Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Based on the Marvel Comics superhero Miles Morales, it is the second game in the Marvel's Spider-Man series, following Marvel's Spider-Man (2018). The game was announced at the PlayStation 5 reveal event in June 2020 and was released for the PlayStation 4 and as a launch title for the PlayStation 5 in November 2020. It received generally favorable reviews from critics.

Gameplay
The game shares its environment with its predecessor. Miles Morales begins with the ability to use webs to swing and attack enemies and crawl and run on walls. At key points in the storyline, he gains Venom Blast (the ability to incapacitate his enemies with electricity), Camouflage (temporary invisibility), and Mega Venom Blast (the ability to attack multiple nearby enemies with his venom blast).

Setting
The narrative continues from where Marvel's Spider-Man and its downloadable content The City that Never Sleeps left off, during which Miles Morales was bitten by a genetically-enhanced spider and gained powers similar to Peter Parker's. A year after the first game's conclusion, Morales has trained under Parker, moved from Brooklyn to Harlem, and has fully integrated himself into the role of a Spider-Man, though he is still gaining experience. After Parker leaves to join his girlfriend, Daily Bugle reporter Mary Jane Watson, abroad as her photographer to cover the ongoing civil war in Symkaria, Miles is left as New York's sole webslinger. Now, he must balance supporting his mother Rio Morales' campaign for City Council and defending both his new home in Harlem and the rest of New York City from a gang war between the Roxxon Energy Corporation and a high-tech criminal army called the Underground, led by the Tinkerer. Before he leaves, Parker tells Morales that he has to be like his late father Jefferson Davis and walk on the path to becoming a hero for New York.

Plot
More than a year after the "Devil's Breath Crisis" and the Maggia's gang war, Miles Morales (Nadji Jeter) is now being mentored by Peter Parker (Yuri Lowenthal) and plans to help keep New York safe while honoring the memory of his late father Jefferson Davis (Russell Richardson). After they stop Rhino (Fred Tatasciore) from escaping a prison convoy and leave him in the Roxxon Energy Corporation's custody, Peter entrusts Miles with protecting New York City for him while he helps his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson with her news coverage on Symkaria.

Miles returns home to celebrate Christmas with his mother Rio (Jacqueline Piñol) and best friends Ganke Lee (Griffin Puatu) and Phin Mason (Jasmin Savoy Brown). The next day, Miles attends his mother’s campaign rally, which is interrupted by the Underground, a high-tech terrorist group with a vendetta against Roxxon. During his first conflict with the two groups, Miles learns that Phin is leading the Underground as the "Tinkerer" to avenge the death of her late brother Rick (Todd Williams), who suffered from chemical poisoning while working on Roxxon's new energy source Nuform and was killed by Roxxon R&D Director Simon Krieger (Troy Baker) while trying to sabotage the project with Phin. With assistance from his estranged and overprotective uncle Aaron Davis, who deduces his identity and later reveals himself as the Prowler, Miles learns that she plans to ruin the company by destroying the newly-built Roxxon Plaza with Nuform to highlight the energy source's disastrous side-effects, which Krieger had been covering up.

Despite Phin inviting him into the Underground, Miles is eventually forced to tell her that he is Spider-Man, souring their friendship. Rio also learns Miles' identity, but supports her son. Despite the wedge between him and Phin, Miles tries to reconcile with her, but Roxxon abducts them with the aid of an enhanced Rhino. As Miles and Phin escape, Miles learns that Aaron is working for Roxxon and comes across Krieger's data and discovers he modified the plaza's Nuform reactor to destroy Harlem should Phin succeed. Phin almost kills Rhino after he mocks her family, but Miles intervenes. Incensed and refusing to deviate from her goal, Phin incapacitates Miles and leaves. On his way to stop her, Miles is captured by Aaron, who feels guilty about indirectly helping Roxxon abduct Miles and Phin and wants to protect his nephew by imprisoning him. Miles fights his way out, telling his uncle he cannot turn his back on people when they need him.

As both the Underground and Roxxon fight on the streets and Phin executes her plan, an inspired Aaron helps Rio evacuate Harlem while Miles confronts and defeats Phin before the Nuform reactor goes critical. Miles attempts to absorb the Nuform energy to negate the blast, but is unable to contain it. Seeing that the energy is going to kill Miles unless he releases it, a remorseful Phin flies him to a safe distance above the city, sacrificing herself in the process. Miles plummets to the ground and his identity is revealed to a small number of Harlem citizens he helped as Spider-Man, though they 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 in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. 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, former mayor Norman Osborn (Mark Rolston) demands his terminally ill son Harry be released from stasis, despite warnings from a reluctant Dr. Curt Connors. In an after-credits scene, Miles leaves an award he won with Phin atop Trinity Church in her memory.

Development
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales was developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. Sony vice president Simon Rutter told The Telegraph that the game is "an expansion and an enhancement to the previous game". However, Insomniac later called the project a standalone game, stating that it is "the next adventure in the Marvel's Spider-Man universe". It is smaller in size and scope than Spider-Man, and has been compared to Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a game which served as a standalone expansion that was smaller in size and scope than a mainline Uncharted title.

The game features "a new story, with new set-pieces, fresh villains, and unique quests". For the PlayStation 5 version, the game takes advantage of the console's increased processing power, dedicated ray-tracing hardware, custom solid-state drive storage, Tempest Engine and DualSense controller to support features such as advanced haptic feedback, real-time ray tracing effects, 3D spatial audio and reduced loading times. The PlayStation 5 version of Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales supports high dynamic range and an optional "performance mode" that allows the game to run at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second.

On October 9, 2020, Insomniac Games announced via Twitter that the game had "gone gold", meaning that physical copies of the game were ready to be produced, with any further development being patched into the game through software updates.

Music
John Paesano returned to compose the musical score for Spider-Man: Miles Morales after composing 2018's Spider-Man. Unlike the 2018 game's music which was more orchestral-based, Miles Morales' soundtrack mixes orchestral themes with hip hop music. Jaden Smith created and composed the song "I'm Ready" for the game.

Release
The game was announced on June 11, 2020 at the PlayStation 5 reveal event as a launch title. It released worldwide on November 12, 2020 for PlayStation 4, with the PlayStation 5 version also releasing in North America and Oceania on that date; a week later, it released worldwide for the PlayStation 5. The game is available in numerous editions. The standard edition includes only the base game and is available for both consoles, with the PlayStation 4 version supporting a free upgrade to the PlayStation 5 version. The Ultimate Edition is available for the PlayStation 5, bundling together the base game and Spider-Man: Remastered. Launch variants of all editions were available in North America, and these variants feature instant access to the following; the T.R.A.C.K. suit and Miles' suit from the 2018 animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, three extra skill points and a Gravity Well Gadget. International retailers delivered this content separately as a redeemable code. All of these bonus items are available throughout the course of the game to those who did not receive the pre-order bonuses.

Tie-in media and merchandise
On October 7, 2020, Marvel Games revealed a prequel novel, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - Wings of Fury, which was published on November 10, 2020 and written by Brittney Morris. The novel follows Miles coming to terms with what it means to be Spider-Man. He is left questioning everything when Vulture and his accomplice Starling release experimental tech onto New York City. Also announced was Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - The Art of the Game by Matt Ralphs, which is set for a release in February 2021. It features a collection of concept art, in-game renderings, and insights from the artists and Insomniac Games.

In March 2021, Funko Pop! Vinyl figures of the T.R.A.C.K. and classic suits from the game, are set to be released, with the latter of the two having a limited edition chase variant in which Miles is unmasked.

Reception
Spider-Man: Miles Morales received "generally favorable reviews", according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Sales
The PlayStation 4 version of Spider-Man: Miles Morales sold 22,882 physical copies within its first week on sale in Japan, making it the eighth bestselling retail game of the week in the country. During the same week, the PlayStation 5 version was the tenth bestselling retail game in Japan, selling 18,640 physical copies.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales was also the bestselling physical PlayStation 5 launch game in the UK.