Vice President of Marvel Games says “If Marvel’s Spider-Man was Star Wars, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is kind of our Empire Strikes Back. It gets a little darker. It’s the next big chapter.”
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a video game developed by Insomniac Games and distributed by Sony Interactive Entertainment that stars Miles Morales as the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man. It is a standalone game that takes place after Marvel’s Spider-Man, and it was released as a launch title for the PlayStation 5 on November 12 and November 19, 2020
Check out our review of Miles Morales by clicking here.
Table of Contents
Synopsis
After the events of The City That Never Sleeps, the story continues up to around a year later. With the guidance of his mentor, Peter Parker, Miles Morales, who gained spider-like abilities at the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man, intends to become New York City’s newest web-slinger.
A year after completing his training with Peter, Miles has fully integrated himself into the black and red suit as an experienced Spider-Man, defending both his new home in Harlem Protecting the rest of New York City from a gang war between the energy company Roxon and the Underground, a high-tech criminal army led by the Tinkerer. Miles is told by Parker that he must emulate his late father and go on the moon the road to becoming a hero for New York City.
Gameplay
The game is an action-adventure title that was described as “an expansion and enhancement to the prior game” when it was first announced.
Some aspects of the original PlayStation 4 game appear to have been retained, such as New York having a free-roam environment, several takedowns to use on foes, and Suit Mods being available to equip. Miles, unlike Peter, is observed employing invisibility and bioelectricity.
To make use of the PlayStation 5’s more powerful technology, the game offers “near-instantaneous fast-travel across Marvel’s New York City” and “highly-detailed character models and upgraded visuals.” This has been a long-held wish since the original PlayStation 4 game; Insomniac’s technique for loading New York City while web-slinging around it was limited by its heavy reliance on RAM, and the PlayStation 5’s SSD would address this problem.
Plot
Miles Morales has mastered his spider-like skills and established himself as the original Spider-crime-fighting Man’s sidekick after more than a year of training under Peter Parker, though he is still adjusting to his new role. Miles accidentally releases Rhino, who causes mayhem in Harlem, while escorting a police convoy taking prisoners to the reconstructed Raft. While Miles stops the other fugitives, Peter fights Rhino, who eventually defeats him. Miles intervenes and uses his new bio-electric ability, subsequently named “Venom Blast,” to destroy Rhino. Peter informs Miles that he would be aiding his fiancée, Daily Bugle reporter Mary Jane Watson, with her assignment in Symkaria as her photographer for a few weeks, and entrusts him to look after the city, leaving Rhino in Roxxon’s care in the absence of his presence.
Miles clashes with the Underground organization, who have a vendetta against the Roxxon Plaza, while investigating a break-in at the Roxxon Plaza. When Miles returns home for Christmas with Rio and Ganke, he is surprised to hear that Rio has invited Phin, whom he hasn’t spoken to in over a year. The next day, Ganke designs a Spider-Man app that allows individuals to contact Miles for assistance immediately. Aaron Davis, Miles’ uncle, is the first to use it, and he tells Miles about his nephew’s identity. Miles later attends one of Rio’s campaign rallies, where he watches the Underground attacking the Roxxon guards present and tries to intervene before the situation develops. He soon learns that the Underground is on the lookout for Roxxon’s experimental power source, Nuform and that Phin is the ‘Tinkerer,’ the Underground’s leader. Phin wants to avenge the death of her brother Rick, who was poisoned while working on Nuform and killed by Simon Krieger after attempting to sabotage the project, according to Miles. Miles discovers Phin’s plot to ruin Roxxon by burning their plaza with Nuform to highlight its deadly side-effects, which Krieger had been covering up, with the help of Aaron, who he learns is the Prowler.
Miles is compelled to confess his identity to Phin after breaching her confidence to acquire information on the Underground, souring their friendship. Miles tries to reconcile with Phin, but Roxxon uses an augmented Rhino to kidnap them. Miles and Phin can flee, but Miles discovers that Aaron has been spying on him for Roxxon and that Krieger has modified the plaza’s Nuform reactor to destroy Harlem if Phin’s plan is successful. The upgraded Rhino taunts Phin over Rick’s death, so Phin and Miles attack him. She comes dangerously close to killing him, but Miles intervenes, and the two struggle until Phin knocks Miles out and flees. Rio finds her son’s identity and continues to support him after Ganke takes an injured Miles home. Miles tries to halt Phin after he has recovered. Aaron, on the other hand, captures him and takes him underground to keep him from being slain like his father Jefferson Davis. Miles eludes his uncle and defeats him, stating that he cannot abandon people when they are in need.
While the Underground and Roxxon fight on the streets and Phin carries out her plan, Aaron, moved by his nephew’s words, assists Rio in evacuating Harlem, allowing Miles to confront Phin and disable the Nuform reactor before it reaches critical status. Miles battles Phin because he can’t reason with her and then tries to absorb the Nuform’s energy to stop the blast. Miles, on the other hand, is unable to contain the excess energy. Phin sacrifices herself to save the city by flying him to a safe distance above it so he can release the energy before it kills him. Miles falls to the earth, and his identity is exposed to a small group of citizens he aided as Spider-Man, who swear to keep his identity a secret. After Aaron turned himself in and testified against them, Roxxon was hit with a slew of lawsuits, and Krieger was arrested four weeks later. Before they walk off to battle crime together, Peter returns from Symkaria and compliments Miles for his progress and heroism.
