4.5/5 ★ – Hill417's review of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Sometimes a continuation to a critically acclaimed game doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. When it comes to “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” it is not a full fledged sequel, but rather an expansion. It’s the same map with a snowy environment with it being around Christmas time. This time you’ll be playing as the new Spider-Man. He has all the same powers like web slinging, spider senses, and strength, but can also turn invisible and can unleash surges of energy through his fist which he calls “Venom Blast”. These new mechanics give Miles his own play style so that he doesn’t feel exactly like Peter. Which is appropriate because the overall theme is that Miles is insecure and self doubts himself, pondering if he is even worthy of being called Spider-Man. Compared to the 2018 game where we see an experienced and confident veteran in Peter we have a new dynamic with Miles, but not just with self-esteem, but with his relationships. Miles will let the important people in his life that he is Spider-Man: his best friend, his mother, and his uncle the Prowler (where the relationship feels more fleshed out compared to other media). We may be exploring the same map, but there are new side quest and activities. You can collect sound samples, find time capsules, clear out bases, and complete 19 side missions. The campaign can be finished in about four hours, which may sound disappointing, but just because it’s short doesn’t mean it’s bad. Instead it’s focused and satisfying. Although having to beat the game again in NG+ to earn the platinum is rather annoying. With the Venom Blast, boss battles are much more entertaining along with the new enemy variants. The final boss is what all bosses aspire to be. We have to use every trick and gadget we learned. What I also appreciate about it is that I am not fighting a five story tall mech or a Fin Fang Foom, or some Thanos level threat. The final battle between Spider-Man and the Tinkerer feels like a fight between equals and when you consider the emotional stakes involved, it feels like the climax to a movie. I would be remise if I didn’t give praise to Insomniac for making every alternate skin unlockable in game. Any other company would have charged the costumes as DLC. However some costumes aren’t as strong as others. A couple of them are just Miles wearing normal clothing or an uninspired homemade suit, but at the rest of them like Crimson Cowl, Spider-Verse, Prowler, and Uptown Pride were worth the hassle to obtain. It may not be a full fledge sequel, in fact you could say that it is more of the same, but with “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” we get, gameplay, wise a sneak peak of what’s to come in Spider-Man 2.