Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review

Swinging players back to New York, Miles Morales is here to let us experience being a friendly neighborhood super hero again.

 

Swinging players back to New York, Miles Morales is here to let us experience being a friendly neighborhood super hero again. With the success of Insomniac’s Spider-Man in 2018, fans of the Marvel character are asking for more. Set in a year after the events of Spider-Man (2018), Miles Morales is loaded with a heavy burden to swing on his own, protecting New-York as a whole while Peter Parker is away. This may be an entry-level title for the PS5 just to showcase the system’s new capabilities, it is still a very well-made game for the PS4 despite its length.

 

GRAPHICS: 10/10

A PS4 has been used in order to create this review, as much as we can say that the graphics are improved in the newest generation of Sony’s console, the PS4 version’s graphics can still stand up on its own. Lighting and textures have been improved but not really obvious to the naked eye, you still have to do a side by side comparison to do so. 

In all fairness, the texture pops, which was a slight problem from the last game has been completely removed. New York is still the same, but environmental changes have been made such as adding snow to majority of the areas and holiday decorations to reflect the current season of the game’s timeline and also, the release of the PS5 being in a holiday season as well. The first Spider-Man game is beautiful as it is, but in my opinion, you will appreciate it further because of this game due to the improved lighting and textures.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10

Gameplay is a bit toned down due to the game being considered as only a spin-off game to give players a gist of what to expect on the next mainline title, however the core gameplay itself is still there. Hey, the saying goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, the saying does really apply to the game because everything that I loved in the first game is still intact, and still rather fun actually after 2 years. 

The addition of Miles’ extra abilities such as Venom Power and Invisibility adds a bit of flavor to the game to contrast his power from Peter’s. Side missions still plays a part to divert the player’s attention in finishing the game straight-up with the 8-10 hour campaign (because you actually can) side missions and random crimes reward handsomely to further improve Miles’ array of gadgets and suits, in addition, the FSAM app mechanic that is newly introduced in this game is a great way to access the side missions right away rather than waiting for a crime to happen as you swing by in the first game. I like it personally because it reflects how modern our times is today. 

Swinging is still fluid as always and it’s always fun to roam around New York as Spider-Man. Miles’ suits are on par with Peter’s in terms of design but with the added abilities, it’s a bit toned down again as some suits are for visuals only and doesn’t add anything to Miles’ skills. Combat is still satisfying as it is in the first game and with the added abilities that I mentioned, it adds a bit more twist to the combat gameplay.

STORY: 9/10

The story is action-packed right from the start which in turn caused the game’s phasing to be slightly faster than the first game, no added fillers, no unnecessary story elements to pad your story time. It is really direct to its point, the only consequence is that it is rather short than first game, half the length to be exact. 

The story picks up right where the first game left off and you will really feel the connection because of the various callbacks it has, the story can stand up on its own by the way and Insomniac added a flashback clip for people who did not play the previous game. What can I say? it is REALLY a good Spider-Man story as we should’ve expected from the Marvel character himself may it be from movies, comics and video games as well.

SOUND & MUSIC: 10/10

From the first reveal teaser trailer up to the final release of the game, the music of the game is on point, by using Hip-Hop in majority of the game’s soundtrack, we can really feel the culture of Harlem lingering all throughout the course of the game. The integration of the sound effects as well to the main soundtrack is really great as we can hear the slightest fade whenever we scroll the menu and immediately fading in again as we go back to actual gameplay. The classic background music is still there and some are remixed with hip-hop beats that made me really hyped as I play it through. A masterpiece in soundtracks indeed, I wish more games would implement this.

VERDICT: 9.5/10

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a good treat to people who are still clinging on to their Playstation 4s, this may very well be the last parting gift of Sony and Insomniac to PS4 players before they finally decide to upgrade to a PS5. The game is really well-made but some would argue that the $50 dollar price is a deal-breaker because the length is really substantially shorter than the previous game which is priced at $60 during its time, however the answer purely relies how much of a Spider-Man fan are you? If you enjoyed the first game but Spider-Man really isn’t much of a hype to you then you may very well wait for sale, but if you are really digging the first game and also a huge fan of the superhero, then I tell you, every dime you spend on this game is really worth it.