Be Greater.

Marvel’s Spiderman: Miles Morales came at an interesting time in the gaming industry. For one, it was a surprise release when most thought they would have to wait more than 5 years before another Spider-Man title hit the shelves. Coming fresh off the heels of one of the most critically acclaimed and highest selling superhero games of all time, 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man. Does it share the same energetic spark that the previous entry provided, or does it come short as a standalone title? Let’s find out with this weeks Video Games post on Gaber’s Two Cents.

This spinoff entry centers around Miles having to carry the Spider-Man mantle alone while the OG Spider-Man, Peter Parker, is overseas doing camera work for the Daily Bugle. It’s an interesting set up that provides a somewhat logical reason as to why Peter wouldn’t be around once the Harlem reckoning plot begins to take shape. With Peter absent, it gives more meaning to Miles arc, and gives the character room to breathe. This is a positive, since the previous entry had a lot more going on, and didn’t have enough room to include more of a character developing arc for the character.

This setup is much needed, and gives the player motivation to clean up New York while Peter is away. However, problems begin to occur when you start to realize voice actor Nadja Jeter, who voices Miles, just isn’t up to par when compared to his movie counterpart. Actor Shameik Moore is so good voicing the character of Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse films that it seems almost unfair to compare both of their performances. Yet, its hard not to. Simply put, Jeter seems out of his depth in most of the cutscenes that attempt to display heartfelt, or serious moments. Which in turn makes for some cringey dialogue and unintentional comedy when attempting to take the character serious. Thankfully, by the games end, Jeter actually does improve a lot and puts more oomph into his line delivery. It’s just a shame that the rest of his performance falls so flat. Unfortunately it’s not just Miles either. Miles’s best friend Ganke, and even Miles’s own mother suffer from similar flat performances, that hurt the cinematic aesthetic that the game is attempting to pull off.

The voice acting performances would impact the overall quality more if the gameplay was similar in execution. Thankfully, this is not the case. The web-slinging and traversal mechanics in this game have never felt so great. You can feel the speed of Miles when he builds up momentum and soars past the traffic of New York down on the streets below. With cars honking, and citizens voices blending into one another as you patrol the city that never sleeps. It’s all really immersive stuff that makes use of the PlayStation 5’s capabilities. Another highlight is that load times for this game are essentially non existent. From starting the game up, to fast travelling across the map, it all takes no less than 10 seconds, which is a testament to just how far gaming titles have come over the years.

Swinging through the streets of New York is great, but how does the combat hold up? The combat in this game is fast and loose. As in the previous entry there is no parry option in this game, only dodging. Which works quite well, and only seems to not hold up when reaching the more challenging encounters closer to the games end. Punching a criminal and seeing him fly through debris such as scaffolding, trash cans, or even glass windows, is extremely satisfying. Developer Insomniac Games did an excellent job of differentiating Miles from Peter. With Peter being more of a brawler, and Miles being a tad more flexible in combat with his newfound Venom abilities (No not that Venom). It transforms what could have been a copy and paste move set from the previous entry, into something completely different, and in turn allows new opportunities to get the upper hand on the several enemies encountered within the game.

With the combat being so stellar, in order to really write it home, you need villains worth pummeling, and the antagonists within this game bring the required intensity. The main obstacles in Miles way include Simon Krieger, philanthropist and owner of the nefarious tech company Roxxon, Phin Mason, childhood friend of miles, turned evil scientist and leader of the group called The Underground, and last but not least, Rhino. There are not nearly as many villains as there were in the previous game, but what this game lacks in quantity, it makes up for it with the quality of villains. With the always excellent Troy Baker as Simon Krieger, and screen actress Jasmin Savoy Brown as Phin Mason, both main villains provide more than enough with their diabolical speeches and physical mocap performances. With Jeter’s voice execution being scattered at best, it’s nice to know that some of the voice actors performances are up to par with the superior gameplay.

While not too much of a surprise since the games starting price was below the average 60 dollar mark, Miles Morales’s solo adventure is a short experience when only following the games campaign missions. With our Gaber’s Two Cent’s completed run coming in at a little over 8 hours. This is by no means a bad thing per say, since their is plenty of side content to enjoy well after the credits have rolled, but it was a tad surprising to see just how fast the game had went by when reaching the final mission.

Surprisingly, one of the more prominent issues is the difficulty of the game. With the most challenging difficulty mode being well, not difficult. In total we had 6 deaths throughout our playthrough, with 5 of those occurring on the games final boss battle. While maybe a minor issue for some, a game can lose steam if you continuously are able to defeat every single mission with ease. This causes more problems when taking into account that this is supposed to be Miles first time protecting New York alone. Which in turn lessens the credibility that Miles really is out of his depth when faced with the high stakes plot at hand. While frustrating at first, the final battle actually provided a challenge, something that was missing throughout the games first and middle acts.

Overall there is a lot to like in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. From great combat, to a living and breathing setting that makes New York feel alive. However, spotty voice acting from some of the central cast make more dramatic moments fall short of the emotions they intend to reflect, and the game is far too easy on it’s most challenging difficulty. All of this and more is why Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales received this particular Cent Score.

Cent Score: 3 Cents

The pros outweigh the cons, sit back, don’t think too much and you’ll be fine.

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