Game Review: Spider-Man: The Heist (DLC)

[Please note: there are full spoilers for the base Spider-man game here, as this DLC takes place after the main story.]

Release date: 2018
Version played: Playstation 4 in 2018

The first of the three-part short story takes place in the Spider-man world, The Heist begins soon after the completion of the main story. Following the takedown of Wilson Fisk, and the subsequent deformation of a sinister sextet of new enemies plaguing New York City, Spider-man finds himself curtailing the rise of the Mafia-like Maggia Crime Families, whilst simultaneously tracking an old friend and new threat, the Black Cat (Erica Lindbeck). I played this on the Ultimate difficulty, following my New Game+ completion, although the story itself takes place in a separate save file, so anything unfinished in your main campaign (Sable outposts, side missions etc.) will not hinder you here.

+ the story can be completed in just a few hours, but it has some twists and turns, even managing to throw in one mini-gut-punch along the way. The missions themselves are mostly the same as the main game, either “punch these guys” or “silently punch these guys”, with only the final mission giving me any grief – but dang, there was a lot of grief in the final mission
+ there were some pre-release discussions about how much Insomniac had changed Felicia Hardy (aka the Black Cat)’s costume, making it much less revealing and far more “tacti-cool”, but all of that dissipates once you see her in action. Lindbeck’s voice work is also exemplary, on par with that of the main game
+ the new side activities are, again, more or less more of the same. A familiar face returns to provide more Taskmaster-lite challenges, with a bit of a social media twist, and some more collectibles find themselves scattered around the place.

“I love you, but I must destroy you.”

This looks familiar…

MJ makes her return, though your opinion on that might vary

– a significant portion of the cutscenes/open world phone calls is designated to more frustrating relationship drama between Pete and MJ (though, with Black Cat on the prowl, that might be excusable)
– there are a few new suits, though none are anything special – I’d go so far as to say they are all, in fact, pretty lame. None of them have an associated suit power, either, which was a big let down, especially considering the new, tougher enemies introduced. Maybe a new suit power to deal with them, in particular, could have made sense

> one segment in particular reminded me very much of a select few Batman: Arkham Knight scenarios, and I hope to see it fleshed out a bit more in the upcoming final two portions.

Should you play this game: This was fun, but it definitely feels like it is intended to be part of one larger story – a story which, as it stands at the moment, is not available to be played in full. If the next two parts are as enjoyable as this, then sure, get them all, but for now we’ll just have to wait and see.