Title: Paper Boss
Developer: Cat Gear Games
Game Type: PlayStation Mobile
Download:  58 MB
NA Availability: Digital Download, Direct Download
EU Availability: Digital Download, Direct Download

Not long more than a month ago, PlayStation Mobile development moved forward.  While this type of games available to the PlayStation Vita is, by far, the most unnoticed, it is still getting multiple games and apps nearly every week, just like the normal PlayStation Network Store for the PS Vita, as well as compatibility with the PlayStation TV, due out in the West later this year.

The PlayStation Mobile brand is moving forward on the development front, thanks to Unity.  Unity is a game engine that PC developers can use to create 3D games, be it first-person shooting games or even adventure games.  There are many fan-made Unity Projects out there on PC, from being able to run your way through zombies or navigating a monstrously-sized house after an unfortunate encounter with a shrink ray.

One month later, PlayStation Mobile games are starting to come out that use the Unity Engine.  At first, you may be thinking we’re looking at some Zombie-filled Shooting fun.  However, just because games use Unity doesn’t mean they always have to be full 3D, explorable games.  One game came to PlayStation Mobile recently that is not a full 3D game.  Here is our official review of one of the first Unity-powered PS Mobile games, Paper Boss!

Story

Paper Boss has you in the role of an employee in an office building.  Your job is to fill out paperwork that your mustached boss brings to you on a regular basis.  However, you want to keep your desk as clear as possible, despite how often your boss keeps coming back again and again with even more paperwork for you to do, easily overwhelming you at work.  So, you want to push your boss away and avoid every bit of the paperwork that you may receive while your friendly co-workers pay you a visit.

This is as much of a story as Paper Boss has.  There really isn’t a plot or a story to it, but all about the gameplay of the game, with sending your boss away and keeping your friendly co-workers around to chat with.

Gameplay

Paper Boss is not a 3D game.  It does have a 3D perspective, but everything is portrayed in a 2D fashion.  Your goal is very simple.  It is to keep your boss away from your desk and keep your co-workers close to it.  Your boss staying too long will build up more paper on your desk to the point where you will get completely overwhelmed with work and not be able to function.

In essence, this is a game where you tap on icons that appear on the screen.  All of the characters that will appear are in the form of paper cut-outs, be it the cute Asian girl, the Surfer-looking guy, or your gray-haired, angry boss.  They will appear on the screen randomly and you will be required to tap to tear the models of your boss.  Doing so will rip him up and make him leave.

The big key is to tap on the correct character and within a certain amount of time.  While you can tap on your boss (or multiple versions of your boss) at any time after he appears on the screen, work will start to build up on your desk if you wait too long to tap on him, and if your desk gets filled, you get a Game Over.  You also have to be careful to never tap on and tear your co-workers or you will also get more paperwork on your desk.  You will need to do this as much as possible to keep your score going higher and higher.

The game will end when your desk is filled with paperwork.  The object of the game is to get rid of your boss as soon as possible and achieve a high score.  Each time you tap on your boss, you get one point added to your score.  The game will run for an unlimited amount of time until which point your desk is filled up with papers.  This could be until you reach a score of 5 or a score of 200.  Timing is key to getting higher scores as well as watching for who is who.

Apart from this, there isn’t a whole lot to the game.  It’s similar to Trolly Bird, in a way, where you are just moving through the game and trying to beat your last High Score, though Paper Boss is much easier to play than games like Trolly Bird.  All in all, though, the game is built for very short play sessions.  My first play through the game took all of 20 seconds before I got a Game Over and even my best score, which was around 70, only took a couple minutes.  Don’t expect this to be a lengthy adventure.

Controls

The controls for Paper Boss are very simple, even for a PlayStation Mobile game.  The game is one of the games that also requires you to use the Touch Screen for everything about the game, from navigating the menu to playing the game.  You will not be using any of the Buttons or Analog Sticks as you play the game, even to pause in the middle of a play session.  It will all be on the touch screen.

The gestures will simply be to tap things on the screen.  You won’t have to worry about sliding your finger around or anything like that.  You can tap on options on the menu as well as tapping the characters that appear on the screen during gameplay.  It’s got a very simple way of playing the game, though I don’t think buttons would work nearly as quickly as the game requires if they even gave you the options.

Presentation

The visual presentation for this game looks crisp and clear, but it’s nothing that is visually impressive.  The game is 2D, which is an odd turn of events for a Unity game, as Unity is most known for its 3D engines.  Despite this, the hand-drawn visuals that are represented look well-done and do show a good presentation for what the developers were trying to show off.

How the game plays is also something that is pretty impressive.  It could be Unity, but the game has a very short startup time.  While most PlayStation Mobile games take 10-20 seconds to boot to the title screen, Paper Boss only takes about 6-7 seconds, which is faster than some PS Vita games boot to their own title screens.  The game also sports very short Load Times, only taking a couple seconds to load each screen or game.

Overall

Paper Boss doesn’t have a lot going for it, especially for a Unity-powered game.  While it does run better and faster than the majority of the entire PlayStation Mobile library, it sports a very simple style of gameplay and will not last you more than a couple minutes each time you boot up the game.  If you really don’t like your boss and want to vent it out in this game, this game can do that.  Otherwise, expect this to be a short pick-up-and-play game.

The PlayStation Vita Review Network Rates Paper Boss a 6/10