PS Vita’s Tearaway: Adventures in Paper Unfold

I remember when I first saw the new PS Vita game, Tearaway at the E3 Gaming convention last June.  The concept was very creative.  The whole environment, including the hero, is made out of paper, torn and fashioned into beautiful scenery, whimsical characters, and thought-provoking challenges.

In Tearaway, a paper world brought to life as your hero takes a colorful paper path to help deliver a message to well, you, posing as a powerful sun in the sky.

Your Tearaway character must complete different quests and exercises to get high enough to deliver the message to yourself, as the risen sun.

As your characters goes along on his/her journey, paper objects will unwrap, unravel, tear, or cumple, some of which are controllable by your fingers and characters movements.

Paper has been torn throughout the various scenes in creating the setting of the game.  It is very cute.  Last year at E3, I liked Tearaway, but it didn’t make our Top 5 Family Video Games of E3.  I know now the reason why it didn’t make the list…is because I didn’t actually play it at that time!

Tearaway’s Addiction

I took my PS Vita with me on a business trip.  I knew I’d be writing about the game, so I decided to play the game for one of the legs of my flights.  I played all the way through the flight and was so intent on the Tearaway game, that I barely noticed we had landed.

I continued to play, waiting for the door to open.  To my chagrin, the man across from me on the plane was motioning for me to deboard the plane.  I jumped up but landed back down quickly due to the lap belt fastened around my lap.  Ugh!

Wow, I was really into this game.  I started playing Tearaway again on the next flight and spent way longer than the 30 minutes I had allotted myself.  Once I got home, every spare moment I had I was playing the game.  This is the first game in decades, where I actually made it to the end.

Tearaway is in many ways a combination of some of my favorite PS Vita games – Big LittlePlanet and SoundShapes.  All of which are adventure games in a fun cartoon setting.

Here’s the hero of the story line.  His outfit and expressions change as you go through the game.

Along the way you go to the drawing board to pencil out designs…like a mustache or pumpkin, for instance…then click on a scissor icon to cut out your design.  Your new design becomes part of the scenery or provides personality to a character’s face.  This drawing board is a wonderful complement to the game and allows the player to add their own creativity.

In Tearaway, you use the back touchpad of the PS Vita to help your Tearaway character jump.  When you see the triangles and circles like in the upper left part of the scene above, it means you can tap it from the backside of the PS Vita to have “your” fingers show through or cause your character to jump really high.  The game is incredibly clever.

Tearaway can be purchased directly through the PS Vita Store or at your favorite gaming store or Amazon for $31.99 plus free shipping.

A Mom’s Perspective

Tearaway is another fun family friendly game that your kids…and you will enjoy.  As your character sets out to deliver a message to You, the sun, s/he helps others along the way and gets rid of the bad guys …which present themselves as scraps of paper.

Tearaway is well written and executed…oh and did I mention addictive????  If you have kids and a PS Vita, this is a must own game.

*  I was given this game in exchange for my honest opinion.  All opinions and addictiveness are my own.