Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review Thread

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Finished the game! I love it! The final boss was not too bad, and I only died once. I've done most of the side quest and I will probably finish the rest of those later. The standout boss fight for me was The Prowler. Best boss fight in the game. I was also not expecting Harry Osborn as Venom in the stinger. So odds are we are not going to get Spider Gwen, yet. No problem.

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
I agree with all of that. Phin they were doing fine with, until she started getting self righteous about leading a double life. I hate it when writers do that. It makes your antagonist or villain less sympathetic and come off as wangsty in many cases. Her constant prattling in the final boss fight was not helping. I literally shouted "AAAGGGHHHH! SHUT UP!", when landing the final blow. Still sad to see pull off the self sacrifice though.
 
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happyninja42

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I agree with all of that. Phin they were doing fine with, until she started getting self righteous about leading a double life. I hate it when writers do that. It makes your antagonist or villain less sympathetic and come off as wangsty in many cases. Her constant prattling in the final boss fight was not helping. I literally shouted "AAAGGGHHHH! SHUT IP!", when landing the final blow. Still sad to see pull off the self sacrifice though.
Yeah, I was yelling the same thing during the final fights. And that bit about Her dying. Don't sweat it. It's comic books, she'll just reincarnate as some energy being, a fusion of her programmable matter and the massive energy released by Miles. She'll be like a Dr. Manhattan or something. It's comic books, nobody that's got a decent story and power hook stays dead for long. Also they have to have her come back after they clearly establish the relationship with Hailey and Miles, to be a love triangle drama. She might be like an after credit stinger in the next one or something. Or perhaps a DLC about her much later. But I doubt she's dead.
 

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Yeah, I was yelling the same thing during the final fights. And that bit about Her dying. Don't sweat it. It's comic books, she'll just reincarnate as some energy being, a fusion of her programmable matter and the massive energy released by Miles. She'll be like a Dr. Manhattan or something. It's comic books, nobody that's got a decent story and power hook stays dead for long. Also they have to have her come back after they clearly establish the relationship with Hailey and Miles, to be a love triangle drama. She might be like an after credit stinger in the next one or something. Or perhaps a DLC about her much later. But I doubt she's dead.
We'll see, but I highly doubt Insomniac are going to put that much thought in to it. She was vaporized in to atoms. I know it's comic books, but that's the thing. Sometimes dead characters come back, while other stay dead combined with deader than dead. Phin is looking more like the latter option to me. No matter right now, because I am going to do the rest of the side quests later and finish those up. Thanks again.
 

happyninja42

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We'll see, but I highly doubt Insomniac are going to put that much thought in to it. She was vaporized in to atoms. I know it's comic books, but that's the thing. Sometimes dead characters come back, while other stay dead combined with deader than dead. Phin is looking more like the latter option to me. No matter right now, because I am going to do the rest of the side quests later and finish those up. Thanks again.
In my experience, the formula is "the more mundane the death, the more permanent it is. the more insanely weird it is, the less likely it will stick." It's just a theory of course. I'm fine either way really, I didn't have much invested in that character, so if they pop off or come back, *shrugs* eh.

And yeah I need to finish the side missions soon. I'm playing Shadow of War as it's free with my PS+, which I might not keep once it expires. Only picked up 30 days to test it out. So wanted to get my time in with that game in case we decide against it. Miles is always there though. Need to play the NG+ anyway now that I think about it.
 

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Been playing with the Spider-Verse suit and perk that makes Miles run a 12fps with the onomatopoeia. It is hilarious. Surprisingly, there is no stress nor strain on my eyes when using the SV suit.
 

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Been playing with the Spider-Verse suit and perk that makes Miles run a 12fps with the onomatopoeia. It is hilarious. Surprisingly, there is no stress nor strain on my eyes when using the SV suit.
Yeah after playing with the suit, the eye strain issues I remembered having from the trailer weren't there. I still didn't like the out of place feel of it, when compared to everything else, but I had that same issue with the Peter game and some of the animated style suits. I just find it odd for that disparity in look from spidey to everything else.
 

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I did all of the Spider-Man App Activites and Side Quests. I unlocked the Uptown Pride Suit (Gold and Black). You'll find it right in front of the black lives matter graffiti. I appreciate the heartwarming cameo. Thank you, Insomniac.

Marvel's Spider-Man_ Miles Morales_20201127210841.jpg
Marvel's Spider-Man_ Miles Morales_20201127210711.jpg
 
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CriticalGaming

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I have been playing this game finally after getting more or less done with demons souls and i have to say, it is just as good as the first spiderman game. I love that they play on Miles being a newer spiderman with peter's training missions and the overall bad guys being kinda of generic. Which is a strange thing to say, the bad guys being generic is a good thing but it fits Miles to not be battling something crazy on this first time out.

Even generic the bad guys issue a fairly decent threat that also plays off the extra powers that Miles has.

All in all it is a good expansion to the spiderman series. Smaller in scope but that makes sense in context of where Miles is at this point.

The only negative is that the story is predictable as fuck, even more than the first game and the first game has dr. Octopus as the foreshadowed villain. So i was never shocked at any events.
 
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That was after my time, so I'll take your word on it being a good take on Static Shock.
Actually, Static's been around since 1993 (Milestone/DC comics), but did not hit mainstream recognition until 2000 with the cartoon. I was 11 when Static Shock first aired and was the first time I had heard and seen him.

 

happyninja42

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Actually, Static's been around since 1993 (Milestone/DC comics), but did not hit mainstream recognition until 2000 with the cartoon. I was 11 when Static Shock first aired and was the first time I had heard and seen him.

Oh I've heard of him, I'm just saying that by that time, I was mostly out of my comic phase, as I was in highschool, and mostly focusing on getting high and trying, in vain, to get laid. By the 2000s I was already in the workforce and not really following the cartoon/comic scene. Also in the mid 90s I had worked in a comic shop for about a year, and it really burned me on the genre for well over a decade. Stocking the shelves with replaceable, interchangeable titles with little to no variation just really soured me on comics. There were a handful of indy titles that I followed, but they were almost always limited runs, so they were a complete story. The ongoing ones never kept my interest for long, as I realized they were basically just soap operas in print form. With no real resolution to anything, revolving door of cast, and insane drama.
 
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happyninja42

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The only negative is that the story is predictable as fuck, even more than the first game and the first game has dr. Octopus as the foreshadowed villain.
Yeah it was a very easy to predict plot, but honestly I don't think they were really going for subtle? Given how cliche the corporate badguy was.

So i was never shocked at any events.
I see what you did there.
 

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I was not expecting Sphere Hunter to reviews Miles Morales. I do not mind and more than happy.