Spider-Man: Miles Morales PS5 (T+30 Review)

30 minutes in, I went 30 minutes more. Then another 30. Then the PS5 crashed.

November 15, 2020 7:41 PM

T+30 Minutes To Review reviews are not meant to take the place of a proper informative review. They are one guy's take after just 30 minutes of checking "it" out. That's it, that's the disclaimer.

Miles Morales is the closest thing PlayStation 5 has to a flagship launch game, especially because the previous Spider-Man game on PS4 was amazing.

I enjoyed that game so much, I got one of my only platinum trophies because of it. It had a solid story and good action gameplay, but the traversal and the different collectibles made it for me.

So going into Miles Morales, I'm already thinking I'll dig it, and after some time with it, I was right. Don't get me wrong -- it is absolutely more of the same, but this is okay with me.

This kind of thing does make it feel like a bit cheap compared to a propert first-party launch title. Again, don't get me wrong, it's going to be very fun, it's just pulling a punch.

The game looks amazing, even though the PS4 Spider-Man was gorgeous too. I don't have a side-by-side comparison, but the visual improvements seem to be of the raytracing and lighting variety (if you're okay with 30fps as opposed to 60, which is good with me).

I switched back and forth a number of times between the 30fps RT mode and 60fps, and I settled on the former because...well, I don't know, 60fps was almost too smooth for me. It felt unnatural, in a weird way.

(T+30 Q: Do you go for higher FPS or more special effects?)

The lighting off of cop cars and explosions are definitely a noticible step up, and it really immersed me more into the game. It just felt more realistic, which is all the more striking within the game's stylized setting.

Coupled with the traversal, and some great action sequences in the first hour or so, I found myself enraptured -- until the system crashed.

Just...done.

At first, I thought one of the kids sat on the remote, but nope, it was a full system crash.

Booting back up, I saw the familiar "rebuilding database" screen from PS4, and was back up within a few minutes, but that was pretty disappointing. Crossing fingers it doesn't happen again.

Not going to hold it against Miles though. This is a gorgeous game, there seems to be plenty to do, and Miles is imminently likeable. This is the game to get with your PS5. Just hope there's more to Sony's first-party efforts soon enough.

Review for
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Pros

Miles is a great character, and makes Spider-Man even more fun

Love the lighting effects

Not reinventing the wheel, which is fine because Spider-Man PS4 was amazing

Cons

Why are we still selecting between two visual modes?

Lots of errands to run (this is fine, but it may make up for a lacking story...TBD)

Wish it was a beefier title that showed off more of the PS5

Crashed my PS5

From The Chatty

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hammersuit

 reply
November 15, 2020 7:41 PM

Spider-Man: Miles Morales PS5 (T+30 Review)

Read more: Spider-Man: Miles Morales PS5 (T+30 Review)
- RikiTiki2
  
   reply
  November 15, 2020 7:45 PM
  
  They are is?
  - RikiTiki2
    
     reply
    November 15, 2020 7:55 PM
    
    But I dig the T+30 format
    - hammersuit
      
       reply
      November 15, 2020 10:01 PM
      
      Thanks for the heads up, edited!
      - yoshimi20
        
         reply
        November 15, 2020 11:20 PM
        
        You should maybe do a last 30 minute review as well as a follow up :). Do games overstay their welcome or was it worth staying for the last 30 minutes.
- ThatsBriskBaby
  
   reply
  November 15, 2020 8:13 PM
  
  Why are we still selecting between two visual modes?
  ¿Are you complaining that we have the choice to select at all or that there aren't more than 2 visual modes?
  - hammersuit
    
     reply
    November 15, 2020 10:03 PM
    
    I’m complaining that there are two choices because I am paralyzed by indecision!
    
    Honestly, I thought PS5 and Xbox Series X would have given us “everything” (as naive as that sounds). But yeah, I must have switched back and forth like twenty times just to be like “okay...let’s do it this way.”
    - yoshimi20
      
       reply
      November 15, 2020 11:10 PM
      
      I found this with the One X on Hellblade to be honest. You want the 60fps mode for gameplay feels but visually the fidelity mode looks better.
      
      In someways with the new generation I agree and think they should do the 60fps mode and make it look the best it can and forget doing a 30fps mode for screenshots.
    - Proximate Cause
      
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      November 15, 2020 11:16 PM
      
      I feel like one of the two are going to have to win this generation: graphics fidelity or fps.
    - ErneX
      
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      November 16, 2020 5:41 AM
      
      Choice is good mate, I wish more games give these options. Some people prefer framerate others graphics.
    - Tezcali
      
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      November 16, 2020 5:47 AM
      
      I get like that too, I think I will have to choose one and go with it, most likely fidelity mode because im not sure I would even notice the FPS difference in most games.
    - [deleted] 1152187837
      
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      November 16, 2020 5:51 AM
      
      [deleted]
    - mrazzino
      
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      November 16, 2020 5:56 AM
      
      Choice is good.
      
      For FPS, I almost always want 60+fps. Single player might not matter as much but for multiplayer I definitely want that.
      
      For most other games, 30 fps works just fine. Spiderman might need 60 fps since you're moving fast, but I'm sure it looks great at 30 as well as a more "cinematic" type experience. I remember being paralyzed by God of War, but ended up going with fidelity since that game just looked gorgeous.
    - pyide
      
       reply
      November 16, 2020 7:53 AM
      
      The PS5 at least has a global / system menu preference for this stuff, where you can just set it there and forget about it if you are really having issues deciding all the time.
      
      I'm sure there will be games out there where there is no choice, because of all they're doing visually and more. Forced 30hz will be the only solution for those, the RDR2s & TLoU2s of the next gen.
      
      I think the choice is great because not everyone has a 4k display or requires the extra fidelity, depending on what the game is doing. MM seems like one of the only new games that does more than a little extra with the ray-traced reflections in the quality mode, so I can see that being a popular novelty choice for those who have never experienced any ray tracing effects on PC before. However, while those sorts of visual flairs can help with realism in the rendering and improve immersion, overall it's still a relatively minor feature that can lost in the background noise once you're focused on the gameplay or specific objects a scene, especially in something that can move as fast as a Spider-man swinging through a city. You almost have to stop and smell the roses to take those effects in. It worked great for Control because there's a lot of slow paced downtime in exploring the nooks and crannies of each area hunting for more story bits between the high intensity combat sections. I imagine everyone will be flipping back and forth with Spider-man just to compare and contrast simply because it's a first time for consoles with RT.
      
      And not every game or experience needs 60fps, but it usually feels better if it can maintain. Radically changes the way a game like Demon's Souls flows and responds, for the better. Personal preference should make the choice simple for most games and players.
      
      I think it's great to have the option, as long as there's no half-assed solutions like those handful of games with PS4 Pro modes using uncapped framerates where performance would hover in the 40-50s most of the time. That shit cannot be allowed this generation at all, at least not until every single display out there is VRR capable, but even then I'd rather see consistency like I do on PC in using frame limiters w/ gsync. Leave the "uncapped" performance modes for +60 (120hz) in competitive games.
      - hammersuit
        
         reply
        November 16, 2020 11:36 AM
        
        Good point, especially re not everyone having the TV to take advantage of the more minute but impressive graphical upgrades.
        
        Choice is definitely good, agree with everyone saying that. I’m just saying that I MYSELF am terrible when trying to choose. Just can’t do it. Indecision!
  - vassili_zaitsev
    
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    November 16, 2020 5:24 AM
    
    fidelity mode all the way. no issues with the 30fps.
    - tunis5000
      
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      November 16, 2020 7:12 AM
      
      Opposite for me, soon as I saw how smooth 60fps was, I was sold. No motion blur, and the frames even seemed to jump around a bit. It still looks great, and once I start playing a game I don't even notice.
    - ErneX
      
       reply
      November 16, 2020 10:08 AM
      
      On this game in particular, the difference is so marginal that performance is the way to go.
  - Mad Brahmin Disease
    
     reply
    November 16, 2020 9:58 AM
    
    Always go with performance.
- yoshimi20
  
   reply
  November 16, 2020 10:11 AM
  
  Assassin Creed Valhalla 60fps and VRR is amazing on Series X much prefer they have that mode and that's it, I don't want to see a fidelity mode to tempt me.