Villordsutch reviews Tearaway Unfolded…
Before I start the review I’ll just bring this down to personal level if I may. Our youngest daughter isn’t a gamer, we’ve attempted to disown her but she keeps finding her way home; her extent of gaming likes stretches really to the LEGO franchise, but in truth the most fun she ever had was years back on the Nintendo Wii and like a cruel parents we sacked that machine off. However, when I originally downloaded the Tearaway Unfolded demo on the PS4 something caught her instantly. This game hooked her in and for that reason I needed to see what was making it tick.
If you’re unaware of Tearaway Unfolded then look towards Media Molecule, the creators of the rather brilliant Little Big Planet. Already the wise amongst you are sat up interested, and for a good reason as the PlayStation platformer brought that ingredient of imagination to a rather stale world of “jump ‘n’ move”; now here comes their latest release and if you’ve held a PS Vita in your hands you may know what to expect.
Tearaway Unfolded is classed as the expanded universe of the original Tearaway from back in 2013, but to give it such a glib description would be an utter crime for this game does more than develop a PS Vita game. What the people at Media Molecule have done is to produce magic from the PS4. As an example take the beginning with the simple controller. The glow of your controller is beamed upon you avatar, on the screen, or anywhere upon this papercraft land! Yes I know this isn’t really occurring, but it’s due to the technical wizardry within the controller and it x,y,z co-ordinates in space telling the game where to project the supposed light but that technical nonsense is also poppycock to this magic I’m witnessing.
Then we have the aforementioned papercraft world which unfolds around your heroes steps – these graphics laid out here are truly beautiful to look at. One of my personal likes about the company Pixar is the fact that they pay attention to scuffs on doorframes or scratches on plastic and here Media Molecule have echo’ed this major Hollywood animation company by delivering a paper perfect world. You can see that the graphic artists have sat, played, cut, fiddled, studied, torn, ripped, crumpled and stamped upon paper to see how it lives and they’ve delivered it upon the screen making it look truly believable.
This all being said, something can look truly breathtakingly amazing but be pretty vacant right? Is Tearaway Unfolded a showhouse for Media Molecule, are they a one trick pony with Little Big Planet? No, and it’s a really big NO! I will give a word of advice for anyone out there that froths for the next Call of Duty and nothing more, this isn’t for you. However if your palate is developed and you appreciate games from all ports then you will whole-heartedly appreciate Tearaway Unfolded. Slowly the world is introduced with no stress, the story progressively unfolds along with the humour, actions and other unlocks. You’ll soon be bouncing on drums, being photobombed by a King Squirrel, cursing crows and solving puzzles…oh and spinning the decks.
All of this comes with an online presence combined with printable papercraft, in-game screenshots, selfies with pigs and gifs. Along with the PlayStation Companion you’re putting your face, butterfly designs and other useful treats within your world. On occasion there was an issue with getting my face to appear in the correct space – that and I placed my daughter’s face on a cloud but for the life of me I couldn’t find a way of getting it off, I kept looking up and seeing her gawping down at me. The Tearaway Universe encompasses you and you’re happy to be swimming in it.
Tearaway Unfolded is an excellent piece of imagination captured for the PS4. It should be played by anyone who wishes their world was slightly more fantastic, also by anyone who wants an impromptu game of “chuck the apple” with a squirrel.
Pros:
+ Looks utterly beautiful
+ All ages could pick this up and find it playable instantly
+ The imagination in the game is fantastic
Cons:
– The companion app can be fiddly
– Drawing on the trackpad isn’t the easiest thing in the world
Rating: 9/10
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=awfT2dB6YmA
Originally published January 19, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
