With its pristine, primary-colour blob-like characters and quirky soundtrack, the first Rolando was effortlessly one of the best-presented games for iPhone and iPod Touch. Where iTunes is flooded with amateurish mediocrity, here was a game polished to the kind of professional sheen we’re used to seeing in heavyweight console releases. But far from resting on their laurels, the team at HandCircus has been hard at work on this sequel. Their efforts that have resulted in one of the best games for any handheld, let alone a mobile phone/ music player.

The rules of the game remain simple. Shepherd a group of roly-poly Rolandos through a level and to its exit door. Tilting the iPhone left and right sees the Rolandos roll in that direction, while flicking your finger in an upward motion on the screen causes them to jump, which is useful for clearing obstacles and hopping up hills. You can control all of your Rolandos simultaneously or, if you prefer, one by one simply by tapping to select each. Finally, each of the game’s 45 stages has three medals on offer – one awarded for completing the level, one for beating the time limit and one for finding all of its hidden jewels while doing so.

As with the previous game, the controls are nothing short of sublime; the Rolandos accelerating into their rolls with a satisfying smoothness. The touch screen controls are restrained and pleasingly economic, meaning that you rarely obscure the action with your fingers. And this time, the stages have been popped from 2D into a sort of 2.5D that adds depth and perspective to make this the best-looking game on the handheld.

A new story helps to drive the action along. Your Rolandos are on the hunt for a rare orchid that will cure their royal family from the devastating effects of the Kilogorean flu. Your quest leads you around a cluster of South Sea Islands, locations that sit perfectly withy the graphical style and whose features have allowed the designers to create some truly ingenious puzzles.

Water now plays a bigger role in the game, with large Rolandos sinking to the sea bed while lighter ones float along on the surface. It’s an idea that is spun out to great effect. Likewise, the new balloon-like Rolandos who blow up to enormous size and float upwards when they eat chilies add depth variety, as do the clutch of new vehicles scattered throughout the campaign.

With full integration of ngmoco’s Plus + network, its possible to upload your high scores for each stage to global leaderboard, challenge friends and earn achievement points as you play through the game. With exquisite presentation, refined controls and a hefty dose of good humour, Rolando 2 excels, overtaking the first title in the series as the best platform game on iPhone. More to the point, it reveals just how impressive and significant to gaming Apple’s device just might be.

5 out of 5