Highlands of Despair is... WOW, man! And given the way this penultimate level unfolds and the fact that the campaign isn't complete yet, this level actually "concludes" things better than the current final level... although no one is going to complain about having one more level for
BI, either!
The start has a very "end of the game"-type of atmosphere: dead human bodies as well as bits of human bodies litter the ground amid rampant hell symbols... and the transmission from Polaris Command conveys an urgent feeling. There are also a few communicator messages from dead human soldiers (and even one from an associated downed aircraft) scattered about the map, and that adds credibility to the story's buildup. You know it's going to be epicness incarnate, all the more when you realise this is a redux of
Edge of Na Pali (you go "backwards" this time round). It is also night-time in hell: you can see the stars and that's cool and incidently, it makes the map really dark in places (I was glad I got a new searchlight!).
It is kind of a grind to get through this amazing setting, but the level's variety and sheer
generosity keeps things interesting: I had to go through so much
crazy shit but I couldn't believe I had to fight several successive Archdemons!! But you're not completely on your own: at one point, the team waiting for you on top of the cliff (next to what used to be known as UMS-Chantilly) attacks two Archdemons and destroys them for you in the process! Of course, initially you cannot directly join the team for extraction. The fact that you can eventually explore all the grounds that were available in the original map is awesome (and naturally recommended for extra loot).
Once you get to the "end" of the canyon (what was actually the starting area of the original map), things fall quiet and renewed anticipation takes over you... entering that hellish circular chamber, the sky suddenly taking on a more vivid quality, you obtain the "Icon of Sin" and, dreading what should come next, you start to walk back outside...
And get one of the single coolest moments of the whole campaign! Accompanied by a suitable track, you see a hell frigate and several fighter aircraft flying above the scene in the distance! It's awe-inspiring and really adds to the player's experience...
And that's when you realise your troubles are far from over. In the absence of any clear indication as to what to do next, you make your way back to the canyon - where lava has now flooded the lower grounds and I for one got more than I'd bargained for!
Seriously, how was I to know those PentaPower powerups were
actual powerups?! They look evil!! Turns out that with all the mess erupting around me, I first figured those were Doom Orbs or something... Which means I didn't pick any up at first, and dealt with the first wave without the x7 damage boost; I ran out of steam once I got to the second wave; that is when I realised I had made matters more complicated for myself! I had to reload and start again from my save in the circular chamber - that means one hour of playing time for "nought"! But I sure was happy to see those Archdemons go down with 3 pentapowered Beams!
I made it, in the end; took me
6 hours (5 hours if you don't count the lost game time), which makes this the longest-playing map that I've played in the whole of
Unreal/UT (more than
Skaarj Tower/Skaarj Castle, both of which took over 4 hours to complete, and even a bit more than
UMS Solaris which took me five and a half hours!)... frankly, this is an extremely hard map. Although
Realm of Corruption is still a tad harder (and, IMO, better),
Highlands of Despair is
BI's longest map.
And I rate this map as highly as
Frostclaw Outpost. Music is varied and well-chosen, and alternates nicely with silence. The end of the level is great, too: you finally arrive at the "UMS-Chantilly" crash site, and that mysterious "persona" I have referred to before makes its most striking intervention yet: you learn that you were fooled into bringing back a battery (the "Icon of Sin") for the latter's "Keggerator" and all you get is a keg full of fucked up blood for your troubles!
It is tongue-in-cheek in a way, but also opens up exciting perspectives for the story in the future
The v5.03 campaign could have ended here that it wouldn't have shocked anyone.