Rating: 8.5 out of 10
After thoroughly enjoying Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2018, I was excited to play the sequel, Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Drive-by Game Summary
The game uses many of the same mechanics as its predecessor, but you play as the new Spider-Man in town, Miles Morales. You play in the same massive open world of New York City as the previous game. There are various types of missions, ranging from busting up enemy bases to locating hidden time capsules around the city, along with the main story missions. A new feature in this game is the “Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man” app, where citizens can report their various problems. It’s a great way to relax from saving the world. The game features stealth, combat, exploration, and some puzzle aspects.
Similarly to the original Spider-Man, the game has a skill tree, craftable gadgets and suits. However, you don’t have to master these systems in order to beat the game. The main story missions can be completed without doing any of the side missions.
Save Game Convenience: 7/10
Saving is possible at any time when not in a main story mission. When in a mission, the game has lots of checkpoints throughout the level. These are very frequent, so if you need to quit for any reason, you won’t lose much progress.
Story Complexity: 8/10
The story is well written and easy to understand, as you don’t have to spend hours researching the marvel comics to grasp what is going on. It’s also possible to play the game without playing the previous installment. When you start the game, you can view a quick recap of the events of the 2018 game, which serves both to reacquaint you with the story thus far if you haven’t played the original in a while, or to help you get up to speed if you haven’t played the original.
Control Scheme: 8/10
The controls are pretty simple, and follow the overall pattern of combat in adventure games. Compared to the previous installment, the controls in the sequel tend to be much easier to understand. The game also does a great job of teaching you how to use the controls, and provides a move list that can help refresh your memory.
Character Customization: 7/10
It is fully possible to try optimizing the loadout of gadgets, suit, and skills for your character, but it is also fully possible to stick with the suit that looks the coolest. If you do want to customize gadgets and skills, the interface and tutorial for doing so are explained well by the game.
Complete Game Review
When you first load up the game, you’re dropped into a level where you capture the escaped Rhino with your mentor Peter Parker. This level acts as a tutorial to help you re-learn the controls and types of enemies. A few cut scenes later, Peter leaves on vacation and you are the sole protector of New York City. Naturally, the city takes this opportunity to fall into absolute chaos. You can play through the main story missions exclusively, or you can sit back and relax and play through some of the side missions.
The controls are really simple, and they’ve been improved upon since the previous game. You still have many different gadgets and skills to unlock, but more complicated things have mostly been removed
Since these reviews are aimed at people who love to game but don’t necessarily always have time to get around to it here is the breakdown on the key “time” involved elements. It doesn’t take long to re-learn the controls if you haven’t played in a few weeks, and is even simpler to do so than in its predecessor. Each level takes about 20-30 minutes to complete, and it’s easy to exit the game midway through and not lose all your progress. The side missions are also beneficial if you don’t have the time to complete a full level, as many of them will take 5 minutes or less. The story overall is shorter than the original.
I found Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man: Miles Morales to be a worthy successor to the original Spider-Man from 2018. They’ve simplified the more difficult aspects of the combat system in the original, and the story is a well written sequel. The game is cleverly designed to appeal to audiences with all different sorts of time on their hands, allowing you to spend 5 minutes completing a side mission or spend slightly more time playing a mission of the story. I would highly recommend getting both the original Spider-Man and the new Spider-Man: Miles Morales!
