Finished: Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PS5)
Insomniac gets a lot of credit this generation because they put out a lot of high quality games, but I do feel these Spider-man titles get a free pass on their nearly criminal open world sins. Even Ubisoft games don’t annoy me so much. The way these icons are flaunted across the map, reminding you constantly that there’s more game aside from the story feels so desperate; the fact that the game pauses the story a few times just so you can find damn pigeons kills a lot of my love for what works. Miles Morales does have a better story than it’s predecessor, and it’s brevity is preferred because it doesn’t provide MJ stealth levels of filler in its main missions. But despite my enjoyment there, the lack of enemy variety and a reliance on the same old gameplay mechanics makes me feel like this is just a highly polished version of the same old licensed superhero game we’ve been sold for years. Miles is cool and his abilities are fun for a beat, but fuck the notion of stealth by the end. Combat gets just as stale; skill trees lack interesting innovations and there’s this overall aura of simplicity that made this feel like DLC rather than the fully fledged game that’s been marketed. It’s a completely new story, surely, but one that feels limited by design decisions around it. I had fun with Miles despite my tone, but the world is filled with unforgivable filler and un-evolving gameplay. 3/5
Insomniac gets a lot of credit this generation because they put out a lot of high quality games, but I do feel these Spider-man titles get a free pass on their nearly criminal open world sins. Even Ubisoft games don’t annoy me so much. The way these icons are flaunted across the map, reminding you constantly that there’s more game aside from the story feels so desperate; the fact that the game pauses the story a few times just so you can find damn pigeons kills a lot of my love for what works. Miles Morales does have a better story than it’s predecessor, and it’s brevity is preferred because it doesn’t provide MJ stealth levels of filler in its main missions. But despite my enjoyment there, the lack of enemy variety and a reliance on the same old gameplay mechanics makes me feel like this is just a highly polished version of the same old licensed superhero game we’ve been sold for years. Miles is cool and his abilities are fun for a beat, but fuck the notion of stealth by the end. Combat gets just as stale; skill trees lack interesting innovations and there’s this overall aura of simplicity that made this feel like DLC rather than the fully fledged game that’s been marketed. It’s a completely new story, surely, but one that feels limited by design decisions around it. I had fun with Miles despite my tone, but the world is filled with unforgivable filler and un-evolving gameplay. 3/5