Tearaway review: The game the PS Vita has been waiting for

I love Tearway. I love it. And not just because finally, within our reach on retail shelves is a game made for the PS Vita. Not just formatted for it, but designed so that it makes use of all of the Vita’s bells and whistles, all the features that current Vita games have forgotten about. But ultimately, I love Tearaway because it’s a great game, and I hope you’ll feel the same way too.

Made by good old Media Molecule (of LittleBigPlanet fame), Tearaway is a whimsical, papercraft platforming adventure featuring a little paper messenger. Atoi’s task in Tearaway is to deliver a message to you, the player. Unfortunately, she can’t do it alone.

This whimsical papercraft world is well aware that other universes exist, and they refer to the big people – people in our world – as Yous. If you’re wondering how they’re aware…well, just know that you’re going to see yourself a lot via the front camera in Tearaway. You’re also going to be poking your fingers into that world a lot, because Yous are powerful in ways little paper people cannot be.

While Atoi can roll, jump, throw stuff around and play with a little paper accordion, Yous are able to literally poke their fingers into her world. They’re — you’re — able to tap on the back of your PS Vita to propel Atoi high into the air. You’re able to scratch a spinning record to slow it down, and to unravel spools of sticky paper on which Atoi can then walk. Media Molecule has done a mind-blowing job of integrating the PS Vita’s front and rear touch capabilities, its microphone, gyroscope and its front camera into the game – features many developers of PS Vita games have totally forgotten.

Tearaway’s front touchscreen capabilities deserve special mention. Since the game is set in a papercraft world, it makes sense that you’d be able to fool around with papercrafting too. Every so often, the game will chuck you into a little design studio, where you’re able to draw designs out on paper, cut them out, and then stick them onto Atoi (or Iota, if you chose the male Messenger).

Sometimes, you do this for characters in the game, like the King Squirrel you meet really early on. It’s not the easiest task given that you have to use your fingers. Fortunately, the denizens of Tearaway don’t mind substandard-issue accessories that look like a three year old made them in nursery school.

Avatar and NPC customization in Tearaway isn’t just limited to what you can create, though. As Atoi travels towards the You she owes her letter to, she picks up confetti – the game’s currency. Tearaway is a very mild game, in the sense that there are no guns or knives or blood. So what do you use the currency for, if not guns? You get to buy bits and bobs, like eyes or neckties or moustaches, to stick onto Atoi. You can also take selfies of yourself, and these photos come with social media sharing options, too.

Tearaway’s camera function is disgustingly cute, and offers an array of lenses and filters you can purchase with confetti. It’s not just about selfies, though. As Atoi goes further along her way, she meets completely whitewashed NPCs from time to time. These little guys need to be photographed in-game to get their colors restored, and they make it very worth your while, at least if you’re good with your fingers. Photographing the whitewashed NPCs lets you collect their papercraft template, which can be downloaded from the main Tearaway site. There are a total of 60 to be collected so you can recreate Tearaway in your bedroom.

While these features are brilliant and give the game a very cute personal touch, Tearaway wouldn’t be worth buying if it were just about character customization.