Storm In A Teacup Review

Game: Storm In A Teacup

Developer: Cobra Mobile

Publisher: Chillingo

Available on: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (Reviewed on iPad)

There are a lot of games out there for iOS devices. A lot of them are shockingly bad, put out there to get the developer a quick cash injection before the world realises how bad their creation is. Sometimes however, there’s a game that comes along that makes struggling through the myriad of terrible games worth it. A game that just feels good to play on a device that is not always suited for games. The only problem is, that with so many games out there that just don’t make the grade, how do you find something that’s worth playing? You listen to us of course!

Does Storm In A Cup have what it takes to be one of those great games?

Flash Fact: This is actually the concept art for Jaws...

Storm In A Teacup is a physics based platformer from the guys at Cobramobile and published by the mobile publishing giant Chillingo. The aim of the game is to get your character from the start of the level to the end, collecting as many of the stars and stickers as you can before you get there. The main controls of the game is a pair of arrows, which determine if your character is going to move left or right, and a single button, which controls the teacup’s upward thrust. Yes, you heard that right. While this control scheme works well for the most part it still suffers slightly from the problem experienced from a lot of games which utilise the on-screen control method. If you’re getting into the game, and you’re concentrating on what the character is doing, not your hands, you can very easily slips off of the buttons, and with no physical feedback from them, you’re not going to know you’ve done it. This often results in the untimely death of your character and a little bit of unwanted frustration.

The game’s life is extended by the use of collectables. Throughout each of the levels there are a set amount of stars and a single, hidden sticker. It’s entirely possible to get to the end of the level, stand on the goal and just move onto the next level, but players that do that won’t be getting the full experience of Storm In A Teacup. A lot of the fun lies in figuring out how to get to that hidden sticker that you can usually see, but simply can’t figure out how to get. There’s a sense of satisfaction upon collecting the sticker which isn’t available in a lot of other iOS games out there that will ensure that people come back time and time again, especially if more levels are released down the line.

Ignoring that sign no longer seems to have been the best of ideas...

When I first picked up Storm In A Teacup I thought it was going to be a game that I played for a short amount of time and then got bored of very quickly. Usually platformers on the iPad just don’t work very well due to the inherent problems of using on-screen control methods. However, I found myself coming back to the game more often than I thought I would. There would be times when I’d finished a level legitimately but I wouldn’t allow myself to move on until I’d collected all of the stars and the hidden sticker. If you’re the type of person that enjoys completely finishing a level and collecting everything you can, then Storm In A Teacup is a really enjoyable game. The puzzles are often easy, requiring a lot more in regards to timing than puzzle solving, which is a shame, but the platforming itself is sound.

If you are looking for a good puzzle platforming game for your favourite iOS device then you won’t go wrong with Storm In A Teacup. It has got a strange name and a concept that was seemingly thought up while in a drunken haze, but thankfully the game wasn’t created in that same haze. Storm In A Teacup is a well crafted, charming little game and well worth an immediate purchase.

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