I'm talking to a squirrel. Literally. He's speaking to me, not my on-screen character. It's the first thing that happens in my Tearaway Unfolded demo, and this rather bizarre scene is a wonderful example of how whimsical and refreshingly pleasant this game is. The squirrel is laying down the vibe of the demo, telling me that Tearaway is about two characters: Atoi (the on-screen character) and me (me). Those who have played through the Vita version will know that there's an emphasis on the player themselves, who consistently appears as a face in the sun, thanks to the portable's in-built camera. But Unfolded puts extra emphasis on blurring the line between gamer and game.
I'm playing the barn stage of the game, where Atoi (that's Iota, backwards) is on the hunt for pumpkins. While the setting is familiar, the puzzles have been totally reworked to suit the DualShock 4's capabilities. Tapping the central button makes trampolines bounce, so that's how you jump to high spots. Drawing objects and pasting them into the world (I create a sorry-looking pumpkin) is handled via the Right Stick. You can also use the light on the DualShock to shine into the screen and hypnotise scraps instead of fighting them. Once trapped in your beam of light, you can move them into traps or usher them off the edge of the level. Which kills them. You brute.
However, it's the way you pick up objects that really changes the game. Grab an object and you can 'throw it inside your controller', by tipping your pad towards your body and hitting square. Once it's 'inside' your DualShock (and animals like squirrels will rattle around and make your pad vibrate) you can then target a spot on the screen and fire that object at something else. Yeah, that's as brilliant / mad as it sounds. I used it to pick up an acorn and knock a paper man off a treadmill (I'm not making this up), chuckling as he tripped over and grumbled. Mad, amazing, lovely.
