Tearaway: Unfolded

The new paper jewel of Media Molecule will crumple your heart with its vibrant sweetness, with its exciting views and its adorable protagonists, exactly as it did on PS Vita in November 2013. Even, and without any metaphysical desire, it will bring you to reflect on the importance of life, love, friendship and many other things that we increasingly take for granted. It will do so in a candid and confusing way, canceling for a few hours any drive for hordes of zombies, anabolic soldiers and Destiny. Every glimpse of it is incredible Game Art, everything is covered by layers and layers ... and still other layers on layers of style, inventiveness and refined quality hand-chiseled.

Just as Tearaway managed to exploit every PS Vita technology with excellent ease (from the double camera to the touch screen / touch pad), the new Tearaway and its brand new paper adventures are aware of the player and manage to integrate it completely into the story thanks to the " powers "of the DualShock 4. As stated by the development team, the game has been rebuilt from scratch, expanded here and there with new characters, even wider settings, unpublished puzzles and, above all, with a new range of engaging, delicious and never too thoughtful (that is, never frustrating).

There is the controller light bar to make light in the darkest points, guide the Messenger into the unknown (by tilting the joypad in the desired direction) and hypnotize the evil papers, then the gusts of wind to unroll bridges or hurl the enemies down from the cliffs by simply sliding a finger on the touch pad, not to mention the possibility of flying with a paper plane and observing the world from above, or even the microphone that dispenses crackles, peals and bewitching paper noises.

But not only that, there are also the catapults (which literally play with the fourth wall and with whoever holds the joypad) and the drum skins to be used as trampolines, tapping with the fingers on the touch pad. The latter can (indeed, must!) Be exploited as a real artistic palette, drawing from time to time (we will have to take a little hand, given the small size) elements with which to give new life to the game world and its small inhabitants.

The news is not limited only to the DualShock 4, because there is also the Companion App, available for iOS, Android or PS Vita, to play in the company of a friend, a little brother or a son who wants to be useful by designing objects that will come to life within the game, or even substituting bizarre photographs of Vallecarta textures. Little thing in terms of gameplay, okay, but the smile effect is guaranteed. Finally, Tearaway Unfolded can also take advantage of the optional and not mandatory PlayStation Camera, to make the gaming experience even more similar to that for PS Vita: for those who have already played it in their time, for example, remember the emotion of the your face set in the sun?

The renewed version for PlayStation 4, which now boasts a much wider visual depth, a graphic engine with no slowdowns and strong sixty-strange frames per second (the effect is that of a sort of paradoxical stop-motion ... very fluid!) , unfolds with a story full of twists and unpublished narrative crossroads, new found and new ideas for gameplay. Generally speaking, the feeling is that the challenge rate of Tearaway Unfolded, compared to the original episode, has increased significantly. As if by magic, it has not become a demanding and demanding platformer, for heaven's sake, but you no longer have that precise sensation of interactive experience without challenge and not at all demanding in terms of attention and skill. There will be enemies to be eliminated with precise "war" tactics, platforms to be overcome with attention and patience, as well as particularly difficult passages in which you will fall countless times. But, as usual, don't worry: infinite lives and immediate restarts from the last checkpoint. Not to mention the new and much wider spaciousness of the rooms, to be explored in search of secrets, gifts, friendly four-legged friends and chatty characters, as well as unpublished puzzles, never seen on PS Vita, for a level design that knows no moments tired and, indeed, seems to want to amaze a little more every time.

Basically, the new Tearaway is no longer just a platform for children or a playful / artistic experience for adults, but a now more mature product, characterized by a much wider breath, capable of masterfully combining fun inside , challenge, tons of inspiration, visual joy and constant wonder. Ah, yes, an applause to the music: epic, lively, enchanting, which rejuvenate the soul and courage even in the face of the countless misfortunes you will have to fight against, curling up, rolling, blowing, moving. And in the end, all his agglomeration of rustling paper will end up constituting a delicious protection, enveloping and suspending the player in a vibrant world, which will keep all the alienations of the real world on the threshold of his eyes and ears. Which, as if by magic, will cease to exist for six, seven or even ten hours of enchantment and amazement.

MODUS OPERANDI
I received a copy of the game from Sony, stored in the promotional package complete with a nice Papercraft DualShock 4 ... made of paper. To play Tearaway Unfolded, however, I used the traditional joypad supplied with PlayStation 4. I also experimented with the Companion App on PlayStation Vita and iPad with amusing results, embellishing the Festive Orchard, the snowy expanses of Colle Forca and the Calendimaggio fields with photos of Wookiee, relatives, friends and wives.