Rolando

Rolando is a physics platformer where the input isn't a controller or touch arrows but the whole phone rolling around - tilting the screen makes small, round heroes called Rolandos roll across levels full of slopes, chasms, and hazards, while the player's touch gathers them into a group, tosses them over obstacles, or activates the special abilities of individual character types. The result is a platformer that is controlled completely differently from classic console platform games, while still keeping their sense of level design and gradual unlocking of new mechanics.

HandCircus created Rolando in 2008 as one of the games meant to show that the iPhone could offer a full-fledged platforming experience with its own identity, not just a port of something older. The cute visual style with chubby characters and pastel scenery set the game apart from the arcade one-offs that dominated at the time and gave it the atmosphere of a friendly fairy tale, which, together with music full of cheerful melodies, created the impression of a thought-out, complete work rather than a quick cash-in riding the App Store's wave of popularity.

The combination of tilting and touch was unusual at the time and required players to develop a new kind of coordination, but it was precisely this combination that made Rolando one of the games cited as an example of the clever use of a phone's sensors. The game received a sequel, which confirmed that the concept also worked commercially and managed to find a lasting audience on the iPhone.

Why play it: Suited to players who want to experience how inventively a platformer could be controlled on the first iPhones, even at the cost of a bit of getting used to the tilting.