Developer: Insomniac Games
Platforms: PS4, PS5 (Reviewed)
Genre: Action, Adventure
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Release date: 19/11/20
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition (€79.99) contains two games: Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (€59.99 on its own) and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered.
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is an updated version of the original classic with beefed up graphics and the addition of a performance mode which manages 60fps (dynamic 4K) frame rate. There are vast improvements in the texture and rendering of the environments. Everything is more realistic and the attention to detail is to behold: the weather, lighting, and the people in this world. It feels like a real-life city with improved graphics. Ray-tracing (30fps) reflections are evident as you move through the urban sprawl of Manhattan. Character animation is even more lifelike, and this extra lick of paint adds another glossy layer to this stunning game. The character was remodelled for the game to have improved resolution. These performance updates also apply to the new Miles Morales story. If you haven’t played the original game on the PS4, this is a worthy addition to any players library. The city of New York is the environment for this Peter Parker inspired version of the game. This is the vibrant imagining of New York is also the setting of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Miles is the central character (Miles Morales story), the story follows his trials and tribulations as being the new Spider-Man on the block. This revisiting of the original Spider-Man (thematically) as he comes to term with his powers and his place in the world. The themes of family, discovery, maturing, and the lack of black-white scenarios are ubiquitous in this game. Just like the original Spider-Man game, you have a deep and rich story arc with many characters playing into the narrative of the world. The original Spider-Man excelled at storytelling – it made the game feel like a playable interactive movie. a while. I am unfamiliar with Miles as a character from the comics. Miles is duty-bound by honour and loyalty to his family as he tries to come to terms with his powers.
There are two factions in this world that Spider-Man must get to grips with – the Underground and the Roxxon corporation. The Underground are a terrorist group with aspirations of taking over New York, whereas Roxxon is the security firm of New York. In between the two factions, we will see a host of other characters like Rhino. The game is centred around a web of connections, stories and links between Spider-Man and his world. Gameplay in the story mode is linear but there are plenty of side missions and collectables in the world. The levelling up system allows you to adapt your style of play to how you want your character to be. The gameplay is varied with the choice of all action or the meticulous stealth approach to beat the enemies.
This Miles Morales story is another fantastic addition to the Spider-Man series. The immersive nature of the storytelling mixed in with playability of the game creates a living and breathing world. Before you know it, you become entangled in the characters and their story. The gameplay is superb with the addition of this fantastic story to make the game shine. The environment, animation, ray-tracing (30fps), and the 60fps (dynamic 4K) frame rate on the PS5 are breath-taking. The game is pure joy. The fighting elements are superb too, the sense of achievement as you chain together massive combos. The voice acting, directing, and production makes this a brilliant game. It’s quite the introduction to our new web-slinger.
Overall: 9/10
Review code supplied by Sony.
Enjoys more than the odd game, long time gamer, somewhat a technologist and everything else in between.
Also enjoys a good solid game of FIFA online. Currently PS4, XBOX 360 and STEAM.
