Sony is on a roll with putting some of its hottest PlayStation titles onto PC, though I’m still waiting for a glimmer of hope for Ghost of Tsushima to materialize soon. Anyway, this time around they have brought their strongest PlayStation 5 launch title with Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Packed with presentation settings that will make the PS5 version pale in comparison, the PC game still brings the heart and fun, and a little bit of tragedy with it.
Let’s dig right into this sucker.
Strong story, more emotion
If you have not had the pleasure of playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales on any platform, then you’re in for a treat the first go around. The story revolves around a family trying to cope with the loss of a father and husband, the new burden brought by becoming a new Spider-Man, and a few villains getting in the way of Miles Morales’ journey. The entire story is compact in its tightly knit story and doesn’t stray its focus too far away from Miles or his family. It is a different story completely from Parker’s journey and makes sense within the context of the gameplay. There’s nothing wrong with taking a big world and shrinking it down and focusing on important pieces. Superhero stories have done that before, such was the case with Daredevil when it made its debut on Netflix. It’s currently the case with Star Wars’ Andor, which literally focuses itself on Andor’s journey to help take part in the rebellion. Smaller stories that are more focused on character development usually come out with more emotion, and passion, and are generally more memorable. The story of Miles Morales stuck with me more than Peter Parker’s journey.
While most reviewers will certainly argue that The Amazing Spider-Man is bigger and better than Spider-Man: Miles Morales, I tend to lean the opposite route as this game is far more personal and grounded, even if it is smaller in scale. From the first time I played this on the PlayStation 5, I knew it would be a bit smaller on a big scale. The story of Miles Morales struggling with coming to terms with his powers and dealing with the death of his father, while also playing cautious with losing anyone else around him, is powerful as it is personal. While I do like The Amazing Spider-Man, I think Peter Parker’s journey is played out enough that his role as Spidey is bigger than his role as Peter. Miles isn’t like that, as you get breadcrumbs leading to a smaller world where villains live and breathe down alleys that we have never seen before or journeyed through, and we get an immediate impact with Morales’ life than we do with Parker’s when things go wrong.
Long story short, I loved the story the first time around and adore it this time. Miles was and is a relatable character, his concerns, questions, fears, and determination all feel real. His groundedness made everyone else, villains and side characters, feel human. Therefore, I like this story better than Parker’s journey. Anyway, this was my fourth playthrough of the game and I’m starting to wonder why we haven’t seen Miles yet in a live-action MCU film. It’s about time. At the very least make it for Disney+.
Turning the channel to gameplay
The good folks at Nixxes Software did a fantastic job of taking Insomniac’s baby and bringing it to PC. They didn’t miss a beat with gameplay functionality, control scheme, structure, or everything else that made the game great the first time around. Let’s dig into these items.
The gameplay design was phenomenal, as it was in Spider-Man: Miles Morales’ first console release. The entire city of New York is loaded in and accessible. Miles can swing around buildings with ease, crawl up them, or run on the streets if he likes. The world created in the original game has been brought over seamlessly in the PC iteration of it. It’s active, it’s packed, and it’s very much New York City. I think you might spend more time looking for criminals on the street than maybe the story, which is a huge plus considering how good the story is in the game. The girth of the gameplay sandbox is big and beautifully constructed. There is plenty to do in a lively, yet criminal-infested New York City.
Speaking of plenty to do, this game will have you playing 20-30 hours of gameplay with what it has to offer. That offering will consist of side missions, such as gathering loot boxes from an evil group called the Underground. There are also crimes to stop in progress that crop up randomly, from common break-ins to helping to take down criminals controlling helicopters in the sky. You will also have smaller tasks such as training spots and taking down organization locations with unstable power grids that could blow up half the city. There is so much to explore and do in this game and that doesn’t even consider the story you will eventually have to see through. For anyone saying this was a glorified DLC, you’re in for a rude awakening. This is a full game that feels like a solo game.
On the backend side of the tracks, Miles has a lot of attributes that you can upgrade and access. For example, he has plenty of costumes to sort through, some held behind accomplishment walls (if you complete task X, then you receive costume Y). The game also features skills Miles can tap into to make his life easier, including strength-related skills, speed, and even breaking enemy weapons. The game also offers up gadgets that you can choose from that give you a variety of attacks, including a spider-mine that can be attached, dispatched, and can take out multiple enemies at the same time. There was a lot of thought put into making Miles’ character upgradable and providing motivation for the player to keep exploring and completing tasks. Everything dances together in harmonious well-designed gameplay.
On the enemy side of the tracks, they’re not the garden variety Spidey-brand. While you will get a good introduction to bosses via Rhino, it’s more of a tutorial on how to control Miles and work with his features that aren’t a part of Peter Parker’s world. For the most part, the main enemies are an evil energy corporation named Roxxon which is led by a ruthless fork-tongued executive named Simon Krieger, someone who you will hate from day one. There is also a group called the Underground that is trying to stop Krieger but also isn’t a friend to Morales. Both groups of enemies lead the story and keep it tight, especially with Roxxon’s politics in the story and how they clash with the Underground’s agenda. Miles Morales is stuck between them having to deal with their BS, while also protecting his family and the town he loves.
Now, that said, both groups bring their own variety of enemy flavors with a range of gun-toting characters, giant tanks, some punchy people who cause mayhem, and regular enemies that are more about giving the gamer confidence than they are about difficulty. The journey through these enemies is also a horse of a different color, as well as just a horse in general. But, like, a good horse.
Typically, in superhero games, you will get defined bosses that are familiar faces for the gamer to go, “Oh, wow. That’s cool.” This time around, that’s not the case with Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Most of the enemies you run into are driven by the story, which doesn’t throw in big bosses just to checkpoint define your progress. Rather, the game gives you enemies that naturally fit into the storyline of the game. You may not run into big bosses consistently, which is because the story doesn’t call for it. It’s a non-traditional path with enemies, but the journey you get because of this makes sense and fits perfectly into the narrative. The enemies may be repetitive at times, maybe even a bit bland after your 15th hour, but they still work within the guidelines the game’s story makes and sets. They’re crazy fun enemies most of the time, especially when they group together in some massive firefight that can create some high sensation euphoria for the player to enjoy the controls within.
Speaking of those controls, they’re on point with some of the best superhero games around. While it took me time to get used to The Amazing Spider-Man’s sporadic jumping, camera shifting, and general chaos years ago, I slid right into the control scheme of Spider-Man: Miles Morales without a hitch. They seemed to have tightened Morales’ movements on webs, streamlined how he fights with large groups, and somehow made it all a bit smoother and easier to deal with when 20+ enemies are coming at you at the same time. Whatever the case might be, this is one of the more comfortable control schemes that I have used in a game since Batman: Arkham Knight. Insomniac perfected how the controls feel in Spider-Man: Miles Morales and that has carried over to the PC version, which does support the DualSense. I highly recommend the DualSense, as it does carry over all the wonderful strains and haptic feedback that the PS5 version brought to the table.
Overall, the gameplay is the same as it was on the PlayStation 5. The biggest differences come with the specifications of the game and what you can toggle around within the game. You can do some amazing things during Miles’ journey. As for the gameplay, it’s gorgeous. If you have never played this game before, you’re in for a treat.
Ohhhhh, those specs
For you PC elitist out there, you know how important CPU/GPU/RAM is to a video game experience. The better you have, the bigger presentation you get along the way. Let’s start with the basics here:
– The minimum requirement for this game is Windows 10/i3 (4160) or AMD equivalent (don’t know the numbers here either)/8gb RAM / NVIDIA GTX 950 or AMD Radeon RX 470.
– The recommended version of these is Windows 10 / i5 (4670) or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (3.2ghz) / NVIDIA GTX 1060 (6GB) or AMD Radeon RX 580 (8GB). The latter part of this will get you some good framerate, superb visuals, and basic Raytracing, which is fine if you’re looking for a not-so-expensive way to visually enjoy the game.
Now, if you’re looking for a visual delight with all the toppings, then break out that RTX 3000+ card and flip on all the switches. The switches come in a variety with NVIDIA DLSS 3 and 2 on the table, you also get some improved reflections and shadows that the PlayStation 5 couldn’t quite push when it was trying to balance out performance and pretty. One of the cooler additions to the game is active dynamic weather situations. You can flip those on and see it snow everywhere and reinforce that holiday feeling that the game already gives off. Visually, the game provides you with enough oomph to separate it from its PlayStation brethren and give you a reason to take a hard look at the PC version. What I was particularly impressed about with this game is that it allowed me to experiment and mix/match with settings that I don’t normally touch. I reviewed Spider-Man: Miles Morales on my 3080-driven MSI laptop. I turned everything too high, even turning on ridiculous details on buildings (want to see the brick really clearly? There is an option for that to happen). My laptop didn’t struggle a bit. It worked perfectly with a high refresh rate, maxed-out details, and locked frames at 60. Even God of War (2018) didn’t feel this compatible for me on PC. It felt like the good folks at Nixxes Software really made this flexible for all kinds of PC owners. I love that and I’m happy to see it can go pretty much anywhere on the tech side.
Anyway, with all the above on the table and ultra-wide monitor support (gotta get me one of those), there is reason to consider the PC version of Spider-Man: Miles Morales over the console version, if you have the technological means. It’s one helluva way to play this game.
On that note, let’s wrap up.
Conclusion
The best version of Spider-Man: Miles Morales resides on the PC. With a powerful story, compelling gameplay, DualSense compatibility, and a load of customizable options to get the best visuals, you’re going to be happy that this game came to this platform. It’s an absolute gem.
