Ok I think I'm really close to finishing the game, so here are some of my thoughts on it:
Graphics (I'm playing with the RT+30FPS mode):
Compared to the 2018 game running on the PS4 Pro, I really don't think it's a generational improvement. It's essentially the same looks plus raytracing, which TBH at the moment doesn't seem to bring enough of a wow factor for me to care all that much.
Sure, I'll stick to playing the game at 30FPS + RT because I'm really such an unapologetic IQ bitch and I'll choose the newer/shinier effects over framerate any day, but when trying to be objective over what would be the better experience for most people, I think that would probably be 60FPS with SSR and SSAO.
With VRR / HDMI 2.1 becoming a thing, I'm hoping Sony will eventually release and patch all their games to support VRR + unlocked framerate, so we can always get the best visuals and performance the system can output at any moment, without having this static choice of one or the other. I think that would help immensely in this game (and most games, really).
Gameplay
I think gameplay is at the same time very similar and completely different from the 2018 Spider Man. Traversing through NYC and getting into the action sequences is mostly the same experience as the original title. There are new powers that Miles has (that makes him bit overpowered compared to Peter Parker IMO, since taking out entire warehouses with invisibility is now a walk in the park), but it's essentially the same game.
What completely changes the experience is the fast travel being actually fast.
With the 2018 Spider Man if we wanted to fast travel IIRC we'd need to go to a metro station, enter the station, choose the exit station, and look at a >30 second loading screen until we came out on the other end. I remember I'd always need to think whether or not getting into the metro was going to actually save me some time, and I would often just sling my way towards most objectives. And while slinging webs is great, after 8, 10, 12 hours of gameplay it can get really tedious if we just want to hit the waypoint to progress with the story.
With Miles Morales, at any time we can just bring up the map, choose any of the metro stations and within 2-3 seconds we're 150m away from our objective. With just this change we don't need to make intricate travel plans to see how we can cover the most sidequests through the shortest path. We can still traverse the city through web slinging, but only if we feel like it, and this way we're spending >95% of the gameplay time doing only what we want to do and not what the game's/console's limits require us to do.
It's fantastic, and TBH this is really spoiling me for other experiences when going back to the PC or playing PS4 titles through BC. Same with Astro's Playroom, as the instantaneousness of everything is making me get bored of loading screens really fast.
Story
Meh.. I can just go so far without spoiling but it's not a bad story nor an especially great one either.
In general, I think I just wish there was more to Miles Morales' identity other than just being the "Black Spider Man" with the "Black Friends" (+1 Asian) and "Black Frenemies" and "Token Trump-alike Capitalist Villain". By the time I'm talking to the 53rd black police officer, helping the 27th black lady from muggers and assisting the 42nd black first responder, I'm left wondering where all the white people that live in New York go. Perhaps they all followed Peter Parker on vacation IDK.
Sure representation of minorities is great, but this seems a bit of an overshoot to me.