ITSY BITSY SEQUEL
Also for: Playstation 4
As triple-A game development cycles keep increasing in scope, a game like
Marvel's Spider Man: Miles Morales steps in to save the day. Fans of
Insomniac's first web-slinging superhero adventure,
Marvel's Spider-Man, get an appetizer while they wait for the next
proper sequel, and the developer gets a surefire income boost while they plan
their next project.
Miles Morales is more than a DLC. It's a sort of downscaled spin-off, which I
think is a sound, underutilized strategy in the single-player game business.
DLC:s usually don't sell that well, because most players have already moved on
to other games, and might have a hard time remembering the controls and
mechanics they learned all those months ago.
However, the idea of a standalone
spin-off can feel way more appealing, like a semi-sequel. As a character,
Miles Morales is new to the superhero business, which means it's back to
basics for the player as well. And any newcomer can dive right in and get a taste,
and then treat the original game as a prequel if they want more.
A bitesize companion piece to the first game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales took
me around 17 hours to beat. And that meant completing all the quest markers on
the big open-world map of New York City, down to the slightest collectible and
challenge course. Or so I thought, until the statistics at the end revealed
that I missed all the postcards and some other optional stuff
the game didn't even bother pointing out.
But I didn't come merely for the superfluous stuff. Spider-Man: Miles Morales
tells a good story, naturally all centered around Miles Morales, the kid that
Peter Parker befriended during his hectic first adventure. After getting
bit by an "Oz-enhanced" spider, Miles has developed his own set of powers, all
similar to Pete's, but with their own twists.
During the opening tangle with the supervillain Rhino, Miles discovers he can
harness electricity in a few creative ways, mainly in combat, but also in
puzzle solving. Weirdly, he and his assistant friend, Ganke Lee, choose to
call it "venom power". A confusing choice, given that Venom is also the callsign of one of
the most notorious Spider-Man villains. Later on, Miles also discovers ways to
briefly turn invisible, which adds a most welcome new dimension to the stealth
sections, as it means you can revert back into stealth once you're detected. Miles calls this power "Electro" (no he doesn't - that was just me trying to wisecrack).
When Pete goes on a much-needed "holiday", or whatever undercover operation he's on, he leaves the city
under Miles' supervision. And right off the bat, dramatic things start to
happen. The game introduces a trio of new villains/antiheroes, driven by
strong ideals that collide. Miles' role in this conflict is both as a law
enforcer, attempting to thwart their plans, and a mediator, trying to keep
both the city and all its residents safe.
Simon Krieger is the one who sets things in motion. He runs the clean-energy
company, Roxxon, as an Elon Musk-sort of unhinged eco-Messiah. He is opposed by The Tinkerer, a new masked villain with deep personal ties to Miles himself, and a private army
of their own, trying to put an end to Roxxon. And as if things weren't
complicated enough, a surprising third wheel soon joins the fray. The
situation is tense and complex, yet easy to follow thanks to the
expertly crafted narrative, with a lot of colliding ideals and personal
dilemmas.
And on top of it all lies the responsibility to keep New York safe from petty
crimes in Peter Parker's absence. Swinging back and forth across the city, you
pick up alerts from crimes-in-progress everywhere. Movement overall is fast,
frantic and, dare I say, not too graceful. Dare I also say, a bit... janky?
Was it always like this, even in the original Spider-Man? You often overshoot
and fly off a ledge of a roof you intend to land on, unless you shoot your web
at it to pull yourself in. And when you try to rectify your errors you
overshoot in another direction.
On the other hand, the same pace helps out a great deal in combat, which is
further improved upon in this entry. It's a more hectic and acrobatic variation of the
trend-setting Batman: Arkham Asylum fisticuffs. You can perform neat-looking combos by
webswinging and kicking your opponent into the air, and then juggle them around with
standard attacks and webshots.
Your electric powers can inflict some serious damage and quickly
dispose of heavily-built thugs. Some neat gadgets help out a great deal, like
combat drones, remote mines and gravity wells. And by unlocking new skills you
can increase the frequency of quick takedowns, available after a number of
uninterrupted, consecutive hits.
Miles' upgrade tree is short, but - given the game's relatively short length -
more than enough to overwhelm you with different attack combos. Besides, by finding collectibles in the city you
may unlock a great number of suit upgrades and mods to steer you in a certain
playstyle direction. When the enemy far outnumber you, it's easy to even the odds if you take advantage of environmental factors like scaffolds, throwable objects or electrical devices.
The game tries its best to balance side activities to help you find your
style, but ultimately the game is a little bit too short to make everything
fall neatly into place, at least for me. The cool animations make me look like
a champ, but I often felt like I button-mashed my way to victory. It's still
not a very challenging game, at least not on the default difficulty. If you
played and beat the first one, you might wanna consider a harder playthrough.
A new app, designed by your pal Ganke, points you to different story missions
as well as sidequests and crimes in progress. This is mainly a quality-of-life
improvement, as it removes the need of opening up the map to select your next
objective. The city has that urban jungle feel to it, with a lot of activity on the streets that you're probably too busy to notice, but nonetheless breathes a lot of
life into the world.
Aside from the overabundance of gameplay options, Insomniac has always been
great at spoiling us rotten with environmental details we hardly register. I'm
referring to stuff like the hilarious radio podcasts from J.J. Jameson and
newcomer Danikast, all the cool animations, the visual details of the
narrative moments and the postcard quality of every screenshot you take -
especially when you swing from one high-rise to the next. The main missions
are supremely directed, and offer astonishing action sequences that keep you
on edge through both gameplay and cinematics.
Above all, I like the character Miles Morales and the uplifting aura radiating
from the sympathetic performance of voice actor Nadji Jeter. He's been
through deeply traumatic stuff that would embitter most people and turn them
inward, like Batman, into desensitized versions of themselves. And traumatic events keep happening throughout this story as well. But Miles shows great mental prowess
in dealing with such issues, making him very humble and relatable as a human
being. And he's one of those guys that really wants everyone around him to feel appreciated, never expecting anything in return. He's a good lad.
I won't dwell on this game. On a fundamental level it's more of the same
formula. Fans of the first game should play it, whereas detractors - if they
exist - should stay away. Remember that I'm no fan of superheroes overall
(to be honest, I'm utterly fed up with them) and still gave the first game the
highest recommendation. It was truly a brilliant game.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is no worse, really. My lower score merely stems from the old, ragged "been-there-done-that" burnout that comes naturally with every
too-familiar sequel and DLC. It's hard to maintain or rekindle the same
enthusiasm from the same experience twice, once the rush of webswinging,
liberation simulation and acrobatic combat has subsided.
As good as it is, the
original game ain't very replayable. Miles Morales offers that same experience
in droves, to the extent that I've gotten numb to it. But that issue is
mine alone to deal with. Even going through the motions is fun when Spider-Man
takes charge. No matter who dons the suit, Pete or Miles or whomever, any Spider-Man is the real deal for as long as the story is the real deal.
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