Tearaway is a charming, novel little game. It does its best to utilize every hardware feature on the PlayStation Vita, sometimes to a fault. The papercraft aesthetic is lovely, the controls are mostly solid (apart from the gyroscope ones), and the music occasionally teeters into greatness.

However, the story leaves something to be desired. As short as Tearaway is (the game can be beaten in a single sitting), there's still a bit of fatigue from the repeated fakeout endings. The characters may be cute, but the saccharine world and the narrators acting like hosts on a preschooler's television programme might take a while to grow on you. There's also no denying how much the game feels contrived around the handheld it's on, though that isn't entirely a bad thing.

There's little doubt that kids would love this game, but adults may well get a kick out of it too. As gimmicky as Tearaway is, it's a unique experience that makes for a cozy afternoon's play.