SPIDER-MAN MILES MORALES [2020] PS5 REVIEW

🏆  MASTERPIECE  🏆

The positive:

💗 Miles is a fantastic charismatic character, his wholesome personality really resonates

💗 Side missions are story-driven, fun, and tap directly into the main plot

💗 Snowy New York is a marvelous theme & a magic place to explore 

💗 Despite having similar level design, the visual art portrays a unique identity

💗 Superb graphics, smooth framerate & Ray Tracing

💗 Traversal is still phenomenal and the star of the show

💗 The free-form combat enhanced with Venom Strikes never felt better

💗 3D audio is nice! really helps you get that NYC vibes, still underutilized

💗 Insomniac really knows how to capture the magic of growing up as a young hero

The negative:

👎 The DualSense & 3D audio implementation is quite limited

👎 There are fewer repetitive side activities than before, but they are still dull

👎 There were tons of bugs upon release, luckily were fixed later on

👎 I wanted more. . .

Insomniac Games has done it again! They propelled the franchise into the stratosphere in 2018 with an amazing interpretation of the spider-man world, finally giving the fans the game they deserve. And now with a triumphant debut on the PS5 with Spider-man: Miles Morales, a stand-alone "expansion" that plays and feels like it's doing its own thing while also feeling familiar. Despite being shorter, It's superior to the original in every way, offering an experience that is more concise, focused, and full of heart. Forging its own identity with unique visual art, perfect presentation, likable strong character development, and not to mention insanely fast load times, amazing dualsense features, superb graphics with smooth framerate combined with RT capabilities, and an updated combat system, this is the PS5 launch game that everyone's been looking forward to. 

BACK TO ROOTS

The 2018 Peter Parker awesome storyline consistently delivered a compelling superhero theme with a strong focus on character development and drama. Peter’s story is one of overcoming impossible odds, about mentorship, showing how he can simultaneously look up to one mentor, while becoming one, too. This Spider-Man version is my favorite. Peter is someone who always puts helping others before himself and one that can succeed while making mistakes. What I loved about Insomniac Spider-man is that he is a young adult now, not the teenage kid we used to know. This is refreshing as it creates a whole new set of challenges for the person behind the mask. While the Movies were focused on the Spider-kid, Insomniac focused on Peter adapting and overcoming his adult life.

Miles Morales goes back to that teenage superhero concept, about how a kid with good intentions manages to keep up with the responsibilities and consequences of fighting crime and helping his fellow new yorkers. The game features a young Miles discovering his way around his new home neighborhood of Harlem, both in and out of the suit. Miles Morales follows in the amazing storytelling footsteps of the original game by making sure the events of life underneath the mask come head-to-head with the overarching plot. Miles is a fantastic charismatic character, his wholesome personality really resonates with the player, and  I feel that his character Arc is better executed than Peter's.

During the winter break, Miles is entrusted with protecting a snow-enrobed New York after Peter heads on a well-deserved vacation. Miles is nowhere near ready, and Peter knows this and still decides to leave. There is greatness in everything Peter does, he knows Miles cannot grow under his shadow, he needs to step away to allow him to make mistakes and fix them on his own, adapt & overcome. The main plot events that take place while Pete’s away ultimately shaped Miles into the hero the city needs. 

SNOWY HARLEM

Traversal is still phenomenal and the star of the show. Swinging across New York feels even better than before, it is as comfortable as exhilarating. Miles controls largely the same as Peter when it comes to the basics, but Insomniac has done a flat-out fantastic job of adding depth to Miles’ movement to allow him to stand out as his own character instead of feeling like another cosmetic knockoff. On the animation side, watching the less-experienced Miles learning how to swing through the city is a treat. He’ll occasionally crash land, or spin around on his own web to reorient himself, but he’s also got a unique movement style that sets him apart from Peter. Diving off the edge of a vertigo-inducing building only to fire out a web just before you scrape across the asphalt is simply amazing. You can perform aerial tricks as you swing across the snowy metropolis landscape. Fast travel is available, but swinging through the city is so engaging and perfectly captured that never gets old. 

VENOM COMBAT

Following the blueprint left by Batman Arkham Asylum, Insomniac enhanced the formula and delivered a successful addictive-fun combat loop with 2018 Spider-man. The free-flowing, combo-chasing combat system is completely improved with more calculated stealth sections that see you pick off enemies one by one using various gadgets like traps, distractions, and sticky spider webs.  It feels incredibly satisfying when you bundle up a bad guy in a webbed cocoon or knock out a clueless foe with a well-timed trap before you get detected and the frantic and engaging combat starts.

Combat is still very smooth in the sequel, with Insomniac nailing the agility and strength of the Spider-Man character with the same combat mechanics. Bitten by a genetically engineered spider known as specimen 42 Miles has two powers at his disposal that are unique to him due to his bioelectric skills: Venom Strike & optic camouflage. The strike is a type of directed energy that can be conducted through Miles' gloves, which can temporarily paralyze almost anyone and inflict heavy damage on enemies during intense combat encounters. The new camouflage system works wonders for stealth runs, with a quickly depleting ability bar that forces players to think fast and keeps them from over-relying on the tool. It's also a great tool to break combat and escape to safety when you are overpowered, especially on the higher difficulties where making a mistake usually ends in death. The Venom move set is spectacular to look at 4K/60FPS RT, they’re also extremely enjoyable to pull off. You can smash through stubborn enemies and perform some shockingly effective crowd-control techniques using Miles’s newfound powers. 

CONCLUSION

With 2018 Spider-Man, Insomniac proved that they understood what gamers want from a Spider-Man game and delivered tenfold an experience that captures the magic of growing up as a teen superhero. Despite being shorter, Miles Morales is superior to the original in every way, offering an experience that is more concise, focused, and full of heart. Forging its own identity with unique visual art, perfect presentation, and likable strong character development. Miles was a great choice! his wholesome personality really resonates with the player.