Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales made its PC debut almost two years exactly after its original PS4/PS5 release in November 2020. It continues where regular Marvel’s Spider-Man left off, with Miles Morales showing off his take on spider-powers while Peter Parker’s away in Symkaria with Mary Jane.
He has the same web-swinging, web-slinging, gadgets, and agility as his elder mentor. On top of that, he can blast enemies with bioelectricity, power up or take power from electric objects, and turn invisible for a while. Best of all, he can perform new tricks while diving, including that phone one from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Spider-What?
The modern animated classic is still perhaps the best Sony-only Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2, as it also has Miles Morales taking on the Spider-Man mantle for his universe. He just needs some pointers from classic Spider-Man and a host of other alternate Spider-Men and Spider-Women from other dimensions.
It has a sequel due out in June 2023 in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, bringing even more Spider-people from other universes into Morales' world. So, it might be a good time to get familiar with Miles by firing this game up and pulling off his Spider-Verse tricks.
How To Do It
For people using a PS4, PS5, or Xbox pad with their PCs, Miles can go into a dive during an upwards swing or leap off a building by pressing R2+X/RB+A when leaping off a building, then holding L3/LS. Then the player just has to hold Square/X while moving the L3/LS stick to switch from one pose to another. For example, holding Up+Square/X will produce the Just Chillin’ Dive from the end of Spider-Verse.
The Phone Trick, or Check It Dive, is done by holding Down on the L3/LS stick while holding Square/X. It looks neat, but it’s only one of a bunch of backward dive tricks. If the player keeps switching poses over and over while swinging, it’ll produce a chain combo that’ll earn them more XP. While it doesn’t earn a lot, they can make a difference if Miles just needs a few more little digits to earn that extra gadget or skill for progression.
What About Keyboard+Mouse?
The game can be played with a Keyboard+Mouse, complete with configurable controls for the player’s own comfort. This can make things tricky as one person’s control setup won’t necessarily be the same as anyone else’s. For most people, the usual WASD for movement works fine, alongside X for perching/diving, and T for Air Trick Mode.
With this configuration, the player just taps X while swinging up or jumping off a building for the backward dive, then holds T to hold a pose. Then they hold S+T to make Miles pull out his phone and check his socials before either switching to another pose, swinging, hitting the ground, or doing anything else the player wants him to do.
Anything Else?
For added effect, if the player beats the regular game, they can unlock the actual Spider-Verse suit for Miles. Aside from looking cool with its bold colors and shadows, it has a ‘Vibe the Verse’ Mod that makes him move as the characters do in the movie. It can look a little odd in gameplay compared to the film with its rickety movement.
However, when it’s combined with the suit and the Phone Trick, it makes Spider-Man: Miles Morales feel that much more authentic. It’s certainly the closest thing thus far to an official Into the Spider-Verse game. All that remains to be seen is what both Across the Spider-Verse and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will bring to the silver screen and video game market respectively afterward. Whatever it is, they're both bound to bring more Easter Eggs and references.
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is currently available on PC, PS4, and PS5.