Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales PS4 Review – Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the stand-alone expansion to Insomniacs wildly successful PlayStation Exclusive Spider-Man. However, touted as a PlayStation 5 hallmark title. Some may have missed that Miles Morales was also released on the PlayStation 4, thankfully if you could not acquire a PS5. The PS4 version of Miles Morales is just as great as its PS5 counterpart.
| Platform | PS4 / PS5 |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| US Release Date | Nov 12, 2020 |
| UK Release Date | Nov 19, 2020 |
| Genre | Action |
| Players | 1 |
| Rating | TBA |
| Score | 9 |
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Review
Another Great Addition To A Seven Year Old Console
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a great addition to the Spider-Man gaming franchise. Taking on the role of Miles provides a very different experience than that of Peter Parker. Miles is looser with his combat and less experienced when it comes to his swinging.
I would love to talk more about the game’s combat and story, but this review will primarily focus on the big difference between the PS4 and the PS5 versions of the game. For a more in-depth review of Spider-Man: Miles Morales, check out our PS5 review written by General Manager John-Paul Jones.
For those worried that Sony Worldwide Studios and Insomniac Games may not have given as much time and energy to the development of the PS4 version, worry not because just as much love went into it as the next-generation version.
For all intense and purposes, Miles Morales runs on par if not better than the original Spider-Man did when it was released. It is a gorgeous game with some amazing lighting and particle effects. Set during the wintertime in New York, the city is preparing for the holidays, so you’ll see plenty of holiday lights that light up the city.
A Gorgeous Game With Amazing Particle Effects
One of the most talked-about features of next-generation is Ray Tracing and what it’s capable of when it comes to reflections and how light is manipulated. This is obviously a difference you’ll find between the two versions of the game. The PS4 version though still gorgeous doesn’t produce the same soft natural lighting that’s found with Ray Tracing.
When hanging out on top of a rooftop, you can clearly see the difference between the natural lighting that’s produced. During sunset on the PS5, you get reddish light from a sunset illuminating the city.
While swinging through the city, I also noticed that in the PS4 version, I got more motion blur. This could help keep the game at a solid frame rate, but this motion blur was not noticeable on the PS5.
Runs At An Almost Perfect 30 Frames Per Second With Slight Hiccups
Speaking of Framerate, the PS5 version provides two gameplay modes. Performance: runs the game at 60 FPS without Ray Tracing and Fidelity: A solid 30 FPS with Ray Tracing turned on. The PS4 version unfortunately only comes with a standard mode though: solid 30 FPS with no Ray Tracing.
Much like the original Spider-Man, Miles Morales still runs incredibly well at 30 FPS. I only noticed a few hiccups and frame drops mostly when pulling off the most spectacular attacks and when there are too many particle effects happening on screen at once. It didn’t happen often and wasn’t as noticeable as you may think.
The biggest difference between the two versions comes with the games loading times. It’s long been known just how fast games can load on the PS5, but the difference in Miles Morales is staggering. Doing a test from the main menu to the gameplay Miles Morales took about 4.23 seconds to load on the PS5. The same test was done on the PS4, and it took about 35 seconds to load.
The difference is astronomical, but on a positive note, Miles does take about ten seconds less to load than the original Spider-Man on PS4, which is a nice improvement over Insomniac’s last entry.
If You Loved Spider-Man, You’d Love Miles Morales Even More
"Spider-Man: Miles Morales" on the PS4 is in no way a bad game. In fact, it’s a better game than the original Spider-Man. With many more practical effects going on, improved animation systems, and the including of winter weather and a lot more of those puddles everyone talked about, Miles Morales is another spectacular achievement from Sony Worldwide Studios in what some people consider the end of the console’s life cycle.
Score
9The Final Word
Miles Morales is a great game on PlayStation 4 just as it's a great game on PlayStation 5. The difference between the two when it comes to performance is marginal at best and if you dealt with issues of its predecessor like long load times you should be able to handle them here as they are much improved. The PS4 version is a great addition to the library for those who aren't ready to jump to the next generation but it's also a great look at what you can expect when you finally make the jump.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is now available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5
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