Project Nova

"This is not our war!" "Then who do we fight?" "EVERYONE!"

- Reznov and Nevski fleeing the ship.

"Project Nova" is a single player flashback level that details the events which lead up to Viktor Reznov's incarceration in Vorkuta.

Walkthrough
The level starts out with Reznov talking to Mason about his father at Stalingrad in Vorkuta. He explains that his father was a musician during the German occupation who was killed by Nazis who found him to be a symbol of defiance. He goes on to say that collaborating with any Nazi is a betrayal against Mother Russia. He then says that Nikita Dragovich and Lev Kravchenko were not hindered by such crimes. After this, the actual mission starts.

We now cut to Reznov looking off a cliff with Dimitri Petrenko and Nevski. The group then charges down the cliff where we meet young Dragovich and Kravchenko. Here Reznov will receive his orders to capture Dr. Friedrich Steiner alive. He and his squad then move out on a snowmobile where Petrenko will ask why he doesn't trust the two primary antagonists, to which Reznov will say that at Stalingrad, Dragovich left him outnumbered and never sent reinforcements. He then tells Dimitri Petrenko that the two men are not to be trusted. Note this is said as Reznov's snowmobile passes Dragovich's and Kravchenko's snowmobile. The game then cuts to Reznov saying that Petrenko was the bravest man he ever knew, and that his heroic feat at Berlin should have made him a hero, but Stalin had little need for heroes.

It then cuts back to the mission, where Reznov and his men begin to fight for Steiner. Opposition here is fairly weak, and the player will be armed with a PPSh-41 and a Mosin-Nagant with RGD-33 grenades to deal with them. Russian comrades will burn down buildings to kill all Germans inside. Some Germans will attempt to surrender, but Reznov has no sympathy and tells his soldiers to kill them all anyway. After searching a few buildings for Steiner, the player will be given smoke grenades to mark target for mortars. Here Germans will be standing on bridges with MG42s and Panzershrecks so it is smart to throw smoke grenades on these structures and to pick up a Scoped Mosin-Nagant to terminate these soldiers. Eventually you will fight your way through stiff opposition to Steiner who will insult you and tell you to take him to Dragovich. We now cut to Reznov telling Mason he should have killed Steiner then and there, but his belief in orders stopped this.

Now we cut to outside a Nazi ship where Kravchenko will be executing POWs and Steiner will talk to Dragovich about how the Germans are sworn to protect the Reich, but Dragovich says to Steiner that there would be no problems. Now Reznov brings his men into the ship while the evil antagonists discuss the genius Project Nova and how Washington D.C. and Moscow were to meet a horrible end by the hand of the Fuhrer using V-2 Rockets tipped with Nova-6. However, Berlin had already fell to the Soviets and the SS failed to destroy the Nova-6. We then reach the remaining reserve of the gas.

Reznov then says that the victory was short lived, for Dragovich wanted to see the effects of the gas. He then orders Reznov, Nevski, and Tvelin to be thrown in one gas chamber, and Petrenko, Viharev, and Belov to be thrown in another. The latter is to be gassed first. Dragovich unleashes his weapon on Petrenko's chamber, killing everyone inside. Dimitri and his men suffer an agonizing death;caged like animals instead of dying for their country. Before Reznov's chamber can be condemned, the Allies break in to the ship and fire a rocket into the chamber, opening it for Reznov and his men. The soldiers begin to fight their way out. Reznov will eventually arm an explosive to a main support beam. The player will be given three minutes to escape the ship. Tvelin is killed at some point during the combat at the end of this towards the end of this mission, but Reznov manages to escape with Nevski having destroyed the gas containers, containing Nova-6.

Found In Level
The following weapons can be found with and without attachments. The Tokarev TT-33 with a Flashlight is given automatically to the player when searching the ship but disappears soon after. One without a Flashlight can be obtained from the SAS troops as they pull it out in Last Stand (which they wouldn't; the British never used Russian pistols).

Trivia

 * When escaping the ship, if the player manages to save Tvelin, one will see that he will be standing still next to the rope in which you slide, and he will not make an effort to reach it even if there are no enemies around.
 * Before the player is about to enter the room with Steiner and the dead Germans, look to the left toward the bottom of the ice cliff, the player could see a squad of german soldiers walking towards the ship, and then dissapearing after walking through the ship's exterior. These soldiers can be shot and killed.
 * The SAS have never actually failed a single mission, covert or not, in real life. In this mission, the SAS fail their objective of obtaining the Project Nova.
 * It is possible that the commandos assaulting the ship are not SAS but British Commandos.The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German occupied Europe. Initially drawn from within the British Army from soldiers who volunteered for special service, the Commandos' ranks would eventually be filled by members of all branches of the United Kingdom's armed forces and a number of foreign volunteers from German-occupied countries
 * This is the only mission where Mason does not have lines; instead, he is only a listener to Reznov's story.
 * At the end of the level, when you jump off the ship with Nevski, if you press the sprint button you will stand up and sprint after Nevski. When the sprint runs out you will return to prone.
 * With above glitch, it is possible to follow Nevski right up to the end of the mission, where he will stop and stand idly for the last few seconds of the mission.
 * There is a glitch at the beginning of the level. After beginning to head downhill, a large ditch is to the right. If the player dives to prone into this, the message 'You were killed by your own mortar strike!' comes up.
 * When you arrive at the hill and Dragovich tells you to kill all the Germans, he and Kravchenko will run off into the distance and not be seen for the rest of the level. If you attempt to follow them, a warning message will pop up saying 'You are about to leave your Comrades'
 * When you get the ability to throw smoke grenades to signal for a mortar strike you will find ammo for your smoke grenades glowing on the ground, the models for these smoke grenades are actually modern day flashbangs.
 * When the player enters the first building looking for Steiner, one will notice that all the windows in the second floor won't break, no matter how many bullets the player shoots at it.
 * There is a glitch in this level, when you encounter for the second time the surrendering Germans (in garage like building with a truck inside) Dimitri won't appear to open the door, so the player cannot continue. The only way to get out of this glitch is turning back, finding Dimitri (which WILL be standing still without doing anything) and knifing him a few times, this somehow makes him react. Confirmed on PS3.
 * This level uses absolutely none of the new score for Black Ops, but completely uses World at War's soundtrack. Except for the use of the track "Panthers", which was heard when Dr. Steiner was found and when the Soviets began to search the vessel for Nova-6.
 * This is the first time that the player fights 3 different factions in a single level. Germany, Britain, and the Soviets are all enemies at one point during the level. The Germans before you find Nova-6, the Soviets briefly after the player escapes from the gas chamber, and British Commandos for the rest of the level.
 * This is also the first time in the series where the British are enemies.
 * This is the second time the player goes into a flashback, and assumes the role of an important character to their game. The first time is with Captain Price in Call of Duty 4 in the missions All Ghillied Up and One Shot, One Kill.
 * Reznov says that Dragovich promised him reinforcements, but they never came and his men were slaughtered, possibly setting the scene for Vendetta.
 * Numerous parts of this level, like the weapons, are from Call of Duty: World at War.
 * The British only uses the Sten SMG and the Tokarev pistol.
 * The Mosin-Nagant is the only bolt-action rifle in this mission.
 * The events in this mission are shown to be the reason Reznov was sent to Vorkuta, though it is not known how Reznov is caught.
 * When the player regroups with Dragovich outside the ship, if the player looks to the right, they will see Kravchenko executing German prisoners. When Kravchenko attempts to execute the last POW, he will find that he is out of ammo, forcing him to get the knife from the Soviet that's with him. Kravchenko will then proceed to slit the remaining prisoner's throat.
 * This is the only level in the game the player can use the PPSh-41, MP40 (except Zombies), Panzershreck, Mosin Nagant, STG-44, and MG42, as well as the Sten and Tokarev. Also you start the mission with RGD-33 grenades.
 * Even though the player has RGD-33 grenades, the icons in the inventory are modern day M67 Grenades.
 * This is also one of the only times in the entire Call of Duty series where the player can use German, Russian and British weapons all in the same level.
 * All MP40s and Mosin Nagants in the level have frost on them. It is also noticeable on the MP40's pickup icon.
 * The execution scene where Kravchenko is shooting the surrendering Germans and runs out of ammo when he gets to the last German is likely a reference to a similar scene in the film The Pianist. In The Pianist a German soldier executes Jewish labor workers deemed to be unfit to continue working and he shoots them one by one in a line and is forced to reload when he runs out of ammo when he reaches the last one in the line.
 * If the player looks closely at the Soviet soldiers, they hold their guns like they have pistol grips, even though their guns lacked them, and if you look at Steiner's rifle, you can see a pistol in his hand while he's holding the rifle.
 * The Mosin Nagant scoped has no sway when you scope in.
 * The Mosin Nagant scoped zooms in really fast, as if the player had Sleight of Hand Pro.
 * The Mosin Nagant scoped is also loaded with a stripper clip.
 * When you're walking through the ship's corridors towards the end of the mission, there will be a dead German hanging from the roof. You can shoot the rope holding him, doing so will result in him falling down.
 * Near the end of the level there is a glitch. When a Russian is in hand to hand combat with a British Commando, if you shoot the Commando he won't die until they've finished fighting.
 * During the scene between Reznov and Steiner, a P-38 can be seen in Steiner's hand.
 * If British Commandos go into last stand, they will use Tokarevs instead of British or Western made pistols.
 * There is a very rare glitch present on the PC version of this level which forces the player into a limited noclip mode. They can only move forward and backwards, cannot move up and down and cannot use any weapons. While this glitch is active there is no way to turn off the game, only through turning off the computer is the player able to exit the glitch.
 * There is a funny easter egg right before you enter the ship. You can see Nevski jump out of the way of a falling clump of snow.
 * There is a very possible reason for the murder of Dimitri and the attempted killing of Reznov. When riding in the treaded vehicles, Dimitri asks Reznov about he and Dragovich's rivalry in Stalingrad. Reznov then says they use you and not to trust them. He says this while they pass the vehicle that Dragovich and Kravchenko are sitting in. Although very improbable that they heard him, it could be possible that they did and therefore felt that Reznov and Dimitri would interfere with their plans.
 * While Dragovich might have not tried to kill them for said reason above, since he wanted to see the results of Nova 6, he could have just used the German prisoners instead of two of the best veterans in the Russian army. Since the Germans would've been executed, Dragovich should've used them instead of Dimitri and Reznov, who would've helped defend the Nova 6 and not destroying it.
 * The SAS are invincible when sliding onto the deck of the ship.
 * The PPSh-41s have regular magazines instead of the World at War drum mags.
 * It is strange that although during Vendetta Reznov mentions that he has an injured hand and so cannot use his Scoped Mosin-Nagant, in Project Nova the player (playing as Reznov) is able to use one with very little idle sway. However, it is just possible that his hand has healed, or he has become accustomed to its use.
 * According to a map found in one of the buildings, the base seems to be at Baffin Island in North Canada.
 * When the player witnesses Petrenko's death, his eyes have blood around them and has necrosis (dead skin), however when fighting your way out of the ship, if the player uses a sniper rifle to look at Petrenko's body, there will be no blood around the eyes or anything that looks wrong about it (apart from being dead).
 * Before entering the warehouse, there are two Soviet soldiers under a bridge shooting at nothing.
 * At the end of the level when the player is running away from the ship, if the player turns back around to look, they will fall to the floor.
 * In real life,The Special Air Service was disbanded in October 8, 1945 (but they were reactivated in January 1, 1947), But the level is on October 29, 1945, however they could have been reactivated for this mission due to its special cargo, and their elite skills.
 * Part of this level looks similar to Derail in MW2.
 * At the start of the level when you enter the truck you can see that when Dimitri is holding his PPSH that the magazine goes right through his hand.
 * The Russians appear to be wearing the same shirts Mason wore in Vorkuta.
 * There is sometimes a glitch at the beginning of the level, when Dragovich is briefing all the soldiers. If you look at Dragovich, Kravchenko's name will show up instead. Many names will not appear when the player points at them afterwards.
 * This is the first time Reznov starts to say "Dragovich, Kravchenko, Steiner, ALL, must die." This sentence is taking with amusement and frustration by many players, who are usually annoyed at the repeating use of the sentence. This is similar to the Ramirez parody "Ramirez! (Do something)!".
 * At the start of the level, Petrenko may sometimes move his mouth as if he is talking, but no words will come out.
 * If the player escapes the ship under 2:15 on Veteran, they will get the Light Foot achievement/trophy.
 * During the level, there is a randomly generated name for NPCs called "Pvt. Sidorenko". Coincidently, a famous soviet sniper from WWII has the same last name.
 * It isn't possible to aim down the sights on Steiner, as your sights will just lock on to the dead/unconscious German soldiers.
 * When the enemy starts surrendering, look closely at the freindly NPCs. You may see that they will try and kill them with their Mosin Nagant rifles.