Miles Morales makes for a sensational second spider story

Expanding on and refining one of the greatest super-hero games ever made, Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales walks a fine line between the new and the familiar. On the one hand it repeats almost all of Marvel's Spider-Man's best tricks and re-uses its expansive open city, but on the other hand new protagonist Morales is distinct enough — both personally and as Spider-Man — from Peter Parker to make this a satisfying standalone adventure.

While 2018's game ended with the revelation that Morales had been bitten by a spider and developed powers similar to seasoned Spidey Parker, this new game picks up a little while into a developing mentor/mentee superhero relationship. Parker is taking a European vacation and leaving Morales — who is still coming to grips both with heroism in general and his powers in particular — to watch over New York City.

Miles Morales is a younger, cooler, less experienced Spider-man.

Teen Morales is a younger and cooler Spider-man than Parker. His flashier style is reflected in his suits, gadgets and combat — while Parker swung slickly and confidently through the city, Morales twists and flips as he goes showing both a lack of experience and a youthful joy — and his great love for his family and neighbourhood drives a much more heartfelt story. From his black-hispanic roots and Harlem hangouts to his various family and friends supporting him in different ways, Morales is a lot more grounded than the previous Spider-man who we largely saw quipping with super-villains or at work in the lab.

This is a leaner game overall, with barely any time wasted throughout its excellent main story. Left to his own devices, Morales falls into a complex investigation involving new criminal outfit The Underground, its shady leader The Tinkerer, a big tech company promising a clean new energy source and a fresh-out-of-retirement cat burglar.

An early unmasking twist will be called by most a mile away, but as with the original game it's not the identity of the villain that makes things interesting but their motivations and the deeply personal stakes that develop for our hero. The performances here are all top notch, and even when you're taking a break from the main story Morales' monologues and podcasts that play in the background add a heap to the game's character.

When you're not chasing the main story or revelling in the sheer exhilaration and acrobatics of swinging around Manhattan — which is familiar but now covered in ice, snow and Christmas decorations — there's plenty of time for diversions. And like the game overall, these are less substantial but pleasingly more personal and interesting than in the original.

From stopping random crimes in the street to being a good samaritan via help requests lodged in your app, and from tracking down collectibles and backstory items to recording city sounds to mix into songs, every little bit gets you loot you can trade in to gain gear, upgrades and suits that channel Morales' distinct style. Meanwhile the same superb heroic score fades in and out as you scale buildings and engage goons, but this time with an element of hip hop drums and synth chords.

Morales has a few extra tricks up his sleeve when it comes to combat too, with his bioelectric powers giving him the ability to zap foes with "venom" or turn temporarily invisible. It adds a satisfying new element to the already slick and flexible fighting system, with new types of goons to force you to switch things up between stealth, swinging and all-out brawls, and puzzles have some interesting new twists thanks to the electricity as well.

On PlayStation 4 the presentation and performance is very similar to that of the previous game, but Miles Morales is is also one of two launch-day showpieces for the new PlayStation 5, and on that system there are some added benefits.

Most notable is a total absence of loading screens throughout; even when fast-travelling, the screen simply goes black for less than two seconds before Morales appears on the other side of town. You also get a choice between increased fidelity or a faster framerate versus the PS4 version. The fidelity option shows a clearly higher level of detail to the city and some impressive lighting and reflection effects, but in a game this fast I'll take performance every time and everything here just feels so great at 60 frames per second.

With more complex combat, a slimmer and harder-hitting story, more interesting characters and better performance (on PS5), this is a superior game to its predecessor in every way except for the fact that there's less of it. A perhaps unintended consequence of this is that I find myself caring less about a full-fledged future sequel following the adventures of Peter Parker and his rich friends. I'm really hoping we see more of Morales.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales is out now for PlayStation 5 (reviewed) and PS4.