There is no question that these two games, taken as a whole, are a fantastic double-feature. And both of these games gave me a little lift when it was desperately needed. Both of these characters, for all of their unique attributes, share a spirit of resilience that I didn’t realize I needed at this point in my life. The original Insomniac Spider-Man game is a sprawling epic, and it carries much the same emotional heft of Miles – if a little less focused. Coming off of Miles, I slid right into the original Spider-Man like a warm pair of worn slippers, and the fit was fantastic. I knew how to get around, and how to dodge rockets, and that I would enjoy the game more if I knocked the difficulty down one notch to feel more superheroic. Jonah Jameson calling me out on his hysterically realistic podcast). I understood that I could ignore side activities and collectathons with little repercussion (other than J. This time, I went into the original Spider-Man fully prepared. But the bottom line is, I found the writing and story in Spider-Man: Miles Morales to carry such weight that I couldn’t wait to jump into Spider-Man Remastered to experience more of that world. Miles’s constant quest to get his loved ones to stop lashing out and just talk to him is very relatable. And maybe Miles’s themes of struggling to connect with those closest to us hit me so hard because I’m experiencing a bit of that in my own life. At a time when I am actively avoiding family members and friends, swinging through a crowd of strangers feels like a poignant reminder that eventually things will return to normal.Įverything is emotionally charged to me in this moment in our shared history – even a game depicting a beloved comic book character. In fact, just the act of swinging through an active and living New York City feels like an act of defiance in the face of the challenges our country is enduring. Miles is one of those prescient works of art that happens to fall at the perfect moment, when many of its themes feel relevant to current events. Indeed, much of Miles Morales seems eerily timely, particularly since I know that many of these moments must have been planned and storyboarded years ago. The other was the well-earned climax of the game, which carried an amazing emotional weight in a time where many find their real-world interpersonal relationships stressed to the point of breaking. One moment was an unexpected reveal of such beauty that I was stunned into a reverent silence by it. There are two moments in this game that caused my eyes to well up with tears, sniffling quietly to myself just like I did when watching Pixar’s Coco in the theater with my daughter (who thought I was insane). I’ve enjoyed all of these games, and even had an emotional response to some of them, but no game has ever made me cry. There is often talk online about “what games made you cry.” There are some usual suspects: The Walking Dead Season One, Life is Strange, What Became of Edith Finch. But what I wasn’t expecting was the emotional gut punch that Miles delivered. John Yan covered the game’s technical splendor in his great review of the standalone Miles Morales game, so I knew to expect a visual tour de force. What was shocking to me was just how much I loved Miles’s game. I was locked into a Spider-Man game, for better or worse. I was reviewing the Miles Ultimate Edition, so there would be no bouncing off. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve beaten that Kingpin fight, just to gain entry to the larger open world and go sliding off the game, intimidated by the enormous number of widgets the game asks the player to collect, and slightly irritated by the various science experiment puzzles that Peter Parker must complete to unlock the coolest suits.īut going into Miles Morales, the stunning new Spider-sequel poised as one of the most exciting PS5 launch games, I knew I had to beat the game. I never connected with Spider-Man games the way I've connected with the character in other mediums.Įven Insomniac’s PS4 Spider-Man game, which was acclaimed as one of the best games of the year in 2018, did not hold my attention long. I love Spidey, but in the game sphere, he never stuck. The closest I got was probably Ultimate Spider-Man on PS2, but even after getting about three-quarters of the way through, my attention wandered. I played the first Spider-Man game back on the original PlayStation, and I’ve dutifully started almost every Spider-game since then. I suffered through a couple of '90s beat-em-ups on SNES. I was a comic book kid back in the '80s, how could I not love the character? I had to give his games a shot. Of course, as a gamer I’ve taken swipes as Spider-Man over the years. As it turns out, Miles Morales was my gateway into Spider-Man games.
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