Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales, A Modest Review

(official poster)

In 2018, Marvel’s Spider-Man for PlayStation 4 hit the shelves, showing us its quality. As a huge Spider-Man fan, I was pleasantly surprised by how much effort the Insomniac Games team put into this exclusive. The gameplay gave us a blast with Spider-Man’s powers, and the story gave us a fresh perspective on the somewhat older Peter Parker. One of the most interesting characters in that story was Miles Morales, who practically became Spider-Man’s apprentice. Now, on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, Miles has received his own game in which he must take on the role of the main Spider-Man.

I’ll tell you: Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a fantastic game. I don’t mean it’s incredible just because it took and improved upon the main mechanics of the original game, but also because it presents Miles’ story in an emotional and high-quality manner. The game creators understand what makes this hero unique. Spider-Man isn’t just someone with superhero powers; he never gives up.

Speaking of giving up, DC would be better off giving up on their new Suicide Squad Game.

The Story of Spider-ManMiles Morales

The plot of Spider-Man: Miles Morales starts shortly after the end of the original game. After everything that happened to him, Miles practically took on the “second” Spider-Man role. Soon, a new threat appears in New York, and Miles must prove himself worthy of the title of Spider-Man. I haven’t revealed practically anything to you because I don’t want to spoil anything, of course. The story hides some twists and pleasant surprises, so you need to experience it with as little knowledge as possible.

I appreciate that Insomniac Games is fearless in playing with the characters and the world of Spider-Man. They are willing to insert original ideas and make their versions of such superhero stories, but they must abandon the essence of Spider-Man that makes comics great. A prime example would be a character known to those who follow comics, and I wouldn’t say he has appeared too much in the game’s marketing.

The story brilliantly plays with what you expect from this character without spoiling anything. You’re constantly on edge when that character is in the scene because you don’t know what’s happening in his head. You’re practically caught in the trap of your expectations every so often. The game frequently does these things, and that’s important because Insomniac’s Spider-Man series has to differentiate itself from other versions of this hero in different media.

The Gameplay of Spider-Man Miles Morales

Spider-Man Miles Morales is similar to its predecessor – mostly in gameplay and presentation – but Insomniac has spiced things up with some novelties. Miles has some new powers that Peter Parker didn’t possess, like invisibility and venom abilities. No, these venom powers have nothing to do with the comic book character Venom – they allow Miles to unleash electric shocks from his fingertips.

These new skills add more than enough fun to the already excellent combat system in the original Spider-Man game. Miles’ invisibility allows him to adopt a more defensive stance in battles where he’s overmatched. If you feel you can’t win a specific fight, you can become invisible and take to the skies to avoid direct confrontation.

Invisibility can also help you better use the game’s stealth elements. Because when a thug can’t see you even though you’re right in front of him – you’ll fare better with sneaking around. However, I’m glad Miles’ invisibility ability can only be used sometimes. In some games, such a mechanic would destroy the combat balance, but Insomniac has introduced restrictions that prevent you from being constantly invisible.

Firstly, when you use this ability in front of an enemy, they will start shooting blindly to hit you. Moreover, while you’re invisible, you can only knock out one thug before being discovered. The last drawback of this power is that you can only use it for a certain amount of time before it needs to “recharge”. These things help ensure that Miles can only eliminate someone without everyone noticing.

The Enemies

These moves are not only visually impressive but also crucial for winning battles. The game developers have introduced obstacles that force you to use your powers more intelligently. Spider-Man: Miles Morales introduces two new factions of enemies, and both have equipment designed to exploit your weaknesses. One type of opponent has a technologically advanced shield that blocks regular attacks, so you must save your electrified attacks for them.

The other type of enemy moves much faster than the others – only with the help of your venom dash can you take them down. 

The enemy types are more creative and quirky than in the original game. Don’t get me wrong, the Demons from Marvel’s Spider-Man were well-designed, but the Thugs Miles’s faces are on a different level. Their stylized designs and futuristic weapons resemble characters that could have come out of another Insomniac series – Ratchet and Clank.

The gameplay of Miles Morales hits the perfect pace, unlike the sometimes rushed story. You always feel like you have something to do. Missions are a great mix of quieter stealth segments, open battles against enemies, boss battles, and bombastic moments that come straight out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The boss enemies aren’t as high-quality as in the original game, but most are still very interestingly designed from a gameplay perspective.

The Look and Feel 

The bombastic moments in the game rival the outstanding productions and direction seen in games like Uncharted. The graceful way the camera moves during these action sequences is stunning. Overall, Spider-Man Miles Morales impresses with its visual presentation and spectacle displayed on the screen. I haven’t mentioned swinging mechanics or “web-swinging” much because it’s a similar case to the original game.

This movement system is one of the best in any Spider-Man game and provides pure enjoyment at every moment. However, even here, Insomniac hasn’t been lazy – although they could have just inserted the same mechanics from the previous game, Miles has specific moves he can use while swinging, like a big jump or a sprint that gives him more incredible speed. Additionally, Miles’ animations are noticeably different from those of Peter Parker.

He moves somewhat clumsily but with more playfulness. Even when you’re not performing tricks yourself, Miles will do some cute moves in the air. A lot of time has been devoted to the details. This is most evident when you look at the game’s various costumes. Many are created for this game, while others come from Miles’ comic book stories.

Still, the absolute champion is the costume from the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. I can’t describe how much I love this addition to the game. Miles in this costume has unique animations like those we saw in the masterpiece of the 2018 movie. The craziest thing is that the team at Insomniac Games managed to animate this costume at the same frame rate as Into the Spider-Verse. It’s like playing a Spider-Man game in stop-motion animation, which I liked. For those who don’t find that particularly appealing, you can turn off that unique frame rate for the costume.

In Conclusion

Ultimately, this game is worthy of the title Spider-Man. The basic gameplay mechanics, like its combat system and swinging, are still excellent, but creative ideas have been introduced that spice things up. The new powers add an exciting dimension to combat and movement, while the story is an excellent addition to Insomniac’s Spider-verse.

The dialogue and characters are charming, but the game’s emotional core lies in the protagonist, Miles Morales. I’m glad that the game developers are just as big fans of Spider-Man as the players who will play this. The next game centred around everyone’s favourite web-slinger will be of equally high quality.

Spider-Man Miles Morales has an ESRB rating of T. Players combat underground gangs and villains to save New York City, utilizing melee combat and special electricity-based attacks while navigating through swinging around buildings. The game contains scenes of violence, including characters being beaten and killed, as well as references to drug-related activities and some coarse language in the dialogue. This is why we recommend something other than this to our younger players.

We would rate Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales a 9 out of 10.