Just two short years after 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man, Insomniac is back and ready to put us in the shoes of another web-slinger. This time around, instead of Peter Parker, players take control of Miles Morales. Miles is an African-American teenager of Puerto Rican descent who takes up the mantle of Spider-Man after the death of the Peter Parker on his Earth (Earth-1610). Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales takes place on an entirely new Earth, Earth-1048, where both Peter Parker’s Spider-Man and Miles Morales’ Spider-Man work together to keep New York safe.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales has big shoes to fill. 2018’s game revolutionized the Spider-Man video game genre. That being said, I think Spider-Man: Miles Morales has done a lot of things right. Just like two years ago, the combat is a lot of fun, as is the web-swinging. The web-swinging actually feels like a noticeable improvement over the 2018 game.
Something becoming more prevalent in video games today (and rightly so) are accessibility options. The disabled gaming community is getting bigger every day and developers are working harder to include this demographic. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is no different. Right off the bat, before even starting the game, you’re hit with the option to change so many aspects, allowing more people to game, who may not have been able to before. These options include substantial changes to gameplay, visuals, audio, and even controller remapping. Keep it up, devs!
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The story, while nothing that hasn’t been done before, was a fun and enjoyable short story. For the most part, the writing is solid, with one of the strongest parts being the relationships the game builds between some of the characters, especially between Miles and his Uncle Aaron and Miles and his mother. Miles Morales also features an awesome amount of representation that you don’t often see in video games, especially the Puerto Rican and Deaf communities. The game had it all- humor, depth, and emotion. I never would have guessed this game would get me choked up, but here we are.
A good story is improved tenfold, of course, by a good voice cast. Fortunately, that wasn’t an issue for Miles Morales. Nadji Jeter, reprising his role as Miles from the previous game, did a great job, although some of his delivery was a bit over-the-top. Jacqueline Pinol did an awesome job as Miles’ mother, Rio Morales. Ike Amadi and Jasmin Savoy Brown were also incredible standouts as Aaron Davis/Prowler and Phin Mason, respectively. Darin De Paul also returned to reprise his role as J. Jonah Jameson, and I love his take on the character so much.
Miles Morales has been a fan favorite Spider-Man for a while now, but he was introduced to an even wider audience when 2018’s Into The Spider-Verse was released in theaters. So naturally, it only made sense for Insomniac to include a Spider-Verse suit. What absolutely blew me away was how they included the aesthetic of the movie and its lower framerate into the game. Not only that, but it works really well. Definitely, a small addition that changes the game very minimally, but it is one of the most unique things I’ve seen in a video game.
Finally, regarding the photo mode. Every game needs a photo mode. Taking photos definitely added an hour or two onto my playtime. The customization options are so vast and plentiful, and you can do so much. Definitely a fun addition.
Unfortunately, as great as everything I listed is, there were quite a few issues holding this game back. The first issue being the game’s length. I finished the story in about 6-7 hours. Fortunately, there are a ton of collectibles to collect, a handful of side-missions, and challenges to complete, and it is packaged with a NewGame+ rather than having to wait for them to patch it in later on. But unfortunately, even with all these extras, the game still isn’t quite padded enough to justify the nearly full-AAA-game price tag attached to it. At $65, I would have expected a 10-15 hour story. I think $40 is a much more reasonable price for this game.
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Also, I feel lucky for getting through the story and most of the endgame because the game is borderline broken. It crashed multiple times. On more than one occasion, voice lines from certain characters would just not play, completely throwing off the flow of the story. I got graphical/audio bugs throughout the game as well (character’s mouths not moving while they talk, Miles spawning in just as a head with no body, getting stuck while swinging and then getting thrown half-way across the map, etc.). Lastly, the camera worked well up until the end of the game, but during the boss fight, the camera decided not to follow any of the action causing me to fail quite a bit. Honestly, I found the performance of the game to be very disappointing after experiencing almost zero bugs playing the 2018 game.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an incredibly fun time, but unfortunately that fun does not last as long as it should given its price tag. The game offers a solid addition to Insomniac’s Spider-Man world, but where the game thrives in advancing the mechanics of the web-swinging genre, it falls short regarding polish and content. All problems aside, I had a lot of fun thwipping around as Miles Morales and would definitely recommend this game to a fan of 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man, or even fans of Spider-Man…but maybe wait for it to go on sale first.
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