Tearaway is visually spectacular but ultimately rather joyless to play.
The game begins with a lame skit making fun of cable, the game's enemies are scraps of newspaper. There are "no stories" left in the "story box" of television. A "real" story can begin with the introduction of the capital "Y" You, the player. You pull the trigger on the controller and shine your light on the world. "The message must become a messenger"; the player input needs representation.
Tearaway nakedly admits virtually every problem I have with video games today. Games are for "stories" now, yet mere interactivity of any kind is supposedly enough to heighten vapid, pulpy, or outright hollow material. The player has nothing interesting to do in this world, nothing interesting for their character to do, but you can do something, and the game will never let your forget it.
You spend the first half hour or so not even being able to jump. Your character does not in any way interact with the enemies; you (the You) interact with the enemies directly, hypnotizing them with your motion controlled light. The most tactile thing in the game is using the touch pad to open a box from time to time. You pick up collectables and the sound effect for it is a nigh imperceptible rustling of paper.
It is appropriate that the main collectable and currency of the game is confetti. That represents very well what this game is: something shiny and colorful that you can periodically throw around for literal seconds of shallow entertainment.
The game begins with a lame skit making fun of cable, the game's enemies are scraps of newspaper. There are "no stories" left in the "story box" of television. A "real" story can begin with the introduction of the capital "Y" You, the player. You pull the trigger on the controller and shine your light on the world. "The message must become a messenger"; the player input needs representation.
Tearaway nakedly admits virtually every problem I have with video games today. Games are for "stories" now, yet mere interactivity of any kind is supposedly enough to heighten vapid, pulpy, or outright hollow material. The player has nothing interesting to do in this world, nothing interesting for their character to do, but you can do something, and the game will never let your forget it.
You spend the first half hour or so not even being able to jump. Your character does not in any way interact with the enemies; you (the You) interact with the enemies directly, hypnotizing them with your motion controlled light. The most tactile thing in the game is using the touch pad to open a box from time to time. You pick up collectables and the sound effect for it is a nigh imperceptible rustling of paper.
It is appropriate that the main collectable and currency of the game is confetti. That represents very well what this game is: something shiny and colorful that you can periodically throw around for literal seconds of shallow entertainment.