So you collected all the backpacks, took pictures of all of the landmarks, tracked down all of the pigeons, painstakingly did all of the side missions and finally finished the game. Now what?
Well, I’ll tell you what, it’s DLC time.
“Spider-Man – The Heist” is the latest downloadable content (DLC) story mission to be released out of the “City Never Sleeps” DLC Trilogy. While it’s great to have new content for a game that has been only been out for a month, the DLC could have been improved.
“The Heist” takes place after the main campaign. New York’s crime families have resurfaced to take control of the Big Apple after the defeat of the “Sinister Six.” Mary Jane gets a lead that crime family “The Maggia,” led by Hammerhead, is after a priceless painting located at Manhattan Museum of Contemporary Art.
After a few rounds of henchmen pummeling, it’s apparent that they’re not the only ones who are after the painting. Anti-hero/master thief Black Cat (Felicia Hardy) is back in town and working for Hammerhead. It’s revealed why Spider-Man’s old tango partner is working for a lowlife like Hammerhead. So if you like love triangles and gang wars, then this is the DLC for you.
The DLC itself is treated as its own thing in a sense. You have your main story and your DLC story that you are allowed to switch between in the Character menu. The system itself is very seamless. Insomniac made it this way because of all the changes to they made to the world.
The whole DLC happens at night and all the occurring crime activities have been replaced with Maggia crimes. Challenge missions have been replaced with that annoying Internet criminal Screwball. A new form of collectible has been added in the form of finding stolen art by the original black cat Walter Harty. Other than that, it’s more of the same. Much of the enemies behave the same way as they do in the main story, the only exception being the new enemy with the miniature gun who is a huge pain to deal with.
One new mechanic that is introduced for a brief period of time towards the end is the buddy takedown. You could command Black Cat to stealthily take down enemies. This buddy takedown offers an alternative way to combat an enemy. While not necessary, I appreciate the option.
You briefly play as Mary Jane for a very small portion in the game and even catch up with Miles through phone conversation throughout the DLC. The Heist comes with three new unlockable suits: Spiderman UK, Scarlet Spider II suit and an Insomniac original Resilient suit. While these suits don’t come with special suit powers, it’s nice to have the new edition especially when you discover how easily you get the suits.
Overall the DLC feels a little flat, like the introduction to a three-part DLC. It’s nice to see Black Cat in a Spider-Man video game again and in a way that is accurate to the comic books. The DLC ultimately ends on a cliffhanger which pretty much sums up the entire experience. It’s still in the tone of the game, so you’re going to have fun no matter what. However, the DLC left me wanting something new instead of a mechanic you can only use for five minutes, reskinned enemies and new challenge missions.
The next DLC story mission “Turf Wars” drops sometime in November.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Alex Coba can be reached at [email protected] or @ThatOneGuyCoba on Twitter.
