Storm in a Teacup is a very descriptive title for this game. That’s because Storm in a Teacup is about a hero, Storm, who is in his teacup. Sadly, the name doesn’t really help one understand just what type of game they’ll be playing. It might be nit-picky, but almost every game hints at what type of game it is with its title alone. For example, Battlefield 3 is a third instalment of a game on a battlefield. Call of Duty hints that it is a military game. Super Meat Boy is about a Superior Boy made of Meat and based of the title alone, you can tell that it won’t be a strategy game, or fighting game, or music game, or any other type of game other than a platformer. With the title Storm in a Teacup, you can’t tell what you are getting into. Is it a strategy game about armies fighting within a teacup during a storm? Is it a fighting game about warriors fighting for the ultimate weapon: a teacup that summons storms? Nope. Storm in a Teacup is a somewhat cut and paste platformer.
Gameplay
Just because Strom in a Teacup is feels a little cut and paste, does not in any way mean that it’s boring! A game like Super Meat Boy sets itself apart from other platformers through its difficulty, but Strom in a Teacup is a casual game that has a more natural difficulty giving it a more “family-friendly” level of fun; which is just perfect! Storm in a Teacup is your typical platformer carrying you across a side scrolling world, however it does have a few things that sets it apart. The most noticeable is jumping.
The way you jump isn’t limited to a jump arc predetermined by physics. Instead, since your riding a magical teacup, jumping uses the cup’s magic to gracefully propel itself upward. The result of this is a little bar that tells you how much energy you have to propel you upwards. The bar is constantly refilling itself, but it refills at just such a rate that you still are compelled to use the platforms. With the right techniques, you can pull off incredible jumps, but you’ll never be able to fly far enough distances to make actual platforming unnecessary. You’ll gently guide your teacup towards individual platforms, using differently techniques to get the most out of the jump bar.
