Tearaway is Media Molecule’s, the guys behind Little Big Planet, latest outing on Sony’s Playstation Vita. Can it live up to their outstanding design and gameplay pedigree or does it’s ambitions out-way it’s abilities? Read our review to find out.
Story
Tearaway is about a messenger on a mission to deliver a unique message to the player, referred to by characters in-game as “the You”.
At the beginning of the game players can choose whether to play as the male character, Iota, or the female, Atoi, and navigate through a world constructed from paper to deliver the message.
The player uses of many of the Vita’s features to guide Iota or Atoi, and must battle with scraps, small enemies that try to prevent the delivery. It’s a cute little story and it plays in well with the overall tone and feel of the game.
Gameplay
This is a 3rd person platform game where almost all the hardware features of the Vita are used in some clever way.
For example, as part of one of the missions, you must find a new skin for one of the elks in the game so you must use the Vita’s camera to capture a picture of a surface to use as the new skin. Another example, which is reminiscent of another Vita game, Little Deviants, is were the player must use the Vita’s rear trackpad to ‘push’ their finger up into the Tearaway world to defeat little enemies who are trying to stop you deliver your message.
All of these features along with a few others really make this an extremely enjoyable interactive gaming experience. Media Molecule really know how to use the Vita’s features to their advantage.
Graphics
This games looks absolutely fantastic. The guys at Media Molecule have used the device’s graphical capabilities really well and the overall design of the game suits the handheld perfectly.
The whole world is created with this paper-like appearance and everything looks really well thought out, even down to the little torn pieces of paper which make up the roads and flowers throughout the game.
There are also some impressive shadows and lighting effects being used and on the Vita’s 5′ screen, all the bright and vibrant colours used throughout the game really pop.
Conclusion
The whole Tearaway experience was extremely fun and memorable, it definitely is one of those games you simply can’t put down and I immediately wanted to start all over again once I had finished it. Media Molecule have created a true gem here, albeit an origami one! Any self-respecting Vita owner must give this game a try, if not just to see how implementation of the device’s features should be done.
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