Spider-Man: The Heist DLC, PS4 Review

Around six weeks ago, Spider-Man dropped on the Playstation 4 and it was an unbridled success for the platform, selling 3.3 million copies in the first 3 days.

Further to that, the PS4 community have clearly spent hours and hours fulfilling their Spidey fantasy, with the game having one of the highest Platinum Trophy completion rates of any PS4 ‘AAA’ exclusive.

Suffice to say, gamers love Spidey.

Finally the first of the three part “The City That Never Sleeps” DLC has dropped and its focuses on a well-known Villain/Love interest for Spidey, Felicia Day, better known as The Black Cat.  This first chunk of DLC is aptly named “The Heist”, fitting nicely with Black Cats preferred nightly escapades as a cat-burglar.

It’s a three-four hour jaunt with a very reasonable $12.95 price tag in NZ. But it has to be said, if gamers are looking for this DLC to be a totally fresh take on the game-world, something akin to Red Dead: Undead Nightmare, Bioshock’s Minerva’s Den or Far Cry: Blood Dragon, it is not. “The Heist” is built on the same formula used to create the main Spider-Man experience, so core Spidey fans will feel right at home with it.

Spider-Man is dragged into Black Cats world of problems and he has to once again balance his personal life and super hero life. So, more of what originally made Spider-Man such a great game! That said, the three hour experience feels somewhat padded-out by the addition of new collectables and Screwball Challenges spread around the city. Both will be welcome additions for gamers who have cleaned up the main games side activities, but for me they were a bit repetitive and became a passing distraction.

The mission structure is identical to the main game. Use of detective mode, simple puzzles, stealth and open combat sequences all feature again, as well as no less than three chase sequences. One of which set on a Subway train, almost resulted in a thrown controller. What is new though, is the seriously attractive and sultry voiced Black Cat.

She uses her womanly charms on Spidey and he unwittingly becomes complicit in burglaries, starting gang wars and pissing off Mary-Jane. Black Cat’s interactions with Spider-man were probably the highlight for me, as the history between them and the uncomfortable conversations it stimulates were a joy to watch.

This DLC lacks the big set piece action of the main games campaign and isn’t long enough to build a deep narrative arc. (It does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger though). It is clear that this three part series is intended to hook gamers into a longer story, but when viewed in isolation, this DLC content is probably best compared to the Side-Missions of the main game.

So, is this worth buying…..well it’s a qualified yes.

By that I mean, if you have played the heck out of Spider-Man, finished everything there is to play and want more web-head action? Then yes, you should absolutely get in on this.