After completing the first Spider-Man game from 2018, and reviewing it (HERE), I was able to watch and somewhat participate (mostly commentate) on the next game, Spider-Man Miles Morales. The game came out in 2020, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, and follows Miles’ journey as he becomes Spider-Man. Peter is featured in the beginning and the end of the game, with a few phone calls in-between, but the main story is Spider-Man VS. the Underground and Roxxon.
This review contains spoilers and is coming from the view of a casual game watcher, not a hard-core gamer. If you’re looking for a more detailed gaming review, this is not for you. However, if you’re not a gamer and are curious about the game for any reason, keep on reading!
Miles Morales (voiced by Nadji Jeter) has been training under the watchful eye of Peter (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) to become a good Spider-Man. He’s learning how to properly fight, thwip around the city, respond to situations, balance his life and secret identity, and how to keep going no matter what happens. He’s not really thrown into anything until after Peter leaves, but the game begins with a huge fight with Rhino and Miles learning how to accept mistakes and take responsibility by fixing them.
After the fight, he learns that Peter is going out of the country for a few weeks with MJ and leaving Miles to be the one-and-only Spider-Man. Unfortunately, this is the scene where we learn that Sony, or Insomniac, have completely changed how Peter looks and made him look like a weird, creepy baby. It seems they were trying to make him look more like the Tom Holland Spider-Man, but sleep-deprived Peter from the first game was a good look for him. Hopefully in the next game they fix him so we don’t have to look at that face for an entire game. I know that there was a huge upset about it on Twitter and many memes were made!
Miles is nervous about being alone for so long, but Peter left him with a suit to get started and he has the support of his best friend, Ganke Lee (Griffin Pautu). Before introducing the main villain and plot, Miles gets some time to practice helping people out, stopping a few crimes, and spending time with his family and friends. His mom, Rio Morales (Jacqueline Pinol), is running for city council and advocating against Roxxon, and everyone is Harlem proud. It’s a good chance to understand the characters better and explore the city before jumping into the main plot of the game.
The main plot of the game is Spider-Man vs the Underground and Roxxon, as mentioned before. The Underground is trying to take-down Roxxon because their new form of energy is making people sick and they want to destroy Harlem to build more. While the Underground are fighting an evil corporation (aren’t they all?) they are causing harm to civilians and have a history of trying to become a mob by fighting the old mobs and groups to be the most powerful one. Unfortunately for Miles, the leader of the Underground is an individual known as the Tinkerer, who he quickly learns is his best friend from growing up, Phin (Jasmin Savoy Brown). Her brother was killed by Roxxon’s CEO Simon Krieger (Troy Baker), and she wants revenge. While he understands her desire for revenge, he needs to stop her from accidentally blowing up Harlem. As for Roxxon, they quickly view Spider-Man as an enemy (who doesn’t?) and he has to fight them along the way.
The plot of this game was great, and Miles’ character development was done well as he comes into the role of Spider-Man and learns to make the hard decisions for the greater good. However, I struggled with the character of Phin because, once again, the main female of the story is made out to be a massive bitch. I’m not talking about her becoming a villain, that makes perfect sense, but I am talking about the way she treats Miles after she finds out he’s Spider-Man. She seems to believe that he lied to her and mislead her, even though he had zero obligation to share that with her AND they’ve grown apart because she disappeared from his life AND she didn’t tell him what she was up to! She’s an entitled bitch who won’t listen to reason, blames him for stupid shit, and in the end is shocked and horrified that she was actually causing harm to others and about to trigger a nuke in Harlem. Thankfully, in the end she dies while somewhat redeeming herself (not really) by saving Harlem and Miles. All I’ve learned from this is that the Spider-Men only get toxic women in their lives, with the exception of May, who is dead, and Miles’ mom.
Rio finds out Miles is Spider-Man, as does some of the Harlem citizens he’s helped along the way, but they all keep his secret because they want to protect him as he has protected them. It’s a sweet moment and a good reminder to Miles that the hero work he does matters.
Overall, the game was really enjoyable and slightly shorter than Peter’s game as they got rid of the waves of criminals to fight, thankfully. Peter returns in the end and is proud of how far Miles has come, as they go off to continue fighting crime together. The end credit leads into the next game, where Venom will be introduced and we’ll get to see them fight side-by-side. Miles did not get as many suits, but he does get a cat companion in the end, Spider-Cat!
While the web-slinging is difficult for non-gamers, this is a good game for people who are not hardcore gamers. I would recommend it to watch or play! And remember, turn on Motion Blur to avoid getting dizzy or seasick! If you enjoyed this review, please check out the other things on my blog, give me a follow, and leave a comment if you’ve played or decide to after reading this review!
Writing Until Ragnarok 