Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Developer: Insomniac Games

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5

Available on: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

Insomniac Games struck gold when they released Marvel’s Spider-Man back in 2018. The game offered a fresh take on the Spider-Man universe with a deeply compelling story, while also being home to the best gameplay for the web-swinger. Two years later, the team is back with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a smaller title that manages to improve on its predecessor in every way.

Taking place one year after the conclusion of the previous game, Miles Morales has been training alongside Peter Parker to become his own Spider-Man. When Peter goes away for a few weeks to Symkaria with Mary Jane as part of a Daily Bugle job, the responsibility of protecting New York falls to Miles as he becomes the city’s only Spider-Man. Trouble quickly makes itself known in the form two groups. The Roxxon Energy Corporation, a tech company that’s making inroads in Miles’ Harlem community, and a high-tech gang known as The Underground. They’re led by the Tinkerer in a fight to bring down Roxxon by whatever means necessary. It’s up to none other than Miles to put a stop to both groups and make sure New York stays in one piece.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a smaller scale title than 2018’s game, but it’s a far more focused and emotionally powerful one as a result. Miles is the star here, and the game does a really good job making him a character that we can relate to and connect with on multiple levels. It doesn’t take long either, as from the first moments of the game we’re already getting a glimpse into who Miles is outside of the mask and the relationships that he has. This is all thanks to some fantastic writing and an equally fantastic performance from returning voice actor Nadji Jeter. He imbues Miles with so much heart that it’s easy to get behind his mission to protect his home and the people who live there.

For Miles, the people of Harlem aren’t just random citizens he’s trying to keep safe. They’re his barber, the local bodega owner, the deaf street artist, the people who live at the local homeless shelter that he volunteers at, and so many more people. Even though many of these people only make a few appearances throughout the story, each encounter with them resonates in a powerful way. The relationships that Miles has with these people feel real, so I found myself caring so much more about making them proud and keeping them safe.

Miles isn’t just trying to protect Harlem though. He’s also trying to prove that he’s Spider-Man, and not just to New York or Peter. He’s trying to prove this to himself throughout the course of the story, and it’s a great journey that he goes on. He stumbles and doubts himself along the way, but by the end of the game, Miles has more than earned the Spider-Man moniker. It all works in a way that makes him a much more enjoyable character to play as, and one that I would rather see take the lead in a sequel.

Even though this is a smaller game than Marvel’s Spider-Man, the stakes are just as high. Roxxon’s plans for Harlem aren’t quite what they seem to be presented to the public as, so The Underground is intent on stopping them no matter the cost, with the Tinkerer leading them in their plight. These two groups are great antagonists for Miles to go up against in his first solo gig since the conflict is one that’s right in his backyard, so it’s a personal fight for him. The Tinkerer specifically though is an exceptional villain. They’re a multi-layered character that’s not just bad for the sake of being bad. They have their own motivations and reasons for what they’re doing, and it’s easy to understand where they’re coming from. It makes for a difficult foe for Miles to go up against, especially as he uncovers this information.

In Marvel’s Spider-Man, Insomniac nailed the feel of swinging around New York City. I’m happy to report that it continues to feel amazing in Miles Morales. In fact, I would say that it’s better than it was before. The mechanics for swinging haven’t changed at all, but because Miles is a different person, it looks and feels very different. Whereas Peter’s swinging form is fine-tuned and the result of years of experience, Miles’ is more wild and messy. When he swings, he spins around a lot with his legs flailing around, and it’s not uncommon for him to launch into the air backwards as he goes from one swing to the next. At the same time, Miles’ swinging is filled with so much of his personality. Seeing him corkscrew up into the air or jump off a building backwards with his arms spread open just screams “kid that’s having the time of his life,” and I loved it each and every time. It made the act of swinging around an absolute delight that I never got tired of.

Swinging is also enhanced thanks to the DualSense controller on PlayStation 5. Pressing down R2 to shoot out a web requires you to push past a bit of resistance, but it feels really smooth. In conjunction with the haptic vibrations that occur as you’re going through the swinging motion, as well as the sound of the webs shooting out, a once simple and thoughtless act becomes one that is truly immersive and transformative.

Combat was another area that Insomniac did a great job with in the past, and they continue to improve on it here. Just like when playing as Peter, it’s best to constantly be on the move during fights, using your different gadgets and abilities to take our enemies. Unlike Peter, Miles has unique Venom abilities that give fights some extra spark. Using bio-electricity that charges through attacks or dodging, Miles can do things such as unleash a powerful Venom Punch that sends enemies flying, or a Venom Jump that launches any surrounding enemies into the air and suspends them there for a bit while you lay down the pain. These abilities make fighting as Miles more fun than it ever was to engage in combat as Peter, and I was always giddy with excitement whenever enemies appeared for a fight as a result. You’ll have to make good use of each of these abilities too since the different enemy archetypes require you to approach them in different ways.

The features of the DualSense also come into play here, as performing any of the Venom abilities causes haptic vibrations to start on the left side of the controller as you prepare to use them, and then move to the right side of the controller as you execute them. It’s a subtle thing, but one that really makes the experience all the more immersive.

When it comes to stealth, Miles has another leg up on his mentor thanks to his camouflage ability that turns him invisible. This allows you to walk right past enemies without being seen or take out an enemy from a spot that you would normally be visible from if you weren’t camouflaged. Perhaps more importantly, it also gives you the chance to regain stealth if a combat encounter is going south and you need to give yourself a moment to breathe. Being able to disappear and regain control of enemy encounters by using the camouflage definitely saved me a few times, and I can’t imagine how I played without it in the first game.

Outside of the main story, there are a couple of different activities for you to partake in, such as clearing out enemy bases, stopping random crimes, and taking part in training simulations that Peter has set up for Miles to help him hone his skills. Many of the more notable side missions come from the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man app that’s created by Miles’ friend Ganke. People who have the app post problems that they need Spider-Man’s help with. These tasks can range from finding someone’s lost cat to tracking down a person that stole supplies from the businesses in the neighborhood. While they may sound like busy work, they actually contribute a lot to building the connection between Miles and the residents of Harlem, and in turn, making you care about them just as much he does. I found myself liking them a lot because of this focus and only wished that there were a tad more of them available.

Just like in the first game, you level up as you progress through the story and complete missions, earning skill points that can be used to unlock new skills from one of three skill trees. You also earn tokens with which you can upgrade your gadgets, buy new suits, and unlock different mods for your suit and visor. There aren’t as many things to unlock as there were in Peter’s game, but there’s enough here that offers a good amount of variety for varying play styles.

Playing on PlayStation 5, Miles Morales is a very technically impressive game. Load times are incredibly fast, taking less than five seconds to get into the game from the main menu. Fast traveling takes about two to three seconds, a major improvement over the fast travel times in the original PS4 game. As for the visuals, they’re fantastic. There are two different graphical modes to choose from: Fidelity Mode and Performance Mode. Fidelity Mode offers 4K visuals, enhanced visual effects such as ray-tracing, and has the game run at 30 FPS. Performance mode on the other hand is also in 4K, but it runs at 60 FPS at the cost of no ray-tracing and other scaled back visual effects.

I went through the entire game in Fidelity Mode because I wanted to experience it with all the visual bells and whistles, and I was blown away. The snow covered city has never looked better in any other game, and I couldn’t help but take screenshots with the game’s Photo Mode constantly throughout the game. Speaking of the Photo Mode, it’s very well done. Aside from just being able to adjust things such as your standard field of view and depth of field settings, it also allows you to go into Light Mode, where you can place lights in the space and adjust them how you see fit. It was a feature that I didn’t think I would interact with much, but once I saw the potential that it held, I was sucked in and trying to take the perfect picture.

The music is also another standout of the game. Composer John Paesano returns for the score and he does a great job of making it feel heroic and orchestral like you would expect for Spider-Man, while also adding elements of hip-hop music to the songs. The result is a score that’s fitting for Miles and the hero that he becomes by the end of the story.

Over the course of my 14 hours with the game, my experience was largely bug free, though I did encounter a few minor glitches. One humorous glitch had a couple of female NPC’s dancing with a floating piece of hair attached to the side of their head at a party. On the other hand, there were a couple times where character dialogue didn’t play, so conversations would play out one-sided. Restarting the checkpoint would quickly fix this issue, but it was still annoying nevertheless.

Final Thoughts:

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a spectacular game. With an exciting and heartwarming story that’s filled with great characters who are easy to get attached to, and fun gameplay that never gets old, Insomniac has delivered a title that stands head and shoulders over the first entry in their Spider-Man series. Look out everyone! There’s a new hero in town, and his name is Miles Morales.