Pripyat



"50,000 people used to live in this city. Now it's a ghost town, I've never seen anything like it."

- MacMillan

Prypiat is an abandoned city in the zone of alienation in northern Ukraine, Kiev Oblast, near the border with Belarus. The city was founded in 1970 to house the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant workers, and was abandoned in 1986 following the Chernobyl disaster. Its population had been around 50,000 prior to the accident. The evacuated workers and their families were moved to a town called Slavutych, which was built to house the evacuees. A train line was also built to take the nuclear plant's workers into the zone of alienation.

The City
The city was built in 1970 in Ukrainian SSR, Kiev Oblast. The Soviet Union was about to built a new nuclear power plant near Chernobyl. Originally the city and the power plant were going to be built 25 kilometres from Kiev. But incase of a nuclear disaster the city was moved a hundred kilometres away from Kiev. This was probably the wisest decision ever made by anyone in the whole world, as it prevented a huge catastrophe. - In April 26th 1986 the city was evacuated, due to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. This evacuation lasted 3 days, so that is why one can see belongings still left in untouched buildings. One visitor even found a working piano (albeit a bit out of tune).Pripyat was only two kilometres from the power plant, and in a short period of time the whole city was in danger of ionizing radiation. The Soviet government tried to hide the whole disaster from Russian civilians, but when alarms had been set off at a nuclear power plant in Switzerland, and they figured out it could not have been from their own plant, the scale of the disaster became obvious. The evacuation of the city started two days after the disaster, though it should have been done immediately. Nowadays the city remains the same and is abandoned. The surrounding area is safe to visit though, and many companies have earned money for guided tours. But some areas cannot be accessed and are guarded.

In Call of Duty
In Call of Duty 4, Prypiat is home to the levels All Ghillied Up and its sequel One Shot, One Kill. In both these levels, the ghost city is portrayed as a gloomy, dark, lonely and scary place with grey skies and long, unkempt grass. In these two missions the player plays as Captain Price, then Lieutenant Price, in a flashback. He is under the command of Captain MacMillan and the player must sneak past Ultranationalist forces in a ghillie suit, hence the name, All Ghillied Up. In the next mission, the player must try to assassinate Imran Zakhaev, who is the main antagonist in the game. When the character manages to shoot his arm off with a Barrett M82 SASR .50 caliber rifle, a helicopter spots them and they must escape the hotel from which they assassinate him. While escaping, MacMillan is injured and must be carried by the player to the extraction point which is at the ever-famous Pripyat ferris wheel.

See the main articles for the two missions, All Ghillied Up and One Shot, One Kill for more information.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer Call of Duty 4 level Bloc is set in Prypiat. It consists of two large apartment blocks and the "Azure" swimming pool, which is largely overlooked and only really plays a part in headquarters game mode. The ferris wheel is also visible, although in a different position. It was most likely moved for map size and so that the player would recognize it and know where they are (Pripyat). It is also noteworthy that it is snowing in the level.

Trivia

 * Prypiat, as we see it in the two single player levels looks like it does in real life, which makes these levels even more depressing. This can also be said for the multiplayer level Bloc.
 * Buildings worth mentioning include the hotel 'Polissya', which is the building you assassinate Zakaev from, the centre 'Energetik', the large art studio near the end of All Ghillied Up, the 'Azure' swimming pool, and the Prypiat ferris wheel and bumper car ride which were due to open on May 1st, 1986, but never did.
 * Just before you enter the large building at the end of All Ghillied Up, you might hear children laughing and playing. You can hear a similar thing on Aftermath.
 * When you use the cheat 'super contrast' on All Ghillied Up, the level appears to be under the sun, brightening up the level, but this negates the whole purpose of the dark skies, which is to give you that impression of loneliness and 'gloominess'. This also works on One Shot, One Kill.