They could do a Spider-verse and have an alternate New York. Or any alternate map really. Would be cool to visit 2099.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review Thread
- Thread starter BrawlMan
- Start date
Yeah but, you said keeping it in New York would be lame. So I didn't think an alternate reality New York would be much better for you?
I mean don't get me wrong, I'm on board for little side stories where Spidey goes somewhere else, but I don't ever see a main game being set anywhere outside of NY. But some DLC story, similar to the Black Cat or Silver Sable thing, set in some other big city with stuff to swing through? I'd be down for that. However that would mean rebuilding the entire map from the ground up, and that's a lot of new assets to create for something. So, it might be more work than reward? *shrugs*
But yeah, 2099 Nueva York would be pretty slick.
Well, a photo-perfect New York that we have seen twice now would be lame. An alternate steampunk New York? A New York if it never left the Great Depression? That's what I meant. Its not about the geographical location of the game, it was more of the aesthetic or environment.
I haven't played Spider-man yet, so maybe this isn't a good comparison, but I can't help but remember Arkham Origins and Arkham City. I played the two games at the same time for some reason (I would literally switch between games each day), and seeing how Arkham Origins had literally the exact same map with some ice on it in some areas was really off putting.
Was gonna wait till the next gen console was sorted before trying it, but considered that's probably gonna take a while for most the kinkles to unfold, plus the devs are quite trustworthy with quality and I wanted to support the whole shebang on release, so I folded like bad wet origami and got it. It's refreshing to have a totally different viewpoint for once in swingy-webman, the story also maintains it's quality with characters and performances for sure. A small annoyance though, the face of old Peter spiderman has changed yet again and having spent so much time getting acquainted with the old face, it's like seeing a friend after a decade of absence return with serious plastic surgery: like were you really that insecure? We could have talked about it, you know...I'm a good listener!
Ah well, luckily not the focus here. The fighting is still fun enough that I keep reconsidering each encounter whether stealth is really the best approach to getting the most out of the time spent. Music is far better, honestly I cannot remember the previous game's music at all, which, despite what uncultured earless swines might imply, does not mean it's doing its job properly. Sauce and gravy is not just for lubricating your food, you creepy lizards husks...it still requires flavour to compliment the rest!
Bollocks, was trying to avoid food allegories. Guess it's time to end the rambling here.
Ah well, luckily not the focus here. The fighting is still fun enough that I keep reconsidering each encounter whether stealth is really the best approach to getting the most out of the time spent. Music is far better, honestly I cannot remember the previous game's music at all, which, despite what uncultured earless swines might imply, does not mean it's doing its job properly. Sauce and gravy is not just for lubricating your food, you creepy lizards husks...it still requires flavour to compliment the rest!
Bollocks, was trying to avoid food allegories. Guess it's time to end the rambling here.
Well they definitely reuse the map from the Peter version of the game. In fact revisiting some of those locations as Miles is referenced from time to time.
But yeah I could see a new NY layout as being fun. I don't have a problem with the same city map personally so I don't have your issue in that regard.
Ok so I've been playing it heavily all day today, and first things first. Turn on subtitles. I've run into multiple cases where the audio for a conversation doesn't play for one party, while Miles is still audible. It seems to be mostly tied to a specific character that I've noticed so far, but yeah, turn on subtitles or you might miss important cutscene dialogue. Ok, that one important thing out of the way....
PROS:
It's really fun. Did you like the Peter Parker PS 4 spidey game? Then you will like this one. It's very much a..well I hate to say clone, as that implies something of lesser quality, but yeah, the map is the same, the controls are the same, it's the same mechanics, but you're playing as Miles, with different powers. Like I said in a previous post. I'm totally fine with that, because I loved the first game, and more of that game, but with Miles Morales is 100% cool by me.
Venom Power combat gives me shivers of joy whenever I use it. I'm absolutely convinced some people from Sucker Punch, that worked on inFamous, helped make this game. Or at least they love inFamous as much as I do, and went nuts when given the chance to make another lightning based combat system for a superhero game. Because holy fuck balls is it fun as hell to plow through a horde of thugs with these lightning powers. Miles' power set of "Lightning and Stealth" is like tailor made crack for me as an individual, as I've always loved both of those in games. But damn do I almost never do stealth, because it's just too much fun to go flying in like Shango, and dish out some lightningy justice to criminals. It NEVER, gets old. Do you like Spider Man? Do you like Raiden from Mortal Kombat? Well happy birthday because they mooshed them together in this game and it's a glorious thing.
The goon/thug banter is really fun in this one. Some really damn funny quips and comments amongst themselves, and when fighting you. Sadly they do seem to repeat very quickly, so if you are doing a stealth mission, get ready to hear the same lines a lot. They're good lines, but yeah, not much variety in any given encounter.
The writing is good, the characters are nicely developed, but Miles is just delightful.
CONS:
This game is buggy. Not super buggy, no game breaking bugs that I've encountered yet, but the PPPS4 (Peter Parker PS4) version had no bugs that I ever saw personally. This one though...yeah I've had several. The above mentioned audio bug, that I feel is actually detrimental to the game, and you should definitely turn on subtitles to account for it. The others have just been....odd. Pretty much all graphical hiccups. Like the funniest one, is when doing a car stopping encounter, and you are taking out the driver. Specifically when it's the angle of takedown, where you end up in front of the car, catching it and stopping it to set it down....right after you thwip the driver out....his head just sort of...floats over the top of the car, flickering in and out of existence like some old film reel movie. It reminds me of those classic ice cream trucks, with a clown head or whatever on the top. Not that big of course, it's still a regular sized head but...yeah it's just floating there...staring at Miles and me...judging us...before finally poofing away. It's happened every time that specific car stop sequence comes up, but again, not a game breaker.
I did have one moment where the game froze up in the middle of a story mission. I was swinging to the next location after fighting a building of dudes or whatever, and the game just....froze, the controller started vibrating.....and then it was ok. At first I thought it got hung up due to trying to load something in the distance? But I didn't see anything suddenly happen like an explosion or whatever that might've caused it. So...*shrugs* it was weird. Only happened the once, and it cleared up in 2 seconds but, yeah it was an issue.
OVERALL:
Haven't finished it yet, as it's incredibly easy to get distracted with side missions for XP and story, and just swinging around the city because fuck if that's not just a lot of fun, but yeah, I'm enjoying every minute of it. It's what I expected it would be, and it's been meeting my expectations well. Solid game, solid fun for anyone that enjoyed it's predecessor.
PROS:
It's really fun. Did you like the Peter Parker PS 4 spidey game? Then you will like this one. It's very much a..well I hate to say clone, as that implies something of lesser quality, but yeah, the map is the same, the controls are the same, it's the same mechanics, but you're playing as Miles, with different powers. Like I said in a previous post. I'm totally fine with that, because I loved the first game, and more of that game, but with Miles Morales is 100% cool by me.
Venom Power combat gives me shivers of joy whenever I use it. I'm absolutely convinced some people from Sucker Punch, that worked on inFamous, helped make this game. Or at least they love inFamous as much as I do, and went nuts when given the chance to make another lightning based combat system for a superhero game. Because holy fuck balls is it fun as hell to plow through a horde of thugs with these lightning powers. Miles' power set of "Lightning and Stealth" is like tailor made crack for me as an individual, as I've always loved both of those in games. But damn do I almost never do stealth, because it's just too much fun to go flying in like Shango, and dish out some lightningy justice to criminals. It NEVER, gets old. Do you like Spider Man? Do you like Raiden from Mortal Kombat? Well happy birthday because they mooshed them together in this game and it's a glorious thing.
The goon/thug banter is really fun in this one. Some really damn funny quips and comments amongst themselves, and when fighting you. Sadly they do seem to repeat very quickly, so if you are doing a stealth mission, get ready to hear the same lines a lot. They're good lines, but yeah, not much variety in any given encounter.
The writing is good, the characters are nicely developed, but Miles is just delightful.
CONS:
This game is buggy. Not super buggy, no game breaking bugs that I've encountered yet, but the PPPS4 (Peter Parker PS4) version had no bugs that I ever saw personally. This one though...yeah I've had several. The above mentioned audio bug, that I feel is actually detrimental to the game, and you should definitely turn on subtitles to account for it. The others have just been....odd. Pretty much all graphical hiccups. Like the funniest one, is when doing a car stopping encounter, and you are taking out the driver. Specifically when it's the angle of takedown, where you end up in front of the car, catching it and stopping it to set it down....right after you thwip the driver out....his head just sort of...floats over the top of the car, flickering in and out of existence like some old film reel movie. It reminds me of those classic ice cream trucks, with a clown head or whatever on the top. Not that big of course, it's still a regular sized head but...yeah it's just floating there...staring at Miles and me...judging us...before finally poofing away. It's happened every time that specific car stop sequence comes up, but again, not a game breaker.
I did have one moment where the game froze up in the middle of a story mission. I was swinging to the next location after fighting a building of dudes or whatever, and the game just....froze, the controller started vibrating.....and then it was ok. At first I thought it got hung up due to trying to load something in the distance? But I didn't see anything suddenly happen like an explosion or whatever that might've caused it. So...*shrugs* it was weird. Only happened the once, and it cleared up in 2 seconds but, yeah it was an issue.
OVERALL:
Haven't finished it yet, as it's incredibly easy to get distracted with side missions for XP and story, and just swinging around the city because fuck if that's not just a lot of fun, but yeah, I'm enjoying every minute of it. It's what I expected it would be, and it's been meeting my expectations well. Solid game, solid fun for anyone that enjoyed it's predecessor.
Is that ever explained? Like, how does that thematically make sense? I get "venom" like, a spider has venom, but how does that translate into electricity? How about going invisible?
It just seems like random things to spice up Spider-Man.
*shrugs* I have no idea why they decided to call electricity "venom". As to the why of him doing those things, the incredibly thin rationale is "animals in the world can do weird shit like this, and so some scientist guys at Oscorp were tweaking the genes of spiders FOR SCIENCE!!, and one escaped and bit him." The electricity one I actually have zero issue with, as there are real living creatures that can generate electricity, along with all kinds of other crazy things with biology/chemistry. Like there is a bug that has 2 glands in it's body, with different chemicals in them, and if they are combined, they flash react to make a fluid that is scalding hot. And it uses it as a defensive mechanism. So, yeah electricity powers "because bit by animal with electricity powers" I'm fine with. Invisibility? Well, I don't know of any animal that can go full Predator level of cloak, but plenty of aquatic creatures can do some insane shit with their skins to match their surroundings for stealth.
But, short version. "Genetically altered spider with those traits, so now he has them." Why they call it venom....I just...I don't know. It annoys me based on the name, like people who say decimate when they mean devastate, but, that's the word they use.
Last edited:
Ooh, I had a bug where Miles' clothes failed to load after being put out on the streets, so there was just a floating head and neck for about 5 seconds until the game remembered it's basic chores. And another bug where one enemy goon split into 2 goons while both stood in exactly the same spot as I was stealthing about above them. Only those I've noticed so far though. It is very therapeutic to swing aimlessly about, so much so I sometimes forgot I was beelining for a particular objective at times.
Venom Blasts that're actually electric goes all the way back to Spider Woman, so you'd have to go back and ask teh writers in the 70s.
The invsibility thing is supposed to be some trait of spiders, but yeah, its nonsensical cause it includes his clothes and such as well.
Yeah was it right outside the FEAST center after you did that quest to get the water back on? Because I had that same bug, and apparently a lot of people. Chris Stuckman (Youtuber guy) showed a clip of the very same bug I had. Of Mile's floating head. Only time I saw that one.
And yeah, the zen-webbing is a common thing with the Spiderman games. I remember doing that back on the PS2 game. You just get into a groove and find yourself just swinging around and go "oh yeah, I had like...an objective or something...shit, what was I doing again?" xD
Finally got a chance and popped this in for couple of hours. The combat in this game is tight! I've already unlocked the Venom launcher and several moves. Dodging is point, and I love it when you pull off a perfect dodge just like in Bayonetta. Swinging around the city is fun as always, and it's just fun clearing your head. The enemies in this game are very aggressive, and you cannot button mash. I am grateful for that. So far I've been doing side missions and just expanding my repertoire and suits. I got the T.R.A.C.K suit unlocked just now, and I will be playing with that for a while. That's all I have to say for right now, as I think I am done for tonight. I'll be playing more tomorrow.
Ok so, finished the game last night. It's fun, a bit shorter than I might like, but I didn't finish all the sidequesting stuff, and that's a lot of the content of any spiderman game.
So, ran into some rather frustrating bugs with the final fight with the antagonist. Given the amount of leaping and hurtling across the map both Miles and the other person can do, there were several times where it seemed like the game got confused on the placing of where we should be, and would basically cancel out my attack, because I happened to push the enemy out the window, which was "out of bounds". But it was apparently expected enough, that it would stop my attack (that used up venom power) to have the enemy yoink me back inside and say "you're not getting away!!" ...um, I wasn't TRYING to get away, I was trying to smash your face into a wall with electricity fists, but the game translated my vector into an escape apparently, and now I'm injured, down venom power, and prone. Yay.
So, anti-frustration tip. When you are in a fight during the climax, and you are in a room with some REALLY big windows on one side, try not to aim any of your finishing moves or venom charges in that direction, as the game often got confused. Rotate so you are charging inward of the building, not outward. Also, got a weird bug where I was web swinging on the roof of a small hallway to avoid some ground damage, and the boss did...something, I'm not sure what as the game got confused, and the attack clip planed me into the ceiling and I was stuck. It was pretty funny because the boss kept shouting "get down here!" and I'm like "I'd love to! Help! Use your Get Over Here attack or something and save me from the clip plane purgatory!!" ultimately had to restart checkpoint, which wasn't an issue, as it was just the start of that fight. But, yeah, definitely got a bit unstable, combat wise, at the end. Not terribly bad, but it was very noticeable, to the point where I had to adjust my combat style to account for an obvious weakness that handicapped me.
The Antagonists, as there are 2 of them for the story.
They're.....not great. One of them is just a cartoon parody of Evil Corporate Bad Guy, and might as well have been named Villian McMoneypants McGee. Thankfully he's not really in it much, so his painfully obvious "I'm A Bad Guy Doing Bad Things" dialogue, isn't frequently in your face.
The primary villain, while at first is fairly sympathetic to a point, when you start to learn what's going on, by the end, they're behavior got to the point of being eyerolling to me. Spoilers for the primary story arc of Miles Morales below:
So Phin is the Tinkerer, and she's angry with Miles for lying to her about him being Spiderman....despite her lying to him about being the Tinkerer. And she KEEPS harping about it, how "she can't trust him" and blah blah blah. ***** please, you are just as guilty of living a double life, get off your hypocritical high horse already. I mean she even blames Miles for THEM (not her, THEM) being kidnapped, as if he planned it, when he clearly was just as much a target as her. They even beat him with stun batons while he's tied to a chair, IN FRONT OF HER! for like 30 seconds before he finally breaks loose. So, tell me again how this was his fucking plan Phin?
They just seemed to have painted themselves into a corner with her as the primary villain, without really considering her motivations on why she's doing what she's doing. She's incredibly oblivious to a lot of important details because Rarg Revenge! Even when they establish that she doesn't want to hurt anyone but Roxxon, and use that angle as the initial sympathetic plot point, to make us feel empathy for her problem. But then, at the end, when you are telling her that what she will do will kill everyone in Harlem, and she SEES it starting to go bad, she STILL thinks you're just lying. So it got a bit frustrating listening to her ramble on with her false sense of betrayed trust.
Also, this was something I noticed in the final fight that I guess probably happens a lot, but felt really noticeable in this one. So, multiple waves of the Final Boss Fight, I'm kicking their ass, doing combos, power attacks, you name it....but every time when we would transition to the cutscene that would move us to the next fighting arena....I'M the one who looks beaten and battered, and the villain appears completely un-phased by my continuous pummeling of super strength fists. I mean they had like tiny little bits of scratches, but they weren't even breathing heavy, or limping, or any obvious signs of injury. Whereas Miles looks like he's been training to be Rocky's stunt double or something. And since the different stages of the fight are dependent on me applying a significant amount of ass whoopin', I found this a bit off putting.
Again, this is probably not the first time this has happened in gaming I just can't recall a case where it was so obvious in the presentation, that the damage was all one sided, despite it being applied in the opposite direction.
Oh! And what they did with the Prowler in this one, as far as his impact on Miles was actually really well done. Another bit of spoiler for motivation, but :
So, Uncle Aaron in the comic books wasn't written very well, as far as being a good "lure to the dark side." All of his reasons and urgings to Miles, didn't really play out well. He never really highlighted why it would be good for Miles to become a criminal. They were obviously trying for that to be the narrative drama of him, but they didn't work it out very well in the writing. In Into The Spider-Verse, they did it much better, as Miles clearly has a well established relationship with his uncle, and they continue to bond as family, only to LATER learn that he is the Prowler. He doesn't ever try and lure Miles to the Dark Side, as when he learns that Miles is Spidey, he's instantly killed. So he was more just a Conflicted Family Component in the drama. But, in the Miles Morales game, they go back to the comic angle for Aaron, but from a very interesting direction. He doesn't try and convince Miles to stop being a hero for personal gain, but out of self-preservation. He points to how often Miles has almost died fighting people more powerful than him, how being a hero got Miles' father, and his brother killed, how it got him in the crosshairs of people like Rhino and Roxxon, something Aaron knew about because he was mixed up in it. So he KNEW how dangerous Miles' life was going to be if he continued. So he tried to move him to a mercenary path, under the pretense of "you get to pick your battles, look out for yourself, don't take unnecessary risks" etc.
THAT was way more compelling of a motivation, than in the comics.
But, aside from those bits, which while noticeable, and did detract from my enjoyment of the game a bit, overall it was super fun. I loved playing as Miles
So, ran into some rather frustrating bugs with the final fight with the antagonist. Given the amount of leaping and hurtling across the map both Miles and the other person can do, there were several times where it seemed like the game got confused on the placing of where we should be, and would basically cancel out my attack, because I happened to push the enemy out the window, which was "out of bounds". But it was apparently expected enough, that it would stop my attack (that used up venom power) to have the enemy yoink me back inside and say "you're not getting away!!" ...um, I wasn't TRYING to get away, I was trying to smash your face into a wall with electricity fists, but the game translated my vector into an escape apparently, and now I'm injured, down venom power, and prone. Yay.
So, anti-frustration tip. When you are in a fight during the climax, and you are in a room with some REALLY big windows on one side, try not to aim any of your finishing moves or venom charges in that direction, as the game often got confused. Rotate so you are charging inward of the building, not outward. Also, got a weird bug where I was web swinging on the roof of a small hallway to avoid some ground damage, and the boss did...something, I'm not sure what as the game got confused, and the attack clip planed me into the ceiling and I was stuck. It was pretty funny because the boss kept shouting "get down here!" and I'm like "I'd love to! Help! Use your Get Over Here attack or something and save me from the clip plane purgatory!!" ultimately had to restart checkpoint, which wasn't an issue, as it was just the start of that fight. But, yeah, definitely got a bit unstable, combat wise, at the end. Not terribly bad, but it was very noticeable, to the point where I had to adjust my combat style to account for an obvious weakness that handicapped me.
The Antagonists, as there are 2 of them for the story.
They're.....not great. One of them is just a cartoon parody of Evil Corporate Bad Guy, and might as well have been named Villian McMoneypants McGee. Thankfully he's not really in it much, so his painfully obvious "I'm A Bad Guy Doing Bad Things" dialogue, isn't frequently in your face.
The primary villain, while at first is fairly sympathetic to a point, when you start to learn what's going on, by the end, they're behavior got to the point of being eyerolling to me. Spoilers for the primary story arc of Miles Morales below:
So Phin is the Tinkerer, and she's angry with Miles for lying to her about him being Spiderman....despite her lying to him about being the Tinkerer. And she KEEPS harping about it, how "she can't trust him" and blah blah blah. ***** please, you are just as guilty of living a double life, get off your hypocritical high horse already. I mean she even blames Miles for THEM (not her, THEM) being kidnapped, as if he planned it, when he clearly was just as much a target as her. They even beat him with stun batons while he's tied to a chair, IN FRONT OF HER! for like 30 seconds before he finally breaks loose. So, tell me again how this was his fucking plan Phin?
They just seemed to have painted themselves into a corner with her as the primary villain, without really considering her motivations on why she's doing what she's doing. She's incredibly oblivious to a lot of important details because Rarg Revenge! Even when they establish that she doesn't want to hurt anyone but Roxxon, and use that angle as the initial sympathetic plot point, to make us feel empathy for her problem. But then, at the end, when you are telling her that what she will do will kill everyone in Harlem, and she SEES it starting to go bad, she STILL thinks you're just lying. So it got a bit frustrating listening to her ramble on with her false sense of betrayed trust.
Also, this was something I noticed in the final fight that I guess probably happens a lot, but felt really noticeable in this one. So, multiple waves of the Final Boss Fight, I'm kicking their ass, doing combos, power attacks, you name it....but every time when we would transition to the cutscene that would move us to the next fighting arena....I'M the one who looks beaten and battered, and the villain appears completely un-phased by my continuous pummeling of super strength fists. I mean they had like tiny little bits of scratches, but they weren't even breathing heavy, or limping, or any obvious signs of injury. Whereas Miles looks like he's been training to be Rocky's stunt double or something. And since the different stages of the fight are dependent on me applying a significant amount of ass whoopin', I found this a bit off putting.
Again, this is probably not the first time this has happened in gaming I just can't recall a case where it was so obvious in the presentation, that the damage was all one sided, despite it being applied in the opposite direction.
Oh! And what they did with the Prowler in this one, as far as his impact on Miles was actually really well done. Another bit of spoiler for motivation, but :
So, Uncle Aaron in the comic books wasn't written very well, as far as being a good "lure to the dark side." All of his reasons and urgings to Miles, didn't really play out well. He never really highlighted why it would be good for Miles to become a criminal. They were obviously trying for that to be the narrative drama of him, but they didn't work it out very well in the writing. In Into The Spider-Verse, they did it much better, as Miles clearly has a well established relationship with his uncle, and they continue to bond as family, only to LATER learn that he is the Prowler. He doesn't ever try and lure Miles to the Dark Side, as when he learns that Miles is Spidey, he's instantly killed. So he was more just a Conflicted Family Component in the drama. But, in the Miles Morales game, they go back to the comic angle for Aaron, but from a very interesting direction. He doesn't try and convince Miles to stop being a hero for personal gain, but out of self-preservation. He points to how often Miles has almost died fighting people more powerful than him, how being a hero got Miles' father, and his brother killed, how it got him in the crosshairs of people like Rhino and Roxxon, something Aaron knew about because he was mixed up in it. So he KNEW how dangerous Miles' life was going to be if he continued. So he tried to move him to a mercenary path, under the pretense of "you get to pick your battles, look out for yourself, don't take unnecessary risks" etc.
THAT was way more compelling of a motivation, than in the comics.
But, aside from those bits, which while noticeable, and did detract from my enjoyment of the game a bit, overall it was super fun. I loved playing as Miles
@happyninja42, I just remembered something too. This game and the Infamous games are the best Static Shock games ever made.
That was after my time, so I'll take your word on it being a good take on Static Shock.
You get a freaking Trickster Dash?! This just keeps getting better! It's called the Venom Rush. Miles basically turns in to a semi-Flash with this move. You get after beating the main story mission that involvessneaking in to the Undergrounds lair. I am at 47% completion of the game. I've mainly been doing side quests and challenges before main missions to unlock more stuff and get my money's worth. That and still so much fun just swinging around at the speed of sound.
That happened to me too. The floating head glitch during the F.E.A.S.T side mission. The game crashed on me once after completing the mission. Luckily it auto saved before the crash happened. The crash happened while was looking through the suit/mods menu. I've unlocked more Spider Suits: The 2099 version and the Crimson Red hooded one. Both look fabulous and stylish.
Last edited:
A little off topic, but do all the physical GOTY versions of Spider-man only come with codes for the DLC? Been planning to buy a preowned copy but I do want all the DLC.
Yeah that dash attack is sweet. My favorite MO was to use a gravity well, do a venom leap in the air to pull everyone up with me, and then slam them down to the ground. IF anyone survived that alpha strike, they were laying on the ground, and I'd just web them real fast. Which, because I had an upgrade, meant they would explode in venom zots to anyone nearby, further taking out the stragglers. Venom combat in that game is just super sick.
Regarding outfits, honestly I'm not terribly impressed with them. The 2099 one looks pretty cool, though I wish the red lines were blue, and a particular outfit you get later on in the story, that just screams "WE LOVE TRON!" again, I wish was in blue. I found myself running the standard Miles outfit for the game, as I thought it looked the best.