This review contains spoilers

Spider-Man Miles Morales is shorter, and has a stronger focus on Miles's smaller community. but in that shorter amount of time, this game shows it's flaws more.

Spider-man's base combat still feels great, but Spider-Man Miles Morales tries to add to that with new moves, and new enemies, but loses it's footing along the way.
in something like Halo or Doom, certain classes of enemies will counter certain attacks.
in Halo, Jackals block gunfire, Elites dodge and avoid grenades, and there are too many grunts for melee to be effective against them.
Spider-Man uses the opposite approach, ever enemy has a specific way you're supposed to take them out, and everything else will be punished. with so many enemy types, and so many combat types, this quickly becomes confusing, and annoying.
this was a problem in the first game, but it's accelerated here, with more and more being added.

the story meanwhile, feels great for the most part, but Phin, the main villain, feels rushed in her execution. durring the climax of the game, she becomes a total arrogant piece of shit, but Miles still gives her sympathy, and it feels like the game wants you to give her sympathy too, when she single-handedly messes everything up in the second half.
other than that, this story is pretty great. Miles Morales's want to help as many people as possible leads to him hurting himself and others, while people around him make the same types of mistakes.
and ending on a message focusing on greed's effect on minorities and people in poorer areas, is a really strong sentiment.

gameplay gets a 3/5 - fantastic base, with flawed additions.
story gets a 4/5 - while the main antagonist is fumbled, this story has a strong heart, and plenty of other strong characters.

Reviewed on Jan 04, 2024


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