Game Review: Spider-Man: Turf Wars (DLC)

[Please note: there are full spoilers here for the base Spider-man game, and the first part of the DLC trifecta.]

Release date: 2018
Version played: Playstation 4 in 2018

Part two of the three-part DLC story series, Turf Wars, picks up soon after the completion of the first section, The Heist. With Black Cat presumed dead, and Hammerhead (veteran voice actor Keith SIlverstein) looking to take control of the Maggia crime families, Spider-man and Yuri Watanabe (once more Tara Platt) must work together to put a stop to the mob in-fighting.

+ Yuri Watanabe takes a main role, and her story is one that may be leading her down the path to that of her comicbook counterpart. Aside from Platt’s again great voice work, the animators deserve some credit for the range of emotions Watanabe portrayed in cut scenes
+ Hammerhead finally make his appearance, and while he is only part of one combat segment, it is clear they have some big plans for him. As far as character work goes, I really enjoyed Silverstein’s voice, and the more realistic look did him well
+ a new enemy type appears, a combination of the jetpack Sable agents and the shield grunts. Their speed, and the fact they are still combined with other enemies, often with guns or those annoying minigun brutes, make for some frantic and very close-cut battle segments

This is a darker story for Yuri Watanabe (Tara Platt)

I am still madly in love with this camera mode. Seriously.

– like the first portion of the DLC, this can be completed in just an hour or two. The reason it here is negative is that there is very little story between the missions, with none of the Spider-man-centric emotional roller-coaster from that.
– there are the same old Speedball challenges, and new “Hammerhead Fronts” to take down, though the latter are just more hectic versions of the Demon Warehouses. A little more variety could have helped this stand out a bit more

> Spidey makes a reference to a guy he knows with a shield (ie. Captain America, I’m sure), but I thought it was implied in the main game he hadn’t met the Avengers?

Should you play this game: The void left by Black Cat’s flirty attitude, and the lack of a personal story for Spider-man (and by proxy the player) meant this felt like a letdown. It sets up some big things for the final part of the DLC trio, but as a standalone offering there is not much to dig into.