Last month, Insomniac Games released Marvel’s Spider-Man: The Heist, the highly anticipated first chapter of Marvel’s Spider-Man: The City Never Sleeps DLC expansion. While they did an exceptional job on their iteration of The Black Cat character, there were plenty of lingering questions left after an explosive (pun intended) cliffhanger ending.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Turf Wars continues where The Heist left off and revolves around a brutal gang war that threats to rip New York City apart. After turning his back on Black Cat, Hammerhead sets his sights on the Dons of the Maggia crime family and steals Sable International equipment to eliminate their entire organization once and for all. Spider-Man teams up with Police Chief Yuri Watanabe in order to stop the iconic villain and prevent the war from spiraling out of control.
Turf Wars works well enough as a decent storyline but is a much shorter chapter than The Heist. The single most interesting aspect about this middle chapter lies within how Yuri Watanabe is transformed into a foe right before our eyes. She has a deep obsession with Hammerhead that only intensifies further after his actions lead to several of her squadmates dying. By the end of this chapter, we’re still left asking questions like what’s her past relationship with Hammerhead and where’s Black Cat? Hopefully, all of these questions and more will be answered when Marvel’s Spider-Man: Silver Lining DLC drops next month.
Gameplay aesthetics remain the same for Turf Wars with the exception that weapons and shields used by Sable International are now being used by Hammerhead and his henchmen. The majority of your time will be spent fighting bad guys rather than using science to solve problems and that will be a noticeable change for those who favor combat over everything else. Peter also conducts some investigative work in this chapter on his own and with the use of spider-bot but its very minimal so as to keep the intensity level high from start to finish. Lastly, Peter does have more audio conversations with Miles that give hints as to where things are going and since Peter is the only playable character in this chapter, it’s very likely that Miles may appear in the next chapter.
In terms of additional activities, Turf Wars offers much less content than The Heist and therefore, you’ll be able to complete everything quicker. In addition to the return of Screwball Challenges, you’ll now have to invade Hammerhead fronts and stop crimes being conducted by his men throughout five different districts including Hell’s Kitchen, Upper East Side, Central Park, Upper West Side, and Harlem. There are some variations to these crimes but they as a whole aren’t too dramatically different from the crime side content already found in the base game. The three new suits that you unlock are also a cool bonus for those who enjoy alternating attire regularly.
As a standalone chapter, Turf Wars is good but not quite as strong as the chapter that came before it. If you purchased the season pass for $24.99 then I would say that you’ve got the best value for your money as you’re guaranteed a final conclusion to the entire story next month. On the flip side, if you enjoy the action-packed gameplay that Spider-Man has to offer more than the scientist element, then you definitely will enjoy this DLC more than The Heist.
In closing, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Turf Wars is another good chapter in the ongoing series. While the short length and lack of concrete answers may disappoint some, its evident that Insomniac are setting things up for a spectacular conclusion. Luckily we won’t have to wait too much longer to see where Peter Parker’s complicated relationships and adventures go from here.
This review was written based on a digital review copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Turf Wars for the PlayStation 4 provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
