourtigants gave us a sketchy picture of this place .... not many came out alive " (or something to that effect) said by Alyx gave a grave tone to the place. But inside we only see one (dead) tourtured Vourtigant ! I expected the cells to be full of resistance members, (or dead bodies, which seems more likely), but they were EMPTY ! I know that the Combine had it's own advanced prision facility inside it, but surely they'd use the old structure to house low-level risk prisioners ?.

So, did you guys like the abundant security rooms, empty cells and never ending corridors, or would you have prefered a more ... "alive" enviroment ?

 

[R3al1ty]

hmm very good point, i cant believe i fought through an empty prison without realizing that there was nothing of interest inside haha the fighting was just too much fun. Wonder what the guards were guarding though.

 

[hasan]

I guess all the bad stuff happens somewhere else .. where eli and other prisoners were .. in those .. pods/capsules/tubes whatever they are called.

 

[Rhalle]

Yes. It was supposed to be a hotbed of activity, and there was nothing in it, except for more combine, and a video screen of a combine being produced. Lack of imagination on Valve's part.

You are correct, sir.

 

[Feath]

Erm, low risk prisoners? I don't get the impression that the Combine have any low risk prisioners.

 

[moonkids]

I liked it-- very atmospheric. It seems like the Combine are past the stage of using the regular cells for "low risk prisoners". Probably past the stage of bothing to keep anyone who isn't useful to them alive at all.

 

[Zeus]

I thought the beach part was pretty stupid. Why does EVERY game have to have some omaha beach remake?

 

[MrWynd]

i didnt feel like it was like omaha beach....


but yes, the prison wasn't nearly as cool as just about every single other part.

 

[Melkor]

I thought the beach part was pretty stupid. Why does EVERY game have to have some omaha beach remake?

Err... There was nothing in HL2 that even romotely felt like Omaha Beach from Medal of Honor.

 

[Melkor]

Thinking back, I do sort of agree. I wish there was more substantiation behind what you have said.

 

[pur3r4ge]

I think the prison was supposed to have been cleared out, as that was where they were working on the teleportation technology (thus the presence of the teleporter at the end).

 

[Ch1cKeN]

I think it was just a continuous front with the ant lions.

They keep coming out of the jail, so the combine go in and contain it. Early stages mind you.

 

[Fighter]

It stands in the way of where you are heading, not to mention the need to keep antlions at bay. It is like a buffer zone. I think that would explain all the soldiers guarding essentially nothing but who knows.

 

[nrjizer]

If anything, it was probably a good base for the Combine. You had to have killed several hundred of em by the time all was said and done, probably.

Plus the ant lions kept getting in... maybe they got fed up with that and started to phase it out.

Either way I thought Nova Prospekt was fine

 

[Cpl_Facehugger]

If you look on the one of the screens, you can see a 'stalker' being produced. I don't know about you, but that really creeped me out when I saw it. My imagination filled in the things that were mechanically lacking in the Level. I could almost hear the screams as the Combine sawed off a man's limbs and soldiered metal plates in their stead (Not that I actually saw this, but I could imagine it happening in that terrible place), I could practically smell the tortured Vortigaunt's electrically roasted flesh.

I know that I have an overactive imagination, but I can't help but feel that Valve wanted you to use some imagination in that level. All I can suggest to you guys is to play Nova Prospekt late at night, on hard, alone in your house. Then ask yourself if it's really lacking.

 

[floofy]

i agree with facehugger. The function of the old part of the prison was to make stalkers....fortunately we didnt enter that part of the building..we were in the abandoned part, probably the complex for security or something. In the beginning of the game you are about to enter the train that heads to nova prospekt...until barney comes. i also remember reading something that said that if you would have boarded the nova prospekt train, you would have become a mindless stalker.

 

[el Chi]

I thought the levels had real atmosphere - quite foreboding and ominous. Perhaps it might have been nice to see a bit more of the experiments or operations, etc. but I'm glad we didn't see too much of that. Wandering through the operation theatre would've killed the mood dead a few times over.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Add to that the fact that until WELL into the Nova Prospekt infiltration, the Combine had no idea you were there. They simply thought their "ant lion pounders" had a failure and they were have a major exogenic breach/infiltration to take care of.