izigame.me

A hasty and rushed superhero journey

8/10
Opening
Even Insomniac Games themselves may not have expected Marvel's Spider-Man to achieve such huge success. But still, from the Marvel-style post-credits that were deliberately left blank in the previous game, it was clear that even without such impressive results, they had already intended to create a brand new Marvel Spider-Man game universe. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales as the second in the series, completely inherits the plot and worldview of its predecessor. In addition to significantly enhancing the player's combat, stealth, web-swinging, and overall gameplay experiences, the game also features better optimization. Even though some political correctness content is incorporated into this game, most of them are in line with the plot's theme and have no impact on the aesthetics. Unfortunately, with the even more rushed and underdeveloped plot, severely shortened playthrough, and the same game pricing as the previous one, the game's evaluation and sales have all been greatly affected, making Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles ultimately regarded as a mediocre work.
Strength
The player will take on the role of the Latin American Miles Morales in this game, experiencing the superhero journey of this naive, confused, and simple-nature new Spider-Man, who faces repeated defeats, stumbles, and continues to grow. The main storyline maintains the consistent cinematic narrative style, with grand visual effects, a complete overall plot structure, a concise and clear narrative, and outstanding details of scenes and character dialogues. Whether in terms of loading or game smoothness, the optimization level of this one has been greatly improved. Web-swinging, as the primary mode of transportation, has been significantly enhanced too. Through dazzling stunts and a smooth operation feel, players can enjoy the thrill of high-speed movement and stunts that are no less than racing games. The excellent music selection and the exciting, dynamic soundtrack add a bit of fun to the game. The diverse visual and auditory aids in the game settings fully demonstrate the efforts made by the developer to make the game accessible.
In terms of game content, the much-criticized, highly repetitive side quests, collectibles, and puzzle content of Marvel's Spider-Man: Remastered has been greatly streamlined in this one. In addition to the selective option of puzzle prompts and automatic skipping QTEs, collectibles are still directly marked on the map and can be scanned, with their quantity significantly reduced, the overall gaming experience feels more relaxed and comfortable. The new Venom and camouflage skills also bring a whole fresh experience to the game. Whether you prefer close combat that is both entertaining and exciting in the previous one, or relying on the new camouflage skill to stealth vanish enemies, the choice is entirely yours. Through in-game challenges, players can acquire some special skills from the previous game, the more linear skill tree in this one focuses on strengthening new abilities, aiming to bring players a different gaming experience. The detailed and substantial tutorial content allows any player to get started quickly. In terms of difficulty, this game requires a relatively higher reaction speed than Marvel's Spider-Man: Remastered, making it somewhat more challenging at higher difficulty. The focus bar is only used to activate venom skills and restore health, and finishers are only related to the combos, some mechanisms from the previous one have also been deleted, and the combat strategy and feel are slightly different than its predecessors.
Weakness
The biggest problem with Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is that it removes content without adding much in return, which makes the overall process of this game extremely short. If you are not interested in all the achievements and just want to enjoy the plot, you will be surprised to find that you completed the main storyline in less than 10 hours. Even if you pursue it, it won't take more than 30 hours. The game's character action modules, enemy models, finisher actions, and other elements are extremely similar to the previous work, that kind of déjà vu feeling, just feels like you are playing a DLC of Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered. There are also various bugs in the game, including missing voice and subtitles for some character dialogues, enemies getting stuck in buildings, inability to advance the plot, loss of dialogue process, etc., which not only have a serious impact on the player's gaming experience, but the overall frequency they occur is also quite high, the remaining puzzle content and side quests are still boring, repetitive, and similar in nature. Marvel's Spider-Man Miles Morales also places more emphasis on portraying a friendly Spider-Man who likes to help others, eventually leading to fewer grand and high-stakes scenes, somewhat lacking excitement. In addition, the design of the Boss battle is quite unique. You have to wait or dodge for the enemy’s post-cast delay before you can deal damage, which somewhat lacks the excitement of an action game.
The plot remains old-fashioned, and the narrative technique and overall structure are similar to the previous work. Though its plot could be considered neither good nor bad overall, it is still difficult for players to feel a deep sense of empathy, the story also fails to evoke players upon completion. The logic of many characters is self-contradictory, and their emotional growth feels extremely abrupt, often suddenly become enlightened and resolve their issue without sufficient buildup, which is puzzling. The villains have inherited the inexplicable paranoia and stubbornness from the previous work. This crude characterization not only makes them lack charm but also makes the overall feeling of the plot appear very bad, always making avoidable tragedies go to the worst ending. In addition to the vulgar and shallow portrayal of key conflicts, the plot often features emotional scenes and long dialogues at inappropriate times, which greatly weaken the sense of immersion and tension, making it highly distracting. The plot itself essentially offers a simple quick satire of capitalism, without any profound connotations. Elements such as Miles's bioelectricity and Venom's power are not fully explained, the post-credits are still paving the way for the next one. It is also very easy to accidentally enter the mission area and interrupt the ongoing dialogue, which makes the player's immersive experience in the plot not very good.
Conclusion
If you have just finished Marvel's Spider-Man: Remastered and are already feeling tired of the repetitive side quests and collectible elements, it is best to wait for a while before picking this up. The better combat feel, web-swinging experience, optimization, new abilities, and fiction in New York Manhattan in winter could offer a familiar yet fresh gaming experience. On the contrary, if you really don't like the repetitive game design of the previous one, then since this work doesn't achieve any essential breakthroughs, there may be no need to try this game; similarly, if you have a high taste for game's plot, or fell the short playthrough is a dealbreaker, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales may not be for you. It should be noted that the plot of this game is independent, so even if you have not played the previous one, you will not have any difficulty understanding the plot. However, considering it still contains potential and actual spoilers from the first game, it is still recommended to play in the order of the series' release to get the best experience.
Find my reviews valuable?
Click here to join my curator group.
Your support is my greatest motivation!