Insomniac's Spider-Man for PS4 releases on September 7th

[CrimsonEchidna]

Just finished Turf Wars. Definitely felt like the middle part of a trilogy.

spoilers:

The unfortunate side effect of these DLC stories being so short is I felt Yuri's downfall here felt really rushed. Like, I definitely think they did a good enough job pushing her over the edge, but it would have felt better if this came over the course of more stuff getting thrown at her.

end of spoilers

I'm also kind of over Screwball.

[SuperiorIronman]

So I come back from some JW content and I did some more Screwball challenges.

So what the Hell was that?
The structure of the building (the hostage is on ground level) means that if you go the way the camera forcibly orients Spider-man, you want to go up. What's more is that since the A.I can aim just about anywhere, means that if you take out the first guy you can immediately get caught forcing a restart. Now this isn't going to b a problem for everyone, but this is structured in such a way that you pass him or you don't.

I'm starting to come under the impression that a different level and enemy designer was brought onboard for this DLC.

Edit-Whose bright idea was it to take the camera away from the player every time they saw something like a camera? I've seen this multiple times in a single run so I don't know if it's a glitch or what, but it's dumb.

Also hit a thug with impact webbing and Spidey teleported into the middle of a camera so he got caught, never mind that I was previously on a rooftop and the camera was ground level. The challenge was almost complete as well. *screaming

[WebSlingWonder]

Just finished Turf Wars. Definitely felt like the middle part of a trilogy.

spoilers:

The unfortunate side effect of these DLC stories being so short is I felt Yuri's downfall here felt really rushed. Like, I definitely think they did a good enough job pushing her over the edge, but it would have felt better if this came over the course of more stuff getting thrown at her.

end of spoilers

I'm also kind of over Screwball.

spoilers:

I thought the same thing, but if you complete all the Hammerhead bases, MJ will talk about how Yuri's father was on the take with Hammerhead, and she harbors vengeance against him for that. It's an interesting story beat that flashes had out, despite my wishing that it should have been in the DLC main story.

end of spoilers

[SuperiorIronman]

Well if I can't 100% clear it, I will just clear the main beats and I'll say this, I did not have fun.

-The enemy design is bad
-The enemy placement is bad
-Bringing back Screwball for this and nonetheless in the middle of a cop drama was an idiotic decision.
-The story is also far too short for what it wants to do and the fact that I have to do side activities to find this information out is bad, and it's also not enough given Yuri never acts like this in the main game despite spoilers:

the bombing and death of Jefferson Davis

end of spoilers
-The inciting incident despite it's impact on Spider-man is also paid nothing but lip-service in the opening

I just don't know who dropped the ball on this part of the story. And to make this all the more clear with my frustrations, story-wise, the main game did better setting up its antagonist and showing us how we got here. You can go back to that location over the course of the game and see our villain slowly break down and while it isn't clear what is doing this to them (maybe all of it), there is still a clear progression from friend to enemy and it's clearly conveyed to the player through scenery and the narrative.

spoilers:

The final boss fight is bad. Sure it has an easy means of completion if you can make the right build, but nothing suggests this to the player or if it is, it's not clearly communicated. As well as it doesn't feel right. Hammerhead is already depicted as a monster of a human being who is strong enough to take grown men by the throat and kill them with one hand. So he should be enough of a combatant for Spider-man and yet he's in that dumb (also not gun-metal, it's white) suit. The suit is really just a boss-fight equivalent of the jetpack enemy. And yet I have no idea if that build I used to beat Hammehead even works for them so I don't know if the practice for the fight is supposed to come from them or what. It makes sense Yuri would be the one to put him down as well given the narrative setup, but it just kind of happens as her personality shifts from seen it all but 100% ready to do justice to the Punisher. A bomber killed cops and officials, a fat guy with grabbers launched a terror attack on the city, but this is what breaks Yuri?

end of spoilers

I also can't let go of the various glitches I encountered;
-Spider-man teleporting into lines of sight
-Enemies shooting through walls
-Spider-man getting hit by enemies that aren't visible
-Rocket Launcher warning pings never going off
-The Spider-sense not activating so I don't know to dodge things off screen
-Forcibly losing control of the camera despite having seen something already and Spidey repeating dialogue
-Texture muddying

This game can also go to Hell for that after credits sequence. Way to take a **** all over your narrative.

There is hardly a single thing that went right here. Mostly they got the costumes right.

The Spider armor Mark 1 looks great
The Iron Spider having a little ARC reator visible is also a cute touch

Otherwise if you haven't bought the DLC yet, if you can, steer clear of this part. It's bad.

F-
Not even the good costumes can save this as I just did not have fun with this. Story is weak, gameplay is bad, it's just a bad time.

[WebSlingWonder]

Well if I can't 100% clear it, I will just clear the main beats and I'll say this, I did not have fun.

-The enemy design is bad
-The enemy placement is bad
-Bringing back Screwball for this and nonetheless in the middle of a cop drama was an idiotic decision.
-The story is also far too short for what it wants to do and the fact that I have to do side activities to find this information out is bad, and it's also not enough given Yuri never acts like this in the main game despite spoilers:

the bombing and death of Jefferson Davis

end of spoilers
-The inciting incident despite it's impact on Spider-man is also paid nothing but lip-service in the opening

I just don't know who dropped the ball on this part of the story. And to make this all the more clear with my frustrations, story-wise, the main game did better setting up its antagonist and showing us how we got here. You can go back to that location over the course of the game and see our villain slowly break down and while it isn't clear what is doing this to them (maybe all of it), there is still a clear progression from friend to enemy and it's clearly conveyed to the player through scenery and the narrative.

spoilers:

The final boss fight is bad. Sure it has an easy means of completion if you can make the right build, but nothing suggests this to the player or if it is, it's not clearly communicated. As well as it doesn't feel right. Hammerhead is already depicted as a monster of a human being who is strong enough to take grown men by the throat and kill them with one hand. So he should be enough of a combatant for Spider-man and yet he's in that dumb (also not gun-metal, it's white) suit. The suit is really just a boss-fight equivalent of the jetpack enemy. And yet I have no idea if that build I used to beat Hammehead even works for them so I don't know if the practice for the fight is supposed to come from them or what. It makes sense Yuri would be the one to put him down as well given the narrative setup, but it just kind of happens as her personality shifts from seen it all but 100% ready to do justice to the Punisher. A bomber killed cops and officials, a fat guy with grabbers launched a terror attack on the city, but this is what breaks Yuri?

end of spoilers

I also can't let go of the various glitches I encountered;
-Spider-man teleporting into lines of sight
-Enemies shooting through walls
-Spider-man getting hit by enemies that aren't visible
-Rocket Launcher warning pings never going off
-The Spider-sense not activating so I don't know to dodge things off screen
-Forcibly losing control of the camera despite having seen something already and Spidey repeating dialogue
-Texture muddying

This game can also go to Hell for that after credits sequence. Way to take a **** all over your narrative.

There is hardly a single thing that went right here. Mostly they got the costumes right.

The Spider armor Mark 1 looks great
The Iron Spider having a little ARC reator visible is also a cute touch

Otherwise if you haven't bought the DLC yet, if you can, steer clear of this part. It's bad.

F-
Not even the good costumes can save this as I just did not have fun with this. Story is weak, gameplay is bad, it's just a bad time.

Wow, who pissed in your cheerios?

[Not BAMF]

So I just got this game somewhat recently. I'm only at level 10 so far. I'm barely even playing the game; just trying to cover all the map and get all the landmarks, backpacks, Fisk sites, and towers. That alone is a LOT of work. I already see some things I have access to asking for "Research Tokens" or "Challenge Tokens", and I have no idea what those are.

A lot of fun, though!

[WebSlingWonder]

So I just got this game somewhat recently. I'm only at level 10 so far. I'm barely even playing the game; just trying to cover all the map and get all the landmarks, backpacks, Fisk sites, and towers. That alone is a LOT of work. I already see some things I have access to asking for "Research Tokens" or "Challenge Tokens", and I have no idea what those are.

A lot of fun, though!

The game is fun! Great too! And for the Research and Challenge tokens, you'll see what those are the more you play.

[Personamanx]

Beat the new DLC at 100%. Honestly it wasn't all that enjoyable. The game itself is still fun but the story was kind of a miss, and it's frustratingly difficult. I can appreciate a challenge, but they are going way over board. The first Hammerhead base is far more difficult than any encounter in the main game, and that wasn't even while trying to ultimate it (I did end up doing that, but just surviving the fifth wave took me Five attempts).

[WebSlingWonder]

Beat the new DLC at 100%. Honestly it wasn't all that enjoyable. The game itself is still fun but the story was kind of a miss, and it's frustratingly difficult. I can appreciate a challenge, but they are going way over board. The first Hammerhead base is far more difficult than any encounter in the main game, and that wasn't even while trying to ultimate it (I did end up doing that, but just surviving the fifth wave took me Five attempts).

I will agree on the insane difficulty that this DLC had. That grew increasingly frustrating. My main playthrough was on Amazing difficulty and I still died four times in the bases and the Hammerhead boss fight. That said, still enjoyable.

[Theleviathan]

I just want to say, as an X-men fan that has never been all that keen on Spidey, this game was truly a thrill. It might be my favorite superhero game of all time, the only one that comes close is the original Arkham.

Congrats, I'm jealous your favorite hero has such a jewel of a game paying testament to him. And I enjoyed the hell out of playing it through several times now.

[WebSlingWonder]

I just want to say, as an X-men fan that has never been all that keen on Spidey, this game was truly a thrill. It might be my favorite superhero game of all time, the only one that comes close is the original Arkham.

Congrats, I'm jealous your favorite hero has such a jewel of a game paying testament to him. And I enjoyed the hell out of playing it through several times now.

Glad to see a fellow fan!

[Frontier]

Thoughts on "Turf Wars":

spoilers:

- So who'll get the intro board for the next DLC? Miles? Peter? -"Hammerhead just made it personal today." So blowing up Felicia didn't already make it personal? I can't believe the intro is the only time she's mentioned in the whole game. I mean, if Peter's not sure she's dead, that's one thing, but it really makes it seem like he didn't really care about her if he doesn't bring her up once when he's going toe-to-toe with Hammerhead. - "The Bar With No Name" was cool to see but I was disappointed they didn't try and work in some cameos. Like, I get they probably couldn't design and then incorporate a bunch of C-list villains at the drop of a hat for some DLC, but an appearance from Boomerang would've been nice. - I'm guessing "Silver Linings" will conclude this Screwball "storyline" (if you can call it that). They better make finally busting her really satisfying this time around with how annoying her challenges are. - Miles jumping off a bridge to test his powers was pretty stupid. Like, if he actually had webbing I could understand it, but otherwise that was as dumb as when cartoon Miles told people where he lived on live TV. I get this enthusiasm, but the main game made him out to be a lot smarter then this. - I know the one thing that separates Yuri from the other police captains in Spider-Man's life is that she's also a vigilante who goes off the rails, but her development in this DLC felt like something that should have happened over the course of each one instead of being barely 50-minutes into this DLC's story. She goes from Spidey's steadfast, confident, and effective police confidante to the Punisher in a very short amount of time and without a lot of build up. Granted, I guess Wraith will help them get around not being able to use the Punisher. - It's weird to see them do a big Maggia/Hammerhead story and not mention or use Silvermane at all. Was he mentioned in the Jonah podcast? I haven't heard them all yet. - I guess the dev's wanted to do something different from the average Hammerhead boss fight where he just charges at you by making him charge at you...in a jetpack. But he really looked kind of goofy in that armor. I guess "Project Olympus" was an attempt at a metal apparatus that could grant someone a kind of quasi-immortality by letting them be revived through electricity (like Zeus' lightning). It explains why Hammerhead kept talking about "long-term plans." - So...what was stopping those two officers from preventing Yuri from killing Hammerhead? I mean, she was going to murder him, the least they could have done was pull their guns on her or try and tackle her before she got to him. It's not like they were incapacitated like Spidey was. - I doubt Yuri is going to keep her job after she basically murdered a guy in cold blood (even if he was revived), and might have been arrested for all we know, so I'm assuming the NYPD need a new captain. Is this where Insomniac will finally introduce George Stacy? - I'm guessing "Silver Linings" is going to be about Silver Sable coming back to deal with Hammerhead appropriating her organization's tech.

end of spoilers

[WebSlingWonder]

Thoughts on "Turf Wars":

spoilers:

- So who'll get the intro board for the next DLC? Miles? Peter? -"Hammerhead just made it personal today." So blowing up Felicia didn't already make it personal? I can't believe the intro is the only time she's mentioned in the whole game. I mean, if Peter's not sure she's dead, that's one thing, but it really makes it seem like he didn't really care about her if he doesn't bring her up once when he's going toe-to-toe with Hammerhead. - "The Bar With No Name" was cool to see but I was disappointed they didn't try and work in some cameos. Like, I get they probably couldn't design and then incorporate a bunch of C-list villains at the drop of a hat for some DLC, but an appearance from Boomerang would've been nice. - I'm guessing "Silver Linings" will conclude this Screwball "storyline" (if you can call it that). They better make finally busting her really satisfying this time around with how annoying her challenges are. - Miles jumping off a bridge to test his powers was pretty stupid. Like, if he actually had webbing I could understand it, but otherwise that was as dumb as when cartoon Miles told people where he lived on live TV. I get this enthusiasm, but the main game made him out to be a lot smarter then this. - I know the one thing that separates Yuri from the other police captains in Spider-Man's life is that she's also a vigilante who goes off the rails, but her development in this DLC felt like something that should have happened over the course of each one instead of being barely 50-minutes into this DLC's story. She goes from Spidey's steadfast, confident, and effective police confidante to the Punisher in a very short amount of time and without a lot of build up. Granted, I guess Wraith will help them get around not being able to use the Punisher. - It's weird to see them do a big Maggia/Hammerhead story and not mention or use Silvermane at all. Was he mentioned in the Jonah podcast? I haven't heard them all yet. - I guess the dev's wanted to do something different from the average Hammerhead boss fight where he just charges at you by making him charge at you...in a jetpack. But he really looked kind of goofy in that armor. I guess "Project Olympus" was an attempt at a metal apparatus that could grant someone a kind of quasi-immortality by letting them be revived through electricity (like Zeus' lightning). It explains why Hammerhead kept talking about "long-term plans." - So...what was stopping those two officers from preventing Yuri from killing Hammerhead? I mean, she was going to murder him, the least they could have done was pull their guns on her or try and tackle her before she got to him. It's not like they were incapacitated like Spidey was. - I doubt Yuri is going to keep her job after she basically murdered a guy in cold blood (even if he was revived), and might have been arrested for all we know, so I'm assuming the NYPD need a new captain. Is this where Insomniac will finally introduce George Stacy? - I'm guessing "Silver Linings" is going to be about Silver Sable coming back to deal with Hammerhead appropriating her organization's tech.

end of spoilers

Ah, at least two of your concerns is answered in the Hammerhead bases:

spoilers:

In the bases, MJ uncovers the secret files and finds that Hammerhead was obsessed with Yuri, and she was too. She made her career busting Maggia fronts and targeting Hammerhead thanks to her Dad being on the take with him. It's why she harbored so much anger. I really wish they mentioned this in the main story. The other question of Silvermane: he is mentioned as the former owner of the Maggia base Hammerhead was using - also called out for being just as ruthless as Hammerhead too.

end of spoilers

[Snoop Dogg]

Thoughts on "Turf Wars":

spoilers:

- It's weird to see them do a big Maggia/Hammerhead story and not mention or use Silvermane at all.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

He gets mentioned in a Hammerhead base. I can see him turning up for the final arc.

end of spoilers

[Snoop Dogg]

I enjoyed this DLC a lot more than the first. The really punishing difficulty was cool for the warehouses, I really had to strategize during my first one and it took me a long time. The challenges were a little wonky with how guys tended to inconsistently walk around, but my troubles with the combat challenges were more me forgetting how to quickly take people out (Web Bombs). Also it has a better and more climactic ending. Really disliked the suits here, though. Don't see how one could use Mangaverse when it looks so silly in cutscenes, and the other two are weak to me. I'm hungry for Superior, really hope they don't let me down here.

spoilers:

I don't feel like the Yuri stuff was abrupt because they established her history with the Maggia and very justifiable reason for gunning for him, so him in particular pushing her over the edge quickly made sense. But that info being in optional stuff is questionable. But also, he killed a ton of her co-workers, twice. I can see anyone losing it over that, especially as she must've felt super guilty. And whether we get full Wraith or not, I'm liking that they're going in this direction with her. And Hammerhead reviving is fine if he can come in for the real climax next month. Really liked the story here, and glad there was a boss fight. (Pretty sure after several tries I was never able to dodge Hammerhead's opening dash. Not once!)

end of spoilers