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Media Molecule knows the limitations of the impressive hardware it designed Tearaway for. It never stretches its mechanics to the point where your actions become tiresome or irritating. The end result is that the studio’s precise discipline with the Vita makes Tearaway the system’s most artistic and emotionally ambitious experience.
Instead of flaunting the console’s armada of cameras, touch screens and gyroscope thingamabobbies in superfluous ways, Tearaway is strict about when and where it implements these mechanics. Although they’re a vital and intricate part of how the game plays and feels, they’re never put at the forefront of the experience unless they’re enriching your experience as a player. It never feels like a tech demo, or a checklist of features implemented for the sake of justifying Sony’s input options. Instead, it’s all about you, your relationship with your paper hero, and the wondrous sights you’ll encounter.
An early example of this occurs in the first leg of the quest. Using your in-game camera, you restore colour and life back to a pig that has had its, er, pigment removed. This is something you’ll find throughout both the main plot and on the periphery. Snapping pictures of white paper objects will net you extra confetti, which acts as currency to buy more objects for customisation.
Once the pig is reanimated, it’s your job to make it your own by adding eyes, mouth, hats; anything you want to in order to create your own little porky. You can buy the preset items using aforementioned confetti, or you can use the game’s own design suite, which enables you to drag coloured card onto a cutting board. Here, you can draw your own shapes, mix and match with different colours and create your own personal designs. It is imprecise to control at times, and it can be hard to draw smaller, more intricate patterns with your chubby fingers, but it works well enough for you to create an identity.
Once you’re done, you embark on an exhilarating ride on pigback. It’s one of a couple of ‘vehicular’ sequences, and is genuinely delightful.
While all of this customisation and camera papping could be a tedious, back of the box features moment, it never feels that way. The game hands you creativity and you embrace it rather than groaning at the thought of needing to use an alternate set of controls that either don’t work, or feel entirely unwelcome in context. Even better, this want to design and customise doesn’t peter out during the lengthy run time, and although there’s rarely a tangible benefit to it, there is always a personal desire to make your character your own and to keep his look fresh.
Media Molecule’s same strictness of application is also true of the rear touch screen. At times, you’ll need to tap it to break through the ground and manipulate objects with your fingers. Not only does this look great, with digital recreations of your greasy digits punching through the thin crafted world, but also acts as a fourth wall smasher. Tearaway constantly bridges two worlds – that of the Iota and Atoi – and our own dull existence.
With your face imposed on the game’s sun, and regular prompts to take pictures of the real world, there’s always a reminder that these two worlds are connected. Media Molecule does the idea real service by creating a bond between you and your avatar, and an appreciation of the lengths your paper friend is going to deliver an important letter.
The most touching friendship is one between your paper character and a little puppy-like creature called a Wendigo. Much like the pig you find early on, this little dude can be made your own by way of the customisation suite. However, he plays a much more integral role in the story. Tearaway is obviously an extremely cute creation, with all of the heartwarming appeal of the Little Big Planet series condensed into paper miniatures, but LBP never managed to create much of a bond outside of the one between you and Sackboy.
Here, the Wendigo puppy quickly becomes the supporting star, following you around set points of the quest and coming in handy during a couple of tight spots. He feels like a true companion, especially once you’ve stuck some ridiculous eyes on his face and stuck a top hat on his head. His most affecting moment, which I shan’t spoil here, is one of the most touching moments in the entire experience. It quickly becomes a platonic love triangle between you, your character and the puppy. It’s magnificent to watch unfold.
Combat in Tearaway can get a little bit loose, but it remains basic enough that it’s almost always fun. While you can throw most enemies after stunning them, which causes them to burst open into irreparable strips of paper, some enemies require a swift tap on the screen to render them scrapped for good. This once again creates the idea that you’re a helping force from above, swooping down when your innocent little envelope friend is in dire straits and can’t finish the job on his own. It is, in the loosest sense, a team effort. But Tearaway never oversaturates touch combat, and you’ll never feel like you’re either overwhelmed or bored.
Even the more subtle actions in Tearaway are made intimate. When you complete optional tasks or find hidden items, you’ll discover presents that you can pry open using the touch screen. It’s a small, seemingly mundane action; pulling the ribbons on an imaginary gift to reveal the colourful confetti that hides inside, but it is so satisfying using your fingers to get into your prize. The standard alternative would be tapping X a couple of times, hammering impatiently to get your gear and bugger off on your way. No one wants to do that, ever.
All this discipline and patience combines to create something that adores including you in its wonder, and will do everything it can to make your role as enjoyable as possible. It takes everything amazing about the Vita and hands it to you gently rather than forcing it in your face. Most importantly, it never makes its additional features the pillars of its design, and packs enough creativity and inventive ideas to be one of the best titles of the year. Media Molecule should be commended for its efforts: Tearaway is one of the most spectacular stories of friendship that I’ve ever played, and the perfect example of using a console to enrich and empower the player.
