Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? It's an age-old debate with only one right answer, due to the fact that it contains two carols and the whole plot is based on it being Christmas. But you do.
I've been thinking about Christmas video games recently, thanks to a quiz our editor-in-chief sends us every day in December until Christmas Day. She sends a screenshot of a Christmas movie, a Christmas game and a piece of a Christmas song and we have to guess what they are. The thing is, not many of the games are really Christmas games.
Die Hard has not appeared at the time of writing.
One of the answers was The Last of Us Part 2. That's not a spoiler because none of you are playing and David answered everyone anyway. It's not a Christmas game. But it is a game with Christmas in it. Does that make it the equivalent of Die Hard in the gaming realm? Not in my eyes. But Spider-Man does.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a Christmas game
Specifically, Spider-Man Miles Morales does. It seems obvious at first – the entire game takes place at Christmas time – but like Die Hard, there's more to the festive spirit than just baubles.
While Die Hard requires its Christmas setting for its plot to work (Hans Gruber specifically targets the office Christmas party as his hostages), Mile Morales presents a Christmas message of love, kindness and understanding at heart.
Miles is a generous person. He volunteers at the food bank, he helps friends and strangers if they are in need. Even before he was bitten by a radioactive spider, he's a nice guy, the personification of Christmas spirit.
“But that's just what Spider-Man is!” you yell at the phone screen, angrily scrolling past this sentence to see if I have any more foresight. And you are right. Spider-Man is the superhero who takes care of the little guy. Whether it's Peter Parker, Miles Morales, or just about any of the other regular Joes who have taken up the mantle in its various guises, Spider-Man is the friendly neighborhood superhero. That's why he's enduringly popular, that's why he's had 17 movies made about him over the past two decades, and that's why he's the perfect protagonist for a Christmas play.
However, this does not make Spider-Man or Spider-Man 2 Christmas games. They are not canceled at Christmas. And in my eyes, a video game needs both a Christmas plot and/or a message and a Christmas environment to become a real Christmas game.
Sure, you could set up Miles Morales at any time of the year and it would work. There may be Halloween decorations up, pumpkins on the doorstep; chocolate eggs to collect and a bunny that hops across Harlem; or a summer vacation for Peter Parker and Mary-Jane. The game would be the same functionally. But the Christmas setting reinforces the story's core message, messages of kindness, generosity and doing right for those in need. This is very Spider-Man, but it's also very Santa.
All I'm saying is that Spider-Man and Christmas go hand in hand. They complement each other perfectly, like turkey and cranberry sauce, pigs and blankets, or fried potatoes and a boatload of gravy. And Miles Morales made this connection.
Like Die Hard, it is more than the sum of its parts. Die Hard is a movie set at Christmas, the plot of which could only take place at Christmas. Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a game that understands and embodies Christmas. There's nothing I'd rather play at Christmas, and no one I'd rather have wrapping villains in webs and putting them under my tree.
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