written by Derrick Smith
We have seen the Spider-Man origin story re-told countless times. And instead of boring us with yet another Peter Parker teenage approach, Insomniac respected our time with the original game, offering a fantastic experience tailored by a mature and adulthood Peter Parker. With this approach, it gave way to a particular origin story starring Miles Morales. A 17-year-old young man maintaining the same affinity and passion for engineering as Peter Parker, with a great head on his shoulders, including his natural disposition to protect the innocent. More impressively, while Peter Parker and Miles Morales may share similar interests, Insomniac has brilliantly given Miles his very own unique identity, expressed through an unapologetic lens of culture that perfectly compliments the game’s thrilling action.
Influenced by true to life ingredients, Spider-Man Miles Morales touches upon an emotional narrative which does a great job balancing the scales of fun while delivering a personal story. While I would love to point out most of the games story details which put an exclamation mark on the narrative, as well as the significance of Miles as a mixed African-American and Spanish-American kid from Brooklyn, let’s just say this is something that should not be spoiled as these integrated components of Miles’ reality are delivered quite well. Sure, you are certainly going to have a blast as Spider-man, possessing an array of cool new Miles specific powers, yet, Miles as a Black superhero is not ignored as Insomniac places emphasis on his representation being delivered respectfully.
Spider-Man Miles Morales is opened up off the heels of Marvel’s Spider-Man, as Miles since the conclusion of the original game has become an understudy of Peter Parker. At the start of the game, Miles is well balanced as a young new superhero, who at this point is more than confident in his newfound abilities. And because of this Insomniac quickly re-positions Peter Parker out of the picture, as the hand holding comes to a close after the action-packed introduction and apprehension of Rhino.
In this early sequence, Miles discovers his exclusive Venom ability, allowing Miles access to his bio-electricity asset to punish his enemies and manipulate the environment. A short while later the story also introduces players to Miles’ impressive cloaking ability, where Miles can turn invisible, giving him a brutal yet fantastic combative advantage against the game’s myriad of enemies.
In costume, Miles is certainly Spider-Man as he skillfully utilizes his superhero dexterity throughout the city, yet even in this process, he is uniquely Miles. While Peter Parker’s traversal process is maintained with more strength and physical control, Miles’ traversal puts a smile on your face as you can feel his youthfulness as he is coming into his own as the new web slinger. Often Miles’ traversal physicality can be all over the place, even reckless, yet you love it, as it seems to come from a place of both inexperience and youthful confidence.
In this way, his unique venom and camouflage abilities only add to Miles’s mystique. More specifically the venom ability does not offer unlimited usage as Miles must build this energy through combat forcing players to aggressively engage enemies. While the venom ability is not unlimited, how you refill the meter in combat can make the ability very close to feeling unlimited, making you an explosive combatant, who can quickly zip around a given area like an unstoppable juggernaut. Then, in between your venom cooldown periods, you can become invisible adding a continued approach of punishing encounters laid on your enemies. As you master this process, the inclusion of the series combative signature cutscene animations which are triggered by pressing multiple buttons during combat, and Spider-Man Miles Morales begins to feel like you’re controlling a full-length Spider-Man animated film with all the bells and whistles.
A strength of the Miles Morales experience is in how the world is integrated. While Mile Morales is a shorter game than the original, Insomniac wisely utilizes the canvas with objectives and side-quests which all amount to meaningful and narrative laced experiences. As my time in the world of Ghost of Tsushima, Miles Morales is so fun to play I found myself on my first playthrough almost never utilizing the fast travel option, even when certain objectives or side missions were quite far. Even when I opted to swing through the city, on my way, there was always a crime or activity I could engage in by way of my trusty new smartphone app.
As mentioned before, Mile Morales is a shorter game than Marvel’s Spider-Man, yet I never felt at a loss or narratively shorthanded as the games story design with its moment to moments discoveries, tied in quite well, even revealing new revelations of Marvel’s Spider-Man, all the while making the game truly feel like a sequel. By no means is this DLC, but more in line with the ambitious efforts of Uncharted: Lost Legacy. While many games offer side-quests, sometimes becoming unnecessary bullet points or fillers, this is not!
Like Marvel’s Spider-Man, Mile Morales offers an attractive list of new Spidey suits distinctly for Miles and upgradable with cool new mods, which compliment Miles’ unique skill tree.
The pacing of Miles Morales seems somewhat influenced by the likes of the Netflix series Luke Cage and its legitimate cultural depiction, with a far less mature tone of course, while proudly giving way to the authenticity of Miles and as Spider-Man. Again, how Insomniac has pulled this off is nothing short of amazing.
Even though Spider-Man Miles Morales is playable on PS4 and PS4 Pro, and looks more than impressive regardless of the hardware you play on, the game is certainly a showcase piece to behold on Sony’s new flagship hardware. Let me say this again, yes, Miles Morales looks great on current-gen hardware, however, don’t let the compressed videos fool you, while playing Mile Morales on the PS5 in both Fidelity mode or Performance mode the visual enhancements are quite noticeable over the PS4 and PS4 Pro.
More specifically, while Fidelity mode features incredible ray-tracing throughout the world at a steady 30 frames per second in 4K resolution, I might add, I preferred to play the game in Performance mode, which offered a locked 60 frames per second performance at a less than 4K resolution. Interestingly, with the naked eye switching between both modes it was difficult to see glaring differences in resolution, aside from the obvious absence of ray-tracing in Performance mode. For me, the fluidity of playing the game at a locked 60 frame per second with those incredible visuals was the perfect mix.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales is a must-buy game for Spidey fans and an impressive showpiece for your new and shiny PS5. While Miles Morales feels quite familiar to Marvel’s Spider-Man, Insomniac has been able to enhance their proven Spidey formula with attractive new touches, as well as a soulful narrative you will not soon forget.