Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a video game featuring the Miles Morales incarnation of the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced June 11, 2020, it is a standalone game that takes place after Marvel's Spider-Man and its The City That Never Sleeps DLC expansion, and was released worldwide in November 2020 for both PlayStation 4 and as a launch title for the PlayStation 5.^[2]^[3] A port of the game for PC released on November 18, 2022.^[4]

Synopsis

The story picks up about a year after the events of Marvel's Spider-Man. Miles Morales, having gained spider-like powers himself at the end of Marvel's Spider-Man, looks to become the newest web-slinger of New York City under the guidance of his mentor, Peter Parker.

A year after his training with Peter is complete, Miles has fully integrated himself into the black and red suit as an experienced Spider-Man while defending both his new home in Harlem and the rest of New York City from a gang war between the energy corporation, Roxxon and a high-tech criminal army, known as the Underground, lead by the Tinkerer. Parker tells Miles that he has to be like his late father and walk on the path to becoming a hero for the city of New York.^[5]^[6]

Gameplay

The game is an action-adventure title that was initially reported to be "an expansion and an enhancement to the previous game."^[7] However, Insomniac Games would later clarify that it is a standalone spin-off that continues the adventures of Marvel's Spider-Man.^[8]

The gameplay appears to retain some elements of the original PlayStation 4 title, such as New York being the free roam area, a variety of takedowns to be utilized on enemies, and mods being available to equip. Unlike Peter, Miles is seen using powers of invisibility and bioelectricity.

The game also includes such technical improvements as "near-instantaneous fast-travel across Marvel’s New York City" and "highly-detailed character models and enhanced visuals" to take advantage of the PlayStation 5's more powerful hardware.^[8] This had been desired since the original PlayStation 4 game; Insomniac's solution to load New York City while webslinging through it was constrained by its heavy reliance on RAM, and the PlayStation 5's SSD would resolve this issue.^[9]

Plot

After more than a year of training under Peter Parker, Miles Morales has mastered his spider-like abilities and established himself as the original Spider-Man's crime fighting partner, though he still struggles to adapt into his new role. While escorting a police convoy carrying prisoners to the rebuilt Raft, Miles accidentally frees Rhino, who wreaks havoc in Harlem. While Miles stops the other escapees, Peter struggles against Rhino, who eventually overpowers him. Miles intervenes and defeats Rhino with his new bio-electric ability, later dubbed "Venom Blast" before he can kill Peter. Leaving Rhino in Roxxon's custody, Peter informs Miles that he will be assisting his girlfriend, Daily Bugle reporter Mary Jane Watson, with her assignment in Symkaria for a few weeks as her photographer, and entrusts him to look after the city in his absence.

While investigating a break-in at the Roxxon Plaza, Miles clashes with a group called the Underground, who have a vendetta against the company. Returning home to celebrate Christmas with Rio and Ganke, Miles is surprised to learn that Rio also invited Phin, with who he has not spoken in over a year. The next day, Ganke creates a Spider-Man app so citizens can call Miles for help directly. Miles's uncle, Aaron Davis, is the first to use it and reveals his knowledge of his nephew's identity to Miles. Later, Miles attends one of Rio's campaign rallies, but witnesses the Underground attacking the Roxxon guards present and tries to stop the conflict before it escalates. He soon discovers that the Underground are seeking Roxxon's experimental power source, Nuform, and that Phin is their leader, the ‘Tinkerer’. After further investigation, Miles learns that Phin wants to avenge the death of her brother Rick, who was poisoned while working on Nuform and killed by Simon Krieger after attempting to sabotage the project. With assistance from Aaron, whom he learns is the Prowler, Miles discovers Phin's plan to ruin Roxxon by destroying their plaza with Nuform to highlight its dangerous side-effects, which Krieger had been covering up.

After betraying Phin's trust in order to gather information on the Underground, Miles is eventually forced to reveal his identity to her, souring their friendship. Miles tries to reconcile with Phin, but Roxxon abducts them with the aid of an enhanced Rhino. Miles and Phin escape, but Miles learns that Aaron has also been spying on him for Roxxon and that Krieger modified the plaza's Nuform reactor to destroy Harlem if Phin's plan succeeds. Phin and Miles fight the enhanced Rhino, who taunts Phin about Rick's death. She almost kills him, but Miles intervenes and the two fight before Phin knocks Miles out and escapes. Ganke brings an injured Miles home, where Rio discovers her son's identity and continues to support him. Once he recovers, Miles tries to stop Phin. However, he is captured by Aaron, who takes him underground to prevent him from being killed like his father Jefferson Davis. Miles escapes and defeats his uncle, explaining that he cannot turn his back on people when they need him.

While the Underground and Roxxon fight on the streets and Phin executes her plan, Aaron, inspired by his nephew's words, helps Rio evacuate Harlem, giving Miles a chance to confront Phin and stop the Nuform reactor before it goes critical. Unable to reason with her, Miles fights Phin before attempting to absorb the Nuform's energy to negate the blast. However, there is too much energy and Miles is unable to contain it. To save the city, Phin sacrifices herself by flying him to a safe distance above the city so that he can release the energy before it kills him. Miles plummets to the ground and his identity is revealed to a small number of citizens he helped as Spider-Man, who promise to keep his secret. Four weeks later, Roxxon has been dealt numerous lawsuits and Krieger has been arrested following Aaron turning himself in and testifying against them. Peter returns from Symkaria and praises Miles for his growth and heroism before they head off to fight crime together.

In a mid-credits scene, Norman Osborn orders a reluctant Dr. Curt Connors to release his terminally ill son Harry from a stasis pod in spite of his unstable condition. In a post-credits scene, Miles leaves an award he won with Phin atop Trinity Church in her memory.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack contains most of the music that is featured in the game. It was composed by John Paesano with original songs made by artists Jaden Smith and Lecrae. It was released digitally on November 10, 2020 with 19 tracks.

#	Song title	Length
1	Don't Give Up	4:10
2	Rhino Rampage	4:05
3	New York's Only Spider-Man	2:53
4	Spider-Training	2:56
5	Best Friends	5:16
6	Be Yourself	4:18
7	Confession	6:40
8	The Underground	2:42
9	Thicker Than Water	4:55
10	On the Case	2:42

#	Song title	Length
11	All In	3:53
12	Trying to Protect You	2:28
13	We're Here for You	3:24
14	Worst Enemies	4:07
15	Make It Right	5:57
16	Won't Give Up	2:21
17	I'm Ready (Jaden)	3:09
18	Where We Come From (Lecrae)	2:29
19	This Is My Time (Lecrae)	2:15