Combine Factories



The Combine Factories is a City 17 cut area from Half-Life 2 that was to be seen in the first chapters of the game, between the business/entertainment levels containing the Manhack Arcade (set right after the Trainstation Plaza) and Kleiner's lab. The workers of these factories were to be closely watched by Metrocops and Combots. Most of the details about this levels are given in the book Raising the Bar. A rough map cut from E3 2003, "Industrial", depicts most of the Combine Factories in an incomplete stage.

Features


The levels would have probably been filled with citizens working and passing through in all directions, watched by Metrocops and Combots. Most of the workers would have consisted in children, but some concepts also show adults. This area was to contain at least two important sections:

The Child Factory
In this factory, children were building Cremators.

The "stenographer's chasm"
It was an attempt to create a nightmarish environment, but gameplay was again an issue. The place was to be filled with citizens typing information on stenographs.

Fate
As the concept of human reproduction being disabled by the Suppression Field evolving, children finally got cut with the whole area, as long with the Cremator, also very close to this early universe style.

It was also easier to avoid censorship issues in many countries and not restrain the game to an older audience by removing all children. A game where children could be shot could have become a contentious issue in the media. Several other violent video games, such as those of the Grand Theft Auto series, have no children for that reason. However, some who are in opposition to this theory may bring about the fact that no non-player character in the game who is meant to be an ally (such as members of the human Resistance or Vortigaunts) can be intentionally shot by the player. Furthermore, laws exist in some European countries that expressly forbid children appearing in violent situations in computer games. Their absence can therefore be easily explained as a way to ease the adjustments needed for European release. Just as there are no children in the game there are no babies and adolescents present either. Despite their absence as characters in the game, throughout City 17 and other areas the player can find many graffiti paintings of what appears to be either a Combine soldier or a Resistance member holding a baby.

Although some ideas sounded good on paper, the developers found themselves unable to find a satisfying gameplay for this area. Like the Manhack Arcade, this area didn't have a purpose strong enough to be kept.