When Stan Lee and Steve Ditko first created Spider-Man in the early 1960s, the character was used as a figure to emblematise the western youth counterculture of the time. Fastforward fifty years, when Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli came to create Miles Morales, a new Spider-Man, it served once again to reflect contemporary culture. In this case, it was a Black/Hispanic teenage boy, who represented the a newer more modern time for Marvel, and the urban culture that New York continues to be defined by.
Spider-Man and its many narrative threads have become a symbol of change and
adaptability; fitting into many different aspects of popular culture and mainstream media. It is hard to believe the enormous journey the friendly neighbourhood Spidey, has taken over these years, and despite a symbol change and modernity, quite possibly the last thing on Lee and Ditko’s mind was Spider-Man appearing in his own video game. Nevertheless, the video game format has lent itself exceptionally well to Spider-Man, his heroics and fantastic superpowers, proving he is one of the most perfect game avatars in recent years. After a string of semi-successful attempts to bring the web-head to our games consoles, 2018 saw a smash hit with Spider-Man, a Playstation exclusive. The fast-paced traversing through the New York’s skyline, unique combat style and visually stunning graphics made for a breath of fresh air for liner, single player games, and was therefore, a no brainer for Insomniac Games to capitalise on a Miles Morales spin off sequel.
Shifting the focus away from original Spider-Man, Peter Parker, the sequel turns Miles
Morales who, in this universe, is Peter’s young protégé also blessed with arachnoid powers. With Peter out of the picture, Miles is tasked to look after New York and hold down the fort in his absence. This takes the shape of beating up bad guys, brawling with known villains, and stealthily picking them off, webbing them to walls. The gameplay takes all the interesting and compelling mechanics from the first game and builds on them, giving you plenty of time to collect memorabilia, solve intricate puzzles and navigate your way from roof top to roof top. However, something that perhaps trumps the first game in a major way, is the new fighting and combat style that comes along with Miles’ set of unique powers that sets him apart from Peter.
The 2018 Oscar award winning, animated film, Into the Spider-Verse brought Miles Morales and his story into the public eye, laying much of the groundwork for the game to draw from. The comic book inspired visual animation of the film is not too dissimilar in the game, capturing the less than gracious movements and erratic web-swinging as Miles journey’s through the city. The routes in urban culture is too drawn from, emphasising all the things that made Miles’ coming of age journey so compelling in the film. The music, art, and culture are displayed around Harlem in which a huge portion of the game’s narrative takes place.
While there are many things to be celebrated about this game, there are a small number of issues that hinder the game in a relatively unnoticeable way to the casual gamer. Similar to the Uncharted 4 spin off, Lost Legacy, what we are ultimately left with is a much shorter game that is over far too quickly. While a welcomed addition to the Spider-Man game cannon, it does feel that this was solely made to be released with the PS5 to draw in an established fan base to sell consoles. Another issues, takes Umbridge with the terrain, finding the landscape towards the end of the game well-trodden, ready for new environments in the next sequel game. Understandably, this game is a 1.5 of sorts, a bridge between the last and the next instalment in the series, so to make any great changes would infringe on any plans for the next game.
With the only criticisms of this game concerned with length and keeping the same format, I’d certainly say that the game has earned its place as one of the most successful sequels in recent years. Drawing on the recent popularity of Miles Morales story, and the urban culture he represents, paired with the stunning visuals and latest gaming technology, it is an enlightening and empowering thrill to swing through the city as Spider-Man once more.