Funny. Isn't trying to shoe-horn in all the "gimmicky" inputs something that games on Nintendo consoles always get slammed for? Forced waggle and such?
It is, but that's because Nintendo typically does a really bad job of getting the tech to work right in the first place and justifying the tech's existence. The whole reason the term "waggle"
exists is to describe tacked-on gimmicky bullshit that makes the game
worse by offering an inferior version of an existing experience.
The best game I can compare Tearaway to that I think you would appreciate is something like Zack & Wiki on the Wii, a game designed
for the many different types of input the Wiimote could do and is a better game
for it. It doesn't require precise inputs, but the way you use the Wiimote better immerses you in what the game is trying to
do. Tearaway is very similar: it's a game about taking an existing experience and customizing it in a way that reflects
you. It is a game where you're a godlike being holding the world in your hands
as part of the story, so when you see the Sun in the game you're seeing
yourself looking into the game world; when you see an obstacle in Iota's path it feels
natural to take your fingers and fold it out or crush it; and when you see a character or prop the game
encourages you to play with it and customize it using the camera and your fingers to
mold as you please. Hell, when you come across areas of weaker paper, your own fingers "pop in" through the back screen into the game world as an instrument of Almighty influence. In the end, the message of the game is that your experience with a story only matters when you make it your own, which is supported
by what otherwise would be tacked-on input gimmicks.
Tearaway isn't a game with "shoehorned gimmicks." It's a game about
taking what ordinarily
would be shoehorned gimmicks and organically framing the game's entire message around what
only those inputs could provide. That's a far cry behind "oh look, I can shake my controller to roll in a game with 2 completely unused face buttons" or "oh look, I can shake my controller to kind of, sort of swipe my sword in a game that kind of, sort of (half the time) approximates what I'm doing."