Length matters.
Tearaway was one of those
few, quirky titles that made owning a Vita worth it. I wasn't much of a fan, but I
appreciated the game for what it was.
Tearaway Unfolded is an enhanced port for the PS4. There's a lot of misinformation on just what Unfolded is, some call it an enhanced remake, some say it's a sequel and some say it's just a port. The truth is somewhere in-between. A lot, and I do mean a LOT has
changed, and a lot of fat has been
added, making the game feel quite
bloated at times. You might even say that a few things got removed entirely since it changed that much. So, it's not quite 'just a port' or an 'enhanced port' on the basis that so much is different, but it's not different enough as to fall under the "sequel" category. It's something
in-between.
The story is a story about a story.
Really. You play as yourself as you help Iota or Atoi,
depends on the chosen gender, a message turned messenger who is trying to make their way towards you. But life ain't easy and the
mysterious storytellers don't like a simple narrative, so they'll constantly get in your way, in order to prolong the story and add more hardships. Just like with the Vita game, the best part about the game is how you can
interact with the world. Often you'll get asked to draw something, and said something will be instantly reflected in the world around you. Something as simple as giving someone a mouth or a pair of eyes, or as extensive as designing the
clouds above you. It's endlessly charming, and the fact that the drawing mechanics are so rustic and don't allow for graceful strokes makes everything your creations look like a toddler's scribble, and that is a
good thing. The visuals certainly got a boost in quality, everything looks made out of paper, and it's beautiful. There are a few really
smart uses of this aesthetics that'll make you go ´Ah! That's smart' as a simple smile draws upon your face. It's a charming game, no doubt about it.
The game is a simple adventure-platform game, there's a very linear road you must traverse, but this version of Tearaway has made everything
bigger. A ton of new, wide, open areas have been added, filled with simple sidemissions to perform. Which is nice and dandy, but they only reward you with confetti paper, the game's currency. But even if you
avoid these sidemissions, and why
wouldn't you if they are so dull, you'll be swimming in confetti. In fact, your movement speed is pretty slow, so going through this larger areas also becomes a bit of a
chore. I mean, if you enjoy the game, there's plenty of stuff to do, but if it's not your cup of tea? Oh boy....
You see, the game goes on and on and on and on and on and on. When it looks like it's about to end, and it should, it gets stretched. This happens a lot of times, killing any kinda of climax the story could've gotten. It's
ridiculous how stretched the game feels. The Vita version was much shorter, but its brevity went hand in hand with how
limited the gameplay was. The game is far
too long for its own good.
As for the gameplay, its pretty basic. Your messenger can jump, roll and grab/throw stuff. You, the player, can blow wind to affect the environment, or
receive objects from your messenger to throw them towards places the messenger can't reach. There are way too many
controller gimmicks involved, aiming with the gyroscopic controls, blowing/tapping on the touchpad or drawing with the touchpad itself, which, at least in my opinion, wear out their welcome pretty quickly. Also, try not to play with the joystick too much, since you may need to
recalibrate the gyroscope.
Combat is
dull, and it's also pretty frequent. The messenger can't do much by itself, so you have to find something you can throw towards your enemy. Or you may pick up an enemy and use it as a projectile
itself. The game later introduces various enemy types, some you have to roll into first, some you have to direct with the controller's LED light towards their doom, others you have to throw off balance by blowing wind.... It's a bit surprising how
involved combat is, to the game's detriment. Honestly, given the game's setting and aesthetics, combat shouldn't be as prevalent or as complex as it is, both of those actually made combat turn quite
wearisome halfway through. It's not even hard, and even if it were, death is but a slap on the wrist, but there are so many mechanics I couldn't
care about involved! Combat became something I had to suffer in order to progress.
Platforming was a bit better, if only because they could get more
creative with it. Blowing wind in different directions to create platforms out of paper, shining a light on the environment, carrying a pumpkin-head to create a scarecrow, etc. That said, the controls aren't the best, and the camera can freak out on you at times, getting
stuck behind object it shouldn't, although most of the time you can rotate it around you. Collision detection can be a bit spotty, or maybe it's the level design, but if you move too fast the game might kill you as the scenery in front of you unfolds. Sometimes you won't even be able to tell
what killed you, for example, near the end of the game, there's a section in which you roll into a ball inside a paper cage. It's
possible for your character to
somehow slip through the cracks and just die. That said, there are too very,
VERY annoying flying paper plane sections that fail to convey just how you are supposed to control the plane, and we somehow got through both sections without properly understanding how we were doing what we were doing. On another note, a ton of the neat gimmicks with the camera and microphone got lost, but I think you can do a few similar things with the companion app, I couldn't be bothered to download it and preferred to play the game as is.
Tearaway Unfolded is a
perfect example of why bigger isn't always better. All the added chapters and expanded areas only extend a game that
doesn't benefit from the added fat, quite the opposite, it makes it
boring. There's a lot of great ideas and charming little details with the paper aesthetics, it's a shame the gameplay isn't up to snuff. Stick to the original.
4.5 out of 10
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