John Esposito
A limited selection of launch titles aside, one game stood out from the pack. Well, alongside Demon’s Souls, of course. That game was Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and it served as the perfect demonstration of the power of the PS5.
Now, this introduction isn’t meant to make anyone upset about the lack of missing out on a PS5. Instead, I want to celebrate the fact that it’s finally out on PC, two years after its initial launch, with PC gamers able to take advantage of every benefit the PS5 version provides while experiencing a superb sequel. Much like its predecessor that hit PC back in August, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a superb PC port, and the perfect opportunity to experience a title you may have missed during the PS5 commotion.
Of course, to look good, you have to tailor the game to your settings. This game features an impressive amount of customization, such as various aspect ratios, graphical settings to mess around with, and much more. The sequel also boots up an options menu before you start, allowing you to mess around with settings beforehand, which may seem small, but it’s much appreciated. Whereas other titles will make you open the game and restart it after configuring settings, this game lets you do it from the get-go.
Full disclaimer, I picked up Miles Morales on PS5 come launch day. I thought the game looked marvelous back on launch, despite having to choose between 60 FPS or raytracing. The PC port lets you have it all right out of the box, which makes me feel a little jealous. Hindsight aside, after going through the usual checklist of settings to turn on and off, I have concluded that Miles Morales runs smooth as butter and that it looks even better on PC than it did on my PS5.
Now, I know that last sentence might sound crazy, but it’s most certainly true. For reference, I have a 2070 Super, and I still play Miles Morales on PS5 to this day so there is no recency bias. Raytracing is enabled on default, with no tradeoffs like my first time around, and the game looks fantastic.
From the exquisite lighting of Miles’s super-powered Venom abilities to the beautifully bright and powerful tech of the street-savvy villains, the Underground, this is an astonishingly beautiful game. I’m a sucker for good lighting, and this game is full of bright lights boosted by the power of raytracing. There’s a photo mode in-game to help capture those moments, and my hard drive is full of random shots demonstrating the game’s technical prowess.
While the game looks good, it also helps the frame rate is smooth and consistent, as it managed to hit a solid 60 FPS and more during combat, in and out of cutscenes, and while swinging through the wintery streets of New York. After playing through what I thought was a flawless frame rate on PS5, these new levels were incredible and mind-blowing.
Looks aside, this game plays well on PC too. I tend to stray away from using mouse and keyboard on games such as this, as too many buttons mean a higher possibility to mess up in key moments. However, the controls are easy enough to use, and it felt good doing whatever a spider can. By any chance, if you happen to have a PS5 controller, this game does have DualSense support with the haptic feedback carrying over. It sounds minor, but it is a neat little feature as you can feel the “push and pull” of swinging through New York in the triggers.
Switching gears from the technical side to the gameplay front, Miles Morales follows the trend of the first game’s Batman Arkham series style of combat, albeit with some stylish Spider-Man flair. The first game nailed it, in my opinion, and this game continues the trend despite the subtraction of a few gameplay pieces from the first game.
Miles is the up-and-coming Spider-Man, so while he doesn’t have the technology Peter Parker has, he does have bioelectric skills named “Venom” abilities that are shocking and fun to use. Progressing through the game will unlock plenty more to keep you engaged with a skill tree and challenges to amplify your abilities upon completing them. By the end credits, Miles’ version of the wall-crawler is very strong with his unique abilities helping him forge his own path in this light of crime fighting and dual identities.
One of my minor problems with the first game was playing as Peter Parker felt stiff at times as you swung through the city of New York or in combat, he just felt stiff. It’s a hard feeling to explain, yet this game completely erases that feeling I had. For as inexperienced as he is, Miles moves around the streets with ease, whether it be with his very unpolished swinging skills (because he’s new) or in the ebb and flow of combat. This isn’t me taking away from the first game, but the newcomer controls and feels better this time around.
You’ll find a good story in this shorter sequel, as Miles Morales is stepping into his own as Spider-Man, one year after the events of the first game. Expect to be doing the same activities the first game had, such as collecting items from Miles’ past or beating up thugs harassing innocent citizens. It all works well, although there isn’t any extra content to digest whereas the first game had DLC to take on post-completing the world activities.
If this review has come off as overly positive, that’s because it’s hard to find anything negative to say. As mentioned, this continues the rather stellar path of PlayStation to PC ports Sony has been focusing on. My only problem and I had this same problem when the game launched for PS5, is the price point. In my opinion, I believe Sony’s adaptation of games to PC should be a bit cheaper.
You could make an argument for both sides as to why that should and shouldn’t be the case, but overall I think charging near premium for games that were released years ago isn’t a fair strategy. For reference, the first game’s story clocks in at about 17 hours, and this game will run you for about 8 hours. To be fair, there is a $10 difference between the price of both, but this is a much shorter product, so that differential feels noticeable.
The Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection is the same price, and you get two games versus the one in Miles Morales. This time around, I think it’s a noticeable hindrance on the final product as I’ve played through this on PS5, and it’s hard to recommend paying full price to enter the same club you’ve been in, with only the performance being the huge selling point. Especially if you’ve already played through it once on PS5.
Price point aside, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a technical spectacle on PC, with frame rates that reach the moon or because it’s one of the best-looking games I’ve played on the platform. While the price point is a negotiable evil, the final product is a masterpiece, especially in light of the first game’s PC port coming out a few months ago. If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you experience Miles Morales in his first big outing.
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