It’s been a massive year for PlayStation exclusive games, with the likes of The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima rounding out the PS4 console generation. The year isn’t quite over yet, though, and Sony has one last trick up its sleeve to close things out, Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales, while not a full sequel, is the follow-up to 2018’s Spider-Man game, leaving it with big shoes to fill. However, the game more than rises to the occasion, introducing compelling new gameplay mechanics and trimming the fat from some of the original’s lackluster activities, though the shorter narrative does have its set of drawbacks.
Even on the PS4 Pro, the game is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous rendition of New York in the winter, offering a snow-dusted city with dazzling lights and sharp character models throughout the entire experience. It’s an undeniably better-looking game than its 2018 counterpart, so fans on current-gen hardware have nothing to worry about, visually. However, the game will occasionally pause for several seconds while swinging around the city so that it can load, which can disrupt the flow of some gameplay and narrative moments.
Mechanically, Spider-Man: Miles Morales improves on its predecessor in just about every way. Miles’ Venom powers and camouflage abilities add an extra layer to combat and stealth encounters that make the core gameplay more interesting, as well as differentiating it from the first Spider-Man. The basic combat and movement mechanics feel largely the same, though it’s so exceptionally smooth that the similarity is difficult to count as a fault.
Miles does have his own flair in combat, injecting kicks, punches, and finishers with his unique style. It helps prop up Miles as his own hero, further separating him from Peter Parker’s Spider-Man in the 2018 game. That separation, in particular, is a big part of what makes Miles Morales feel like far more than a half-step, as Miles as a character is central to everything the game sets out to accomplish.
Miles’ character development as an overarching theme is evident from the get-go. Insomniac Games was open about Miles Morales being a coming of age story, and that’s abundantly clear throughout the entire experience. Miles is still learning the ropes, to the point that his swinging animations at the beginning of the game are awkward and imprecise, though they steadily become more competent as the game progresses. But with the exception of one scene early on, the game portrays Miles’ growth organically, offering a character that is far more confident and competent by the time that the credits roll.
Miles and his friends successfully give the game a heap of personality, and simply put, Miles Morales is a more interesting protagonist than Peter Parker is. Miles hasn’t perfected the balance of being a superhero at the start of the game, and he hasn’t mastered crime-fighting either. He makes mistakes, loses fights, and occasionally causes more harm than good, but he desperately wants to make the world a better place. The game isn’t an origin story by any means, but it does establish Miles’ place in Insomniac’s world, with his own set of complex, personal relationships that mirror the ones Peter Parker’s Spider-Man is best known for.
The game’s main flaw is that it just doesn’t have enough time to fully explore those relationships. Most players will manage to get through the story in about 6-8 hours, but Spider-Man: Miles Morales would benefit from being twice that length. Due to its brevity, some key character motivations feel underdeveloped, and while the story being told is still solid, it isn’t quite everything that it could be, especially when compared to its predecessor.
That brief runtime does pack in a number of memorable set-pieces, though. Miles Morales’ gameplay is complemented by high-octane story beats peppered throughout, which often involve flashy lights and massive explosions. That rapid pacing is balanced out by slower moments Miles shares with his friends and family, which give the narrative some time to breathe. It does struggle with some filler segments. Specifically, there are some tedious objectives and large waves of enemies that often feel like padding rather than substance, and it’s hard to shirk the feeling that time isn’t being wasted when it could be spent investing in the characters and story.
Luckily, the objectives located around New York have been improved. Now, Miles has a “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” app that lets him select side-missions from anywhere. These have a respectable range in terms of scale, sometimes taking just a few minutes to complete while others become multi-mission narrative threads. Completing them unlocks Activity Tokens that, along with Tech Tokens scattered around New York, can be used to unlock new suits for Miles.
There are still collectibles hiding in just about every nook and cranny, as well as a few hideout missions for players to complete too. Some of the repetitive objectives from the first game, like hacking and radio towers, are refreshingly absent, though one of the replacements – tasking players to find sound bites around the city – isn’t great. It still borders on tedium, and it can sometimes require a frustrating amount of precision to complete.
If any aspect of Spider-Man: Miles Morales is going to be criticized for feeling samey to the original, it’s undoubtedly the open-world objectives. Those that enjoyed the systematic map-clearing nature of the first game will feel right at home here, though anyone that felt like the objectives were lacking will be equally unimpressed. The game does have a top-notch soundtrack, though – one that even goes so far as to make up for some of the game’s other faults.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales makes it clear that Miles is a character worth investing in. The short story length works against it, but its narrative highs, likable characters, and gameplay improvements make for a superb superhero game. It’s one of Sony’s most stylish titles, which says a lot considering its roster. Miles could – and should – carry a full sequel, even if that would mean sidelining Peter Parker in future entries. He’s more interesting from a gameplay and story perspective, and that edge is what makes Miles Morales absolutely superb.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales releases November 12 for PS4 and PS5. Game Rant was provided a PS4 code for this review.
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