Review: Tearaway

The world of Tearaway may seem delicate at first glance. Mountains, buildings, trees, and even the inhabitants are all made of construction paper, and look liable to fall apart quicker than a first grader’s Arts and Crafts project. However, after playing Media Molecule’s latest game for the Playstation Vita, it becomes clear that Tearaway is anything but flimsy, and held together by far more than PVA glue.

Tearaway is a platformer that features a plucky paper messenger named Iota (or Aoti), who’s on a mission to deliver a message to… well, You. That’s one of the biggest conceits of this game; in Tearaway, You (as in, you the player) are a main character, constantly watching over the unfolding events as a face in the sun, Teletubbies style. It’s a clever use of the Vita system’s front-facing camera, though hardly the only use of the hardware’s many features.

In fact, Tearaway is all about making as much use of the Vita’s capabilities as possible. Some levels have you tapping on the rear touch pad in order to bounce Iota up to higher reaches, while others might have you yelling in the microphone to scare away crows or tilting the system to have platforms slide into view. Tearaway constantly introduces new mechanics throughout its campaign, and what’s especially welcome is how well these mechanics work. I’ve found that many handheld games (even otherwise excellent ones like Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the Vita or Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS) have been hampered by shoe-horning in poorly implemented touch or motion controls. Fortunately, these features all work wonderfully and seamlessly in this game, really giving off the impression that the world of Tearaway is so real you can literally reach out and touch it.

This idea of a world at your fingertips is a constant theme throughout, and is informed by the construction paper design to the world. The idea of a paper world isn’t particularly new (games like Paper Mario come instantly to mind), but nowhere else has such a world looked so downright gorgeous. The level of detail and imagination that can be found in the world is staggeringly impressive. This is a wonderfully designed game with amazing aesthetics, plain and simple. Despite its fantastical setting, the construction paper design also gives it a very “real world” look. Anything you see in the Tearaway world could conceivably be made from ordinary construction paper. In fact, you can even unlock Papercraft Plans in the game that you can then download from the Tearaway website, allowing you to bring characters and objects from the Tearaway world into the real world.

There’s not much of a story in Tearaway, but its simplicity is one of its strengths, as the game very much becomes about the relationship between You and Iota. Unlike most video game playable characters, Iota is a character you interact with, as opposed to one you simply control (though you do control him as well). As such, I found that during my playthrough I developed a strong emotional connection with Iota, one that took me completely by surprise and served to make Tearaway that much more special.

Of course, Tearaway does have its flaws. The very limited camera can make some platforming sequences frustrating, particularly when you’re trying to go off the beaten path in order to find the many collectables. And speaking of collectables, there are nearly a hundred secret presents hidden throughout the game, but they really don’t serve any purpose besides keeping completionists busy. The campaign itself is quite short as well, clocking in at around five hours; even with the hidden collectables it shouldn’t take much more than eight hours to achieve a 100% completion trophy. While I don’t personally mind the short running time due to the amount of inventiveness packed into the game throughout, it is worth mentioning for those looking for a more lengthy experiences.

Also, while the touch and motion controls work well for most of the game, the Vita’s touch screen can become annoying when any precision is needed. This rarely is a problem, with the very notable exception being the crafting sections. Tearaway allows you to customize the look of the world in certain areas, even allowing you to design your own decorations by cutting shapes out of construction paper. Unfortunately, this becomes more of a chore than a delight due to the imprecise nature of trying to trace a desired pattern with a finger. Using some sort of stylus greatly improves performance, and the game rewards players regardless of whether or not their decorations look like ass, but it’s still a feature that feels less than what it could have been.

Despite these quibbles, Tearaway is still a fantastic game and one of the best original titles out on the Vita system. Charming, whimsical, innovative, powerful, and—most importantly—lots of fun, Tearaway is solid through and through.