Spider-Man vs. Miles Morales — How removing features can improve a game.
How to efficiently build upon existing game systems
A little while ago, I talked about Marvel’s Spider-Man game qualities and flaws regarding the principle of skills transversality. You can read about it here.
This new opus centers on the character of Miles Morales and takes the game in new directions, fixing most of the issues I discussed regarding the first one but still has room to grow and perfect.
A new Spider-Man
Released at the end of last year, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales doesn’t stray too far away from the original formula. Swinging around New York is as easy and satisfying as ever, combat is reactive and impactful, and a cast of colorful characters drives an interesting story.
But more than a simple rinse and repeat copy, Miles Morales brings a significant new addition to the mix: venom powers.
Better in every way
Back in Marvel’s Spider-Man, I felt disappointed that the game didn’t do much with electricity. Well, I can’t complain now!
The venom powers are new electric abilities unlockable early in the game and trigger using accumulated energy.
This addition can seem trivial on the surface but is cleverly used to deepen every major gameplay.
From navigation
Swinging around the city, Miles can use the new Venom Dash to regain momentum mid-air in a double-jump manner up to 3 times in a row.
To combat situations
Many new venom attacks can be used in combat to regain the advantage or to get out of a bad situation quickly, such as the Venom Smash, which stuns all surrounding enemies, or the Venom Jump, which throws all close enemies in the air.
To puzzle solving
The most significant improvement of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales by far is the new puzzle system. The previous opus used a mini-game of electronic circuit remapping. Miles can now use his electric web-shooters to connect generators and close circuits to unlock doors and activate electric devices.
In addition to removing the puzzle mini-game from the previous opus, the game also reduced Spider-Man gadgets from 8 to only 4. All this results in a more consistent and focused experience relying on a recurrent set of controls and abilities without the additional cost of complexity. Furthermore, this demonstrates a better implementation of what I previously called Skill transversality: The idea that secondary gameplay relying on variations of the main one enriches and rewards the player's engagement by developing skills useful outside of those situations.
But I feel it could have been pushed even further by fully exploiting those new interactions.
But not yet perfect
New York City is filled with interesting challenges and situations, but unfortunately, only a few rely on the environment outside of particular and rare elements. In addition to this, the interaction with those elements also relies on specific gadgets and mechanics, leading to a few unfortunate side effects.
A mindless genius
A good opportunity for implementing puzzles as an alternative to brute force is the traps that Miles can use. In Lab challenges, you can use a specific gadget, the remote mine, to trap fuse boxes and eliminate closeby enemies. It is an interesting interaction, but it entirely relies on enemies standing close to bombs you can activate by simply pressing a button, and it doesn’t make me feel smart for it.
The same could have been achieved using the same kind of electric connection used for opening doors. You could find conductors around the area to connect a generator to the fuse box, effectively using the reflection and observation skills you learned to turn your environment into a weapon.
From here, why stop at fuse boxes. If you could direct electricity toward metallic or electronic items, this could lead to various situations depending on what is present in the level and what you decide to connect. Trap doors or stairs on the enemy’s path, an alarm button that the enemies will go to if they detect you, or really, anything else.
An empty city
Another problem I have with this game is how beautiful but empty the environment can feel at times. The different events and challenges often resolve similarly and quickly dry off, the number and type of enemies being the most significant variable in most situations. In contrast, the environment in which it takes place often adds relatively few things, if any, in comparison.
Having players look for an electricity source and connecting it to trap enemies would inherently bring new and various challenges to each area (while remaining optional). Thus, allowing for more distinct and memorable levels and environments. Finally, this would also eliminate one more gadget, alleviate the cognitive load, and remove the need to go through a menu to switch between fighting and using gadgets.
I focused on the electric puzzles here, but I think the same kind of intertwined interactions could also deepen with other secondary gameplay, such as swinging through the city or Miles's ability to move objects along a rail to solve specific situations.
Despite those complaints, this is not to say that the game is not one of the best in some areas.
Credit where credit is due
While this article intends to study Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales from a game design perspective, it would be disingenuous not to mention what the game does for accessibility and positive representation.
Accessibility options
Insomniac Games made a big effort with Miles Morales to address the most common accessibility issues. From control assistance and input setting to audio and visual cues, this game gives a wide spectrum of options and customizations to ensure as many players as possible can enjoy it. And that’s worth praising.
Positive representation
Not only does this allow players with disabilities or just less-experienced players to have fun, but the game also includes characters with disabilities as an active part of the story, at the image of Hailey Cooper, a hard-of-hearing artist who speaks with Miles in sign language.
Centered around the character of Miles, the game ceases on the opportunity to explore themes related to the Afro-Latino community and how it affects the world around its characters. This gives its characters a more personal and believable touch, reflecting on real-world events such as the Black Lives Matter movement.
TL;DR
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an excellent game that I had a lot of fun with but left me wanting more in some areas. If you are yourself trying to add new content to an existing game or formula, keep this in mind:
- Add few new features to avoid adding complexity and making existing systems less accessible to newcomers.
- Have those new features interact with as much of the existing content and systems as possible to add depth to all of them.
- Just because you want to add new content doesn’t mean you can not remove as well, if this makes for a more focused and consistent experience.
- Try to build the skills and features of secondary gameplays into the main experience to reward players for their mastery in those areas.
Post-credit scene
With a new Marvel’s Spider-Man currently in development, I will again see you when it comes out. Hopefully, praising a more organic and permissive approach to game situations.
In the meantime, if you’re interested in a closer look at the balance of depth vs. complexity and the principle of elegance in games, you can read more about it here.
