“BLACK CAT’S BACK, ALRIGHT!”
That was sung to the tune of Backstreet Boy’s classic track, ‘Everybody’, if you didn’t get the reference.
Unlike the song which has had no follow-up since its release though (plot-wise of course), Marvel’s Spider-Man sees its first DLC released close to 2 months after it swung into our lives.
And now he’s bringing another friend with him.
The City That Never Sleeps awakens with its first episode, The Heist, in Marvel’s Spider-Man, exclusively for PlayStation 4.Spider-Man’s ex-girlfriend Felicia Hardy (Erica Lindbeck), also known as the Black Cat, returns to New York for a heist which draws him into a conflict with the Maggia crime families.With new story missions, challenges, enemies, trophies and costumes; The city that never sleeps sees Spider-Man preparing to fight for it city once more.
DLC is a polarising product; It either satisfies an audience, or it’s never enough.
I personally enjoyed the 30 hours I already had with Spider-Man, so anything more was always going to be impossibly biased on my part.
Refilling Spidey’s web-shooters so to speak, Peter Parker takes on the night as Black Cat returns to basically make stuff uncomfortable for him. Taking Spidey on an adventure that sees the consequences of Kingpin’s capture continue to flood the city, Black Cat plays impossibly close to her comic counterpart with not only her ability to get under his skin, but also into any building that needs a thieving.
Coincidentally turning up at a location that MJ sends ol’ webhead to, chaos descends upon the scene as the Maggia turn up with new enemies in tow that honestly…HONESTLY…if you thought “hey, they could make brutes harder”, then you can get in the sea because these new brutes…”Son. Just don’t.”.
Criss-crossing the city after, you’ll find more crime to stop with some new variety in the mix; New challenges courtesy of everyone’s favourite internet star, Screwball, and a tonne of Black Cat shenanigans because well…it’s about the heist. Missing the opportunity to allow players to control the Cat, it does produce some nice tag-team moments along the way, with an excellent stealth mission toward its conclusion.
Coming in at a healthy 5 hour mark for full-completion, The Heist posits The City That Never Sleeps in a position where the overall package could produce a run-time equivalent to half of the full title. And yeah sure, THAT ending can be staged as a “comeback for more!” call-to-action, but you know what?
I’ll bloody be back for more Spider-Man.
Summary
The Heist presents a serene episode that concludes itself asking questions of the next episode in The City That Never Sleeps series.
And I won't be sleeping until I see the end of it either.
XENOJAY.COM was supplied with a media copy of the game for review by Sony, and it was played on the Playstation 4 Pro console.
