Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review

It’s no secret that the PS4 exclusive Spider-Man was a huge success when it came out in 2018. After a long drought with no notable games from the wall-crawler, the game proved to be a breath of fresh air. Not only did it provide really fun gameplay, but its story was extremely compelling and is what many call the definitive Spider-Man story. Although it doesn’t have the pressure of being a full sequel, Spider-Man: Miles Morales does have some relatively big shoes to fill. Does it succeed in expanding upon the original and feeling like its own game? Yes… and no.

Presentation

It comes as no surprise that Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a gorgeous looking game. The game succeeds in creating an extremely detailed and lively snow-covered Manhattan. Even beyond raw graphical fidelity, the game sets itself apart from 2018’s Spider-Man with its own unique visual flares. Miles Morales makes the most out of its distinct color palette. Whether I was swinging by the orange coated Hudson River at sunset, or blasting past the stark signs of Times Square during the night, the game’s environments are made that much more stunning through these touches. Even combat is made extremely visually engaging, as the bright oranges of Miles’s bioelectricity contrast with the neon purples and reds donned by his enemies.

Source: Newsweek

In terms of performance, the PS4 version of Miles Morales proved to be a mixed bag at the time of launch. The game was riddled with various bugs, such as certain sound effects, music, and dialog not playing, parts of the map that wouldn’t load in, menu functions not working, and the notorious Spider-Block. Since then, many of these glitches have been patched, but I would be lying if I said they didn’t sour my initial playthrough of the game at times. Overall, the game still runs pretty well on the PS4. The PS5 version of Miles Morales, on the other hand, runs like a dream. Marveling at the real-time reflections and ray-tracing in the game’s “Fidelity Mode” as well as swinging through the streets in a smooth 60 frames-per-second in “Performance Mode” were both fantastic experiences. Players can now get the best of both worlds with the new “Performance RT” mode, which sacrifices overall resolution in order to provide both 60 FPS and ray-tracing. Additionally, the game’s already short load screens on the PS4 version are now nonexistent on the PS5.

Source: The Verge

Gameplay

Those who have played 2018’s Spider-Man will feel very comfortable picking up Miles Morales. The core gameplay is pretty much the same between the two, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. All of what worked in the original game is present here as well, such as the stellar web-swinging and addictive combat. These mechanics are elevated and iterated upon through Miles’s bioelectricity powers. His unique abilities made the game’s already diverse combat toolset even more fun, as he can launch several enemies up into the air, perform a devastating “venom strike” on enemies, turn invisible, and more. These powers also translated pretty well into the web-swinging mechanics, allowing Miles to gain either altitude or velocity while mid-air. Additionally, Miles Morales cuts out the less fun aspects seen in the first game, such as the boring stealth sections and uninspired puzzles. Unfortunately, I found that Miles’s selection of gadgets felt way too stripped down compared to Peter’s. While I did think that the original game’s gadgets were a bit excessive, Miles Morales has only half as many. The gadgets that Miles does have also don’t prove to be as useful or fun to use.

Source: The Verge

The open world NYC makes a return with slight improvements, specifically in Harlem, to make it feel more fleshed out. My absolute favorite thing to do is to aimlessly swing around the city. The swinging mechanics aren’t necessarily deep, but are fun and satisfying nonetheless. Miles’s swinging animations are also really engaging. Thankfully, players won’t have to unlock parts of the map through progression since the entire city is open from the start of the game. Additionally, it’s littered with different collectibles. While they’re not particularly fun to collect, they provide some interesting micro-stories that add to Miles Morales’s overall narrative. The side missions, on the other hand, are pretty engaging. Most of them feature their own little narrative arcs with different citizens of New York. These missions really helped flesh out the environment and made the NPCs feel like real people. Overall, Miles Morales doesn’t completely reinvent or heavily innovate on the core gameplay structures of the original Spider-Man, but it makes just enough changes to make it feel like its own game.

Source: Tom’s Guide

Story

Spider-Man: Miles Morales’s biggest drawback is its overall length. The game is less than half as long as the original and can be beat in well under ten hours. This makes it feel more like a DLC expansion rather than a full stand-alone title at times. Unfortunately, this does also negatively affect Miles Morales’s story as some characters, namely the main villain, aren’t given nearly enough time to feel fully fleshed out and have a lasting effect on the player. The game does, however, attempt to characterize the neighborhood of Harlem through its diverse residents and, at times, is successful in doing so. I enjoyed seeing the connections Miles made with his neighbors grow throughout the game, even though it felt a bit rushed. 

Source: NDTV Gadgets 360

Speaking of Miles, he is by far the best aspect of this game’s story. Although it seems obvious, seeing that he is the title character, Miles is portrayed near perfectly. The underdog story of Miles getting used to his powers and becoming his own unique Spider-Man is extremely endearing and relatable. As interesting and fresh as it was to see a more aged and experienced Peter, experiencing a new Spider-Man origin through Miles is still great. He’s an extremely fun character with a distinct personality. Spider-Man: Miles Morales has given a great start for its lead character and I can’t wait to see where his story takes him in subsequent games.

Source: CNN

Verdict

I very much enjoyed my time with Spider-Man: Miles Morales. The gameplay proved to be a lot of fun with its new additions. The game’s story, unfortunately, didn’t find as much success but was still able to provide a really great character in Miles. Despite not making any heavy innovations, Spider-Man: Miles Morales takes some steps in the right direction for this new and exciting series.