Doing Everything a Spider-Man Game Can
Introduction
Before we do this review, there is something I need to get off my chest: I love Spider-Man. So, I may have some minor bias in writing this review. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a 2020 video game developed by Insomniac and is a spinoff to the Spider-Man game released in 2018. This game is one of the launch titles included with the PS5’s release, but since there is a greater chance of getting spider-powers than actually finding a PS5 console, I will be sticking to the PS4 version.
Setting and Plot
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is set a few months after the first game. Peter Parker(Yuri Lowenthal) decides to go on a working holiday with Mary Jane, leaving his pupil, Miles, alone to handle the city. During Peter’s absence a criminal group called the Underground, led by the mastermind known as the Tinkerer, have arisen to destroy a shady corporation called Roxxon, with the webhead-in-training getting pulled into all the commotion.
The game, while tight, felt a bit too fast-paced for my liking. Miles only just got his first costume when he suddenly met the Tinkerer and became best frenemies. Soon afterward, I found myself raiding secure high-tech military bases trying to stop the evil McGuffin from happening. I would not have minded some build-up before the Tinkerer’s grand appearance.
Characters and Performances
As you probably might have guessed, the titular Miles Morales is the protagonist of this new story and not the classic webhead, Peter Parker. Here, Miles is seen as the new guy who tries to earn the respect of the people of New York as the new Spider-Man, especially Harlem. While not as memorable as his Spider-Verse counterpart, Nadji Jeter does an exceptional job portraying the young wall-crawler, giving all the enthusiasm and smoothness that Miles is known for.
Miles comes with a whole slew of new characters, including his best friend and crime-stopping partner, Ganke. Ganke Lee, portrayed by Griffin Puatu, is known for his work as Louis from Beastars (this show is amazing, by the way), Miles with technical support from their home base while Miles is out stopping crime and even helps him by building his spider-suit.
Ganke’s portrayal reminds me a bit too much of Ned Leeds, from the MCU’s adaptation of the wall-crawler. The similarities between the two characters might just be a coincidence since Ganke debuted in the comics long before Ned made his appearance in the films. However, outside of Ganke’s tech-savviness, it is hard to tell their personalities apart.
The main villain is a character known as the Tinkerer, one of Spider-Man’s oldest adversaries who never got the same recognition as some of Spidey’s other foes. This adaptation takes a page from Spider-Verse and subverts the character a lot, giving them a fresh coat of paint.
In the comics and other media, the Tinkerer acts as a supporting villain, building and supplying weapons and gadgets for some of Spider-Man’s deadlier villains from the shadows. In this adaptation, they give the villain the role of the main antagonist of the narrative. A role that was achieved beautifully.
Then we have Miles’ uncle, Aaron Davis, portrayed by Ike Amadi. To his nephew, Aaron is a helpful and caring uncle who does nothing but encourage Miles in his new role as Spider-Man. However, he does have a darker persona in the guise of the master thief, the Prowler. He is a lot more protective of Miles than any other version of the character that I have seen and would resort to making morally grey decisions to save his nephew’s life.
Gameplay and Performance
Mechanics
Spider-Man: Miles Morales can do everything a Spider-Man game can, from majestically web-swinging across New York to webbing up enemy goons and smacking them onto walls like a Jackson Pollock painting. Miles’ controls are a bit different from Peter’s. Miles has fewer gadgets at his disposal than his counterpart, but he makes up for it with his electric fists of fury, the venom blast that can stun enemies in place.
The venom blast is a powerful attack that stuns enemies. It can be used to stun multiple enemies at once in a small variety of ways, depending on the button prompts entered by the player. The venom blast can also be quite handy for traversal, allowing the young webhead to boost across the sky with the venom jump and dash giving him an edge in the manoeuvrability department over his mentor.
I prefer using it to take down multiple opponents with the venom smash combined with webbing, creating a chain reaction that spreads to the rest of the stunned thugs, sticking them to whatever surface they happen to land on.
There will be moments when you will feel a bit outnumbered, and you might not have enough fuel in the tank to do any more venom blasts. That is where cloaking mechanic comes in handy. Just disappear right before their very eyes, leaving them confused and questioning their life decisions before their pea-brained AI sets them back to guard mode. During this time, you can play a very one-sided game of hide-and-seek and decimate the poor fellows with the game’s stealth mechanics.
On the topic of stealth, the mechanics have not changed much since Peter’s first appearance in 2018. Miles can still sneak around by crawling on ceilings or by jumping on beams above his victims and take them out by either webbing them up to a safe place or knocking them out with stealthy a flying kick.
While I like the stealth mechanics, the inclusion of the cloak makes combat feel irrelevant at times, as Miles can easily pick thugs off without anyone knowing better. If Miles does get noticed, then he can turn invisible and vanish from enemy sight, leaving them to run around clueless again. Some enemies eventually gain the ability to cancel Miles’ cloaking abilities, but that happens too close to the end of the game for it to provide a noteworthy challenge.
Now the best for last, Spider-Man’s web-swinging and traversal abilities feel refined from the previous game. One can even find little easter eggs to other Spider-Man material while performing sick stunts in the air. The web-swinging is exceptionally fun and feels like the best way to travel around the Big Apple. I think I only used fast-travel around twice throughout my entire play experience.
Content
While it is a spin-off, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is like a diet version of the original game. I was able to finish the main-campaign within a weekend and complete the rest of the side content nonchalantly in under a week.
Side Missions and Crimes
In this game, all of Miles’ crime reports come from a mobile app developed by Ganke called Friendly Neighbourhood. This app allows users to contact Miles directly and report crimes that happen to be in his vicinity or ask for assistance for a task that only a man with spider powers can fix.
Having the app be keyed with a simple left stroke of the DualShock controller’s touchpad was an ingenious UI idea. It feels like the gameplay equivalent of getting your phone out of your pocket. As a developer myself, I commend the use.
While crimes are not as varied as the previous game, they provide a lot of challenge and entertainment. The crimes range from weapon deals to armed robberies, complete with getaway cars. Eventually, the game pushes up the ante where I would have to jump into more formidable crimes like gang wars.
Swooping down and handling crimes felt unnatural at first, as Miles has a much smaller arsenal than Peter’s that led to a series of intriguing confrontations, most of which involved having some thug’s boot in my face. Outside of his everyday street thugs, Miles has to stop the rampage of two notoriously vicious gangs as well.
On one team of degenerates, we have the mercenaries hired by Roxxon Corporation as security. These soldiers function as a private military within their ranks.
On the other team, we have the Underground, a group of cyberpunk wannabes who can generate weaponry out of thin air. These guys are very unpredictable and fight similar to the demons from the first game, as their equipment and agility transform them into very versatile adversaries.
Costumes and Gadgets
As I have previously mentioned, Miles has fewer gadgets than his mentor, but they can still be useful in a pinch. He can create holographic robots to assist him while confronting multiple enemies. Shoot out electric bombs, that when detonated, can stun several enemies. Then there is my favourite: the gravity well, a force that pulls a group of enemies to a single location, which combined with a well-timed venom smash can lead to devastating and magnificent effects.
As for the costumes, discounting the Spider-Verse outfit, I did not recognise any of them. A strange comment to say, I enjoyed wearing a lot of Peter Parker’s uniforms from the previous game. Some of them, like my favourite, the Scarlet Spider hoodie, harken back to some of the earlier games on the PSone.
Miles was different since I had no idea who or what to affiliate the costumes to, I rarely swapped out of my 2099 or T.R.A.C.K outfits. I guess I am a bit too old fashioned in that department?
Collectables
There are a reasonable number of collectables in-game. There are time capsules that Miles and his friend Phin scattered around the city and Uncle Aaron’s music sampling missions. The magnificent part of these collectables is how well they are integrated into the game, where collecting them does not ruin the pacing and feels like second nature.
Challenges
Just like the previous game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales has its own set of challenges. While not as high-stakes as Peter’s with the calculating Task Master and the humorous Screwball, they are still fairly demanding nonetheless.
Peter himself sets up the challenges to train Miles, using holographic projections and robots as Miles’ opponents. There are three types of challenges, combat, stealth, and traversal and if they are all completed Miles is gifted with a hidden boss fight side mission.
Glitches
While not as bad as Days Gone in the glitch department, Spider-Man: Miles Morales did rustle my jimmies a bit when it crashed midway through a mission, forcing me to reboot the game. Otherwise, the worst bug I got was watching Spider-Man’s buttocks clapping in the bitter New York cold.
Graphics and Presentation
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a stunning game. I abused the photo mode far more than I should have, taking dozens of photos of Spidey (most of which were not very complimenting). The snow effects were also impressive. The blizzard towards the end of the game pushes the particle and light effects to their absolute limits, which makes me yearn to see them on the PS5 in their full glory.
I have been avoiding it long enough, but it is time to talk about Tom Holland‘s spliced likeness in the game. Insomniac decided to remove the original model, John Bubniak, swapping him out for better facial synergy with voice actor Yuri Lowenthal, who blames his bone structure for the change. While I accept the reasoning behind the change, staring into his face is like taking a nose dive into the hard rocky bottom of the uncanny valley.
Music and Sound
Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ themes, while sounding similar to the original, emphasise a lot more on the rhythm and beat than the orchestral melody of the former. They lean closer towards hip-hop than other Spider-Man media similar to the Spider-Verse movie, with I’m Ready by Jaden Smith, setting the mood for the rest to come.
Conclusion
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a beautifully made game which expands this universe’s lore, exciting newcomers with its magnificent design of Marvel’s New York, and surprising long-time fans with distinct and refreshing portrayals of old Spider-Man characters.
While I consider this game to be a bit too short for my liking, I loved my experience playing as Miles so I will suggest this game to whoever comes across it. If are fan of Spider-Man or have played the previous game, you owe it to yourself pick this one up and if you find that the game is a bit too expensive for the time you are getting, you can always wait until it reaches around Є40 before making a purchase.
