plot is an overall downgrade from the 2018 game--although i'm a huge supporter and endorser of shorter games, the switch from a 3-act structure to a 1-act structure really doesn't work here at all, and the actual villain and his motivation are just not interesting and a bit too cliche. the greatest strength of 2018's spider-man was in the personal relationships between Peter and his friends, family, and even his adversaries, culminating in this swelling and emotional conclusion in the fight against Doc Ock that excellently caps off the game's ideas of self-sacrifice and consummate abandonment. luckily all of that is still palpable here--miles' core family/friend unit (aaron, rio, ganke, phin, even peter) is fleshed and rounded out in a way that makes them all few very human with their own distinct personalities, characterized by differing connections to miles; phin and miles' younger aspirations clash as they both fight against differing ideals despite pursuing the same end goal, fitting a scathing critique of ecoterrorism into the games tight runtime, and although aaron davis is practically the uncle ben of miles morales media at this point his placement within the story allows for miles to have this ulterior father figure amidst a story of burgeoning youth. the slightly more serious and adult banter of peters is replaced by this sense of giddy optimism in miles' smartphone chatter, echos of social justice and corruption leak into the narrative even outside of the context of roxxon's capitalistic regime (in particular, the FEAST storyline is a striking instance of city government's refusal to assist low-income communities). the integration of black culture and identity into the game allows miles' own characterization to stick out from peter, but insomniac never allows his identity to transform the story into one of race-driven suffering or oppression; the predominantly-POC cast paints a vivid portrait of Harlem, a district of Manhattan that has always been one of the richest for culture and individualism, culminating in the game's rallying cry of miles being "our spider-man," a spider-man to defend and protect, to care and love, to be one of Harlem's very own until the end. love love love this game so much.