Tearaway

Tearaway is one of the Vita’s standout titles, but many gamers probably didn’t play Media Molecule’s platformer on Sony’s handheld. Thankfully, the papercraft platformer is headed to the PS4, and it looks to be the definitive edition of the game.

Instead of just porting Tearaway to the PS4, Media Molecule wanted to make proper use of the PS4’s unique hardware and controller. So you won’t see fingers poping through the floor after touching the back touchpad, because the PS4 controller doesn’t have a back touchpad. Instead you can fling objects into the world and blow gusts of wing through the environment via the PS4 controller top touchpad.

This means that much of Tearaway has been changed and players of the original might not recognize the game in certain places. For example, during our demo, we were dropped into one of the titles opening levels: Maple Fields. This area is about 50 percent larger than it was on the Vita, and the draw distance is much larger than the handheld version. Media Molecule says they’re continuing to add new areas and secrets to the game.

One of the game’s new mechanics is the ability to have you Envelope messenger throw objects out to your controller. When the messenger does this the screen takes on a slightly fuzzier classic TV scan line effect. This is to help accentuate the difference between Tearaway’s world and the real world – in hopes of making Tearaway feel like a different reality that lives in the TV.

Once players have objects inside their controller, they’ll be able to shake the controller and hear them rattleing around. Players can then use the touchpad to fling them back into the world. Given the extra speed of these objects, you’ll now be able to knock holes into certain parts of the environment, and we saw them used during certain puzzles to hit trigger that sent our messenger catapulting into the air. Another sequence had our controller taken over buy a squirrel who owned an unlimited number of nuts that we were able to continually fling at the screen and knock over targets to redirect our messenger as she rolled down a series of pipes.

The new wind mechanic came in very handing while fighting scraps, as we could now wait until they jumping into the air and then unleash a gust of wind and send them flying off into space. During certain parts of the game, our messenger will also be able to take flight on a paper airplane and these gusts of wind will be helpful when controlling your airplane and giving it an extra boost into the sky.

The final new mechanic that Media Molecule showed us was the light mechanic. In extremely dark environments, the light bar from the PS4 controller will shine into Tearaways world and help illuminate your messengers true path. This light bar also came in handy while solving puzzles and allowed us to grow plants and light candles on fire.

In several ways, Media Molecule has extended the platforming challenge of Tearaway – adding new platforming sequences to a game that was already pretty great. In many ways, Tearaway feels like a brand new game, so even players who have already tackled the Vita version might find that Unfolded feels like a completely new experience.