Overview:  I am not a handheld gamer normally.  I purchased an iPod touch several months ago simply because that that thing does so damn much, and is a kickass MP3 player on top of it.  Naturally I had to make a couple purchses on the apps store, but I always try to spend my money wisely.  After a little investigation, I stumbled upon Rolando.

Rolando takes on a very unusual journey, one which might leave you a bit dizzy after you're done.  The goal is simple, solve each level's puzzle by delivering Rolandos to the end of the level safely, more or less.  You control an assortment of characters, all of which are circular, and roll when you tilt the the iPod (or iPhone).  This a a really nifty mechanic, and one that is used to perfection in this game.  That seems to be the only problem with gaming on the iPhone (or iPod) so far...  there are a shit ton of games available, but most of that shit ton, are well...  shit.

They are shit for numerous reasons, and one of the key reasons is simply, the developer does not focus on the medium's strengths (touch screen, and accelerometer)...  they commonly make games that would work well on  your typical handheld gaming device (DS or PSP) with their built in analog sticks, and d-pads.  So they make on screen touch interfaces that take up very limited space on the iPod's (or iPhone's) screen.  Who the hell wants to look around their fucking thumbs the entire time they are playing a game on that tiny ass screen? Rolando gracefully uses the iPhone's (or iPod's) strengths in all the right ways...  I will get into this a bit later on.

The Good:  There is so much that can be explained in this section, but I think I will stick to the real selling points.  Rolando features incredibly intuitive gameplay.  My 4 year-old daughter launched the app, and immediately understood that if she tilted the iPod (or iPhone) that the Rolandos would roll.  She also quickly realized that if you flick up on the screen with a Rolando selected that they jump.  With just that understanding you 're well on your way.

The difficulty ramps up, in exactly the way it should.  After every couple levels a new game mechanic is introduced.  Some mechanics are explained step by step, and some are left for the player figure out on their own.  This adds a bit of spice the game every level, and kept me interested throughout the game.

The graphics are perfect for the iPhone (or iPod).  It is completely cartoony, so the performance is excellent...  no worries about framerate or anything.  The soundtrack is excellent, and very well selected in my opinion.  There are no licensed tracks or anything, and it is composed of only instrumentals, but they are the right instrumentals.

The Bad:  I really love this game, and I don't have many problems with it that I can think of.  There a couple cases where it is hard jump in the direction you want, and this results in restating a level two or three times, but I expect this is just "operator error".

The story was not at all a focus in this game...  but what IS there is pretty good.

Verdict:  Just buy the damn game if you have an iPod (or iPhone).  You'll like it.  I think it only costs like $5 now... well worth every penny.

This one gets 5 out of 5 Rofls