3.5/5 ★ – PhatBaby's review of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is another showcase of just how well Insomniac Games gets Spider-Man. While it is, at its core, a glorified expansion of the team's 2018 smash hit, this spin-off pulls out all the stops to offer an impactful pit stop on the inevitable journey to a fully-fledged sequel, delivering an emotional story, refined combat and plenty of next-generation upgrades befitting of its jump to the PlayStation 5. Honestly, in a lot of ways, Miles Morales is a genius move from Insomniac. It allows them to capitalize on the fun, heartfelt highs of the Spider-Man origin story - including the web-head having to fight his first batch of villains (who, of course, all have near-comically predictable alter egos), discover his powers and eventually dig deep within to save the ones he loves. However, with Morales taking centre stage, it doesn't have to return to the well with the now-stale Peter Parker origin. It helps that this tale is also just phenomenal - easily one of the year's very best - with its explosive climax alone making me tear up. Honestly, I think Insomniac has shown through Miles and its original Spider-Man outing that it's exceptionally talented at building up characters and setting the stage before delivering brutal, emotional finales that truly personify everything Spider-Man is about. The secret to the story's success is easy to recognise, however, as Insomniac doubles down on its newest Spider-Man. Miles is a phenomenally likeable protagonist here, with the team's excellent writing making his struggles and battles all the more emotionally investing by fleshing out who their version of Miles is and what drives him. What's more, it's done with admiration and respect for the character's heritage, culture and roots. Much like how I grew up with Peter Parker donning the mask, Insomniac continues to cement why Miles is the perfect Spider-Man for a new generation of fans, representing the monumental shift in modern culture as well as giving kids a resilient and empowering person of colour as a role model to look up to. Hopefully, the studio can continue to bring him into the spotlight and eventually cement him as the franchise's lead when the story it's telling with Peter Parker comes to a close. Its narrative makes up for the fact that little has changed in terms of core gameplay. Miles has character-specific tricks - including his insanely satisfying range of "venom" attacks, ability to shift into stealth with cloaking and inexperienced web-swinging animations - but this is essentially just more of Marvel's Spider-Man's gameplay loop. As a fan of the original game, I was happy to jump back in, but don't come into this thinking you're getting a whole new experience. It also means the original's shallow stealth sections and range of uninteresting enemy base encounters make a return (although credit where credit's due, Insomniac definitely toned down the repetitive side activities of the original. As an added extra, they also didn't bring back those god awful Screwball missions... *shudder*). Essentially, what you're getting here is nothing new, but its story and focus on such an endearing protagonist more than make up for it. Plus, it's absolutely stunning on the PlayStation 5 and the load times are frankly insane. With Miles Morales putting on another riveting show, Insomniac's Spider-Man is easily among the most promising franchises at Sony's disposal, and I cannot wait to see what they cook up with a full-fledged follow-up in a few years' time.