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"Fifty thousand people used to live here. Now it's a ghost town" On April 26th 1986 in the early hours the Number Four reactor at Chernobyl Power Plant, Ukraine suffered a catastrophic accident. During an experiment to test the reactor’s ability to safely run in the event of an external electrical supply outage, a tragic oversight resulted in the extreme overheating of the reactor core. A deadly steam explosion followed by a second explosion two minutes later and ensuing fire released a cloud of toxic radiation 100 times more potent than the first atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined.
 The town of Pripyat, Ukraine lies just a kilometre North West of the Chernobyl power plant. Many of the people who lived in the town were workers at the nearby Nuclear plant and lived within sight of the world's biggest nuclear disaster. When the reactor core erupted people watched the fire from the rooftops of the many housing blocks unaware of the massive doses of radiation pouring across the surrounding area.
It was 36 hours before authorities even began to evacuate the residents of this now doomed town. The massive radiation cloud drifted over parts of the western Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Northern Europe, and eastern North America. Large areas in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia were badly contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people. According to official post-Soviet data, about 60% of the radioactive fallout landed in Belarus. In Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4 one of the most notable missions involves a 'flashback' with Cpt. Price as a sniper undertaking a shoot to kill mission on the ficticious Russian ultra-nationalist Imran Zakhaev. Along with his superior Cpt. Macmillan the sniper mission involves an infiltration to reach the sniper firing point and then, following the seemingly successful shot, your efforts to evade capture and reach the extraction point in the town of Pripyat. Much of the mission takes place amongst abandoned housing blocks where wild packs of dogs roam the streets. An encounter with a pursuing helicopter leaves Macmillan unable to walk and the tension of the mission heightens as you are forced to carry him to the safety of the extraction point whilst still taking out the troops searching amongst the desolate crumbling facades of the apartments. As you pass silently through the buildings you'll make your way out through the crumbling remains of a public swimming baths whilst ignoring a pack of hungry dogs to make the final push to safety.  
As you reach the extraction point and set Macmillan down behind a giant disused Ferris Wheel you have a few precious seconds to lay claymores and C4 charges around the vicinity of the amusement park and then dig in to await the enemy assault. Ground troops are soon re-inforced by two helicopters and the area quickly becomes the most frantic mission of the game so far. Dodging around the Ferris Wheel you pick off the troops who are attempting to flank you whilst trying to lay down fire on the oncoming enemies who attack through the remains of the bumper car ride. A brief stop for shelter in one of the Ferris Wheel cars is fruitless and the wave of enemies continues until the helicopter finally arrives and you can carry the injured Macmillan aboard.  Playing this level of Call of Duty 4 on 'Veteran' difficulty is surely one of the more challenging portions of the entire game and will demand you become familiar with all the hiding spots in the amusement park area. The primary focus is of course the Ferris Wheel. Brand new in April 1986 the wheel itself was due to open in just one weeks time when the explosion at Chernobyl changed the course of history for the people of Pripyat. The ruins of the bumper car ride are still evidence today of the hasty evacuation of the people and lie dormant, rusting away gently over 20 years after the accident. 
 Today the town is still shrouded by an exclusion zone and within its close confines deadly pockets of radiation can still be found. Low-level radiation permates the entire area, buildings, trees, water, all of them carry toxic levels of pollution. The town now lies empty as a monument to the nuclear disaster, buildings cannot be demolished as doing so would release yet more radiation into the surrounding area so they are simply left to be consumed by the passing of time.
 
So, as you line up your next enemy for that headshot or detonate your carefully laid C4 charges spare a thought for the people of Pripyat and the history of events surrounding that Ferris Wheel. Just make it a quick one though as you evade the inevitable hail of grenades landing all around as you're cowering helpless in the draughty ticket booth praying for that extraction helicopter to land.......
 Readers have left 43 comments. Quote(1) Untitled29-11-2007 09:42:37 If only they'd made the reactor out of the same stuff as the shed, there'd have been no need to evacuate! Quote(2) Nicely done29-11-2007 11:52:20 Wow, I didn't realise they had recreated the town like this... is is incredible to see Quote(3) Thanks for airing this!29-11-2007 12:37:41 I'm pretty sure the field of vehicles at the start of the level is the field where they parked the trucks etc used to fight the fire at the reactor. They were too contaminated to be properly disposed of and were left to rot in the exclusion zone.
Being familiar with the story and events surrounding the disaster makes this level all the more riveting. Quote(4) Untitled29-11-2007 13:59:30 thanks for this really interesting a good read! can not believe how accurate COD4 is! the next time the wife moans at me for playing COD4 I will turn round and say it is educational!! Quote(5) Fair dues29-11-2007 14:22:06 This really demonstrates the extraordinary attention to detail in COD4 which makes it easily the best game this Xmas (much better than that Halo 3 rubbish!) Quote(6) Untitled29-11-2007 14:41:07 LOL @
"Untitled
29-11-2007 09:42:37
If only they'd made the reactor out of the same stuff as the shed, there'd have been no need to evacuate!"
That Shed is truly indestructible! Quote(7) Untitled29-11-2007 14:55:15 Well done. Way to raise awareness. Quote(8) Untitled29-11-2007 16:19:06 Quote(9) Untitled29-11-2007 17:55:30 Awesome article. I didn't think this happened in real life, the level of detail in COD4 is simply astonishing! Quote(10) More pHotos29-11-2007 19:27:24 check out this great (though very elderly) set of pages: www.kiddofspeed.com for some great photos, then play through the level again and look for stuff. The unseen effort that has gone into this level is amazing. Also, when approaching the pool, in the series of rooms with the floating dust moats, listen out for the cries of children playing far far away, as if they were ghosts - you may need to turn the sound up and be in a quiet room. Very disturbing, and a very subtle effect that again shows what effort has been made with the game. Quote(11) next time...29-11-2007 20:08:22 I think i'll have to play it on easy so i can take a proper look and appreciate it, on Vet i mostly saw red and dogs going for my throat. Quote(12) Untitled29-11-2007 21:35:19 touches me heart, to see the effort they put into the game, when i first looked at the pictures i thought they were the real thing Quote(13) Awesome03-12-2007 19:01:14 Awesome that they did this. I thought it was all made up. Props to IW and TheAboveDomain for the info. Quote(14) Nice article04-12-2007 15:50:21 Amazing article, really well done - that level is one of the best of that game and really feels like I imagine that place to be. STALKER was pretty chilling too if you get a chance to play it. Quote(15) Sweet25-01-2008 19:05:19 Lol, the guy had some serious balls to do this, walking around an abandoned town going throught the buildings and everything alone is pretty scary, hell i even get the chills when i play free for all on bloc, lol but sweet article! Quote(16) GREAT SITE25-03-2008 19:03:56 Had to post this link again... www.kiddofspeed.com
If yo guys really want to learn more about the state of things over there. STALKER also has a great Prypyat level. Quote(17) Wow26-03-2008 05:21:11 Amazing how well they have remade this city in the game. Quote(18) Untitled26-03-2008 12:58:28 thats truly amazing...
http://katie.blogsite.org
Quote(19) wow27-03-2008 14:32:06 Man that is insane, I feel bad for that place. Quote(20) Re:28-03-2008 01:20:43 If only they\'d made the reactor out of the same stuff as the shed, there\'d have been no need to evacuate! — mikdaddy
The reason the radiation escaped was because steam ripped off part of the building and propelled pieces of uranium 281 into the air. Changing the material would have done nothing since the steam was the cause, not the radiation.Quote(21) Re:29-03-2008 18:15:56 Awesome article. I didn't think this happened in real life, the level of detail in COD4 is simply astonishing! — Pato
how dumb are you? how could you not know about Chernobyl? I hope your are 12 years old and just haven't learned about it yet. Jesus!Quote(22) Untitled03-04-2008 19:42:30 it is pretty sad when our youth learns about stuff like this through a video game. Quote(23) Sheesh04-04-2008 01:09:49 Sheesh cut them some slack, schools dont have the time to teach everything at once. -_-\" Quote(24) Education09-04-2008 22:29:12 Americans, both adults and children, are not educated about anywhere except the continental US and to some extent Canada. Why else do Hollywood movies show a view of the Eiffel Tower and caption it as 'Paris, France' like it just might be in Texas!!!
'Sheesh!', indeed! Quote(25) Education09-04-2008 22:29:26 Americans, both adults and children, are not educated about anywhere except the continental US and to some extent Canada. Why else do Hollywood movies show a view of the Eiffel Tower and caption it as 'Paris, France' like it just might be in Texas!!!
'Sheesh!', indeed! Quote(26) ?11-04-2008 18:50:58 its good that they went into so much detail because its unlically that humans will ever live in the chernobl area again save for a few small pockets people should know what it looks like Quote(27) Remember11-04-2008 19:02:18 Both of my parents were what was known as "liquidators" in this incident around Chernobyl. There are several monuments to these volunteer workers in some of the remaining ex-USSR countries. This is one of the most unknown tragedies I've ever seen in regards to the general knowledge of incidents for which the American population is concerned. Though I'm only 18 , and wasn't born until three years after the Chernobyl disaster- the ramifications are still remembered by my family each day- both of my parents have since been diagnosed with cancer (AML). Thank you for writing this. Quote(28) Didn't get that14-04-2008 09:04:21 What is exactly a "liquidator"? Quote(29) I feel bad about the abandoned city25-04-2008 03:15:22 I feel bad about the abandoned city, I pray for all that suffered and I have great interest in environmental issues. I take pride in the fact that I have a radiation detection qualification, and I am interested in old abandoned structures, I commend this blog!!! :) I wouldn't mind visiting and taking some radiation readings and trying the game COD4. Quote(30) Wtf27-04-2008 10:10:48 how the hell can most of you not know about this. and anyways america should teach this stuff as the people trying to mop up the area are some american agencies.
wikipedia it.  Quote(31) Re: I feel bad about the abandoned city30-04-2008 13:17:08 I feel bad about the abandoned city, I pray for all that suffered and I have great interest in environmental issues. I take pride in the fact that I have a radiation detection qualification, and I am interested in old abandoned structures, I commend this blog!!! :) I wouldn't mind visiting and taking some radiation readings and trying the game COD4. — Amanda SpenlinhauerQuote(32) FCC30-04-2008 13:18:05 You should worry about the FCC little girl. Quote(33) ha02-05-2008 01:14:03 Quote(34) Re: Re:14-05-2008 15:16:40 If only they\'d made the reactor out of the same stuff as the shed, there\'d have been no need to evacuate! — JeremyThe reason the radiation escaped was because steam ripped off part of the building and propelled pieces of uranium 281 into the air. Changing the material would have done nothing since the steam was the cause, not the radiation.
God >_< guess you've never played Call of Duty 4, otherwise you'd understand the genius in that comment.Quote(35) Bashing Education26-10-2008 17:54:43 OK so I am 24 years old. This means I was born in 1984 and was 2 when this happened in 1986. I had no idea this place existed and I truly thought it was made up for the game until now. Just because the education system doesn\'t teach this to people does not make us dumb, it makes us ignorant. There is a difference. And there were a few people who thought it was sad that our kids have to learn about this stuff in a video game? How about praising video games like Call of Duty? The COD games made by infinity ward have been extremely educational on both World War 2 and Modern day incidents like Chernobyl. Quote(36) buy cialis05-11-2008 03:36:26 buy cialis online
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