Hands on with Escape from NOM on iPhone

It may sound like an over-the-top action flick starring Dolph Lundgren in a series of rice paddy shootouts and vehicle explosions, but Escape from NOM is actually about the cutest thing imaginable.

A cross between Isaac Newton's Gravity and Peggle, this adorable puzzle game brings together quirky characters and physics.

Make no mistake - it's still at war. In control of a little dot named Alan, your goal in each of 50 stages is to escape the jaws of globular Noms. These gelatinous creatures want to munch on Alan and will snap at him with their janky teeth if he dare passes within biting distance.

Bypassing the noms to reach the coloured water at the bottom of the screen means positioning Alan so that he falls in just the right way so as bounce, deflect, and roll through obstacles.

As in Peggle, you control Alan's launch trajectory by sliding left and right at the top of the screen. There's also a precision slider at the bottom of the screen that enables you to fine-tune shots.

Some levels come with special objects that you can place at will to help propel Alan to his goal. Paddles deflect him, shunts guide him, bumpers bounce him, and teleporters warp Alan to different points on the screen. Figuring out how to manipulate these objects is essential in solving the most difficult levels.

Take bumpers, for example. These colour-coded items not only cause Alan to bounce, but they also change the colour of his body. Since Alan must be of the same colour as the water at the bottom of the screen to finish a level, they're a critical component. Placing a purple bumper can switch Alan's shade and also bump him out of the way of any hungry noms to clear a stage.

Bonus flowers can be collected for extra points, which then are tallied up at the end of a successfully completed level. Bronze, silver, and gold medals are awarded for high point totals.

The levels are divided evenly among five worlds, each possessing a theme: Lagoon, Cosmos, Grove, Machine, and City. As you might expect, the levels grow increasingly complex with more objects, noms, and colour changes required.

Thankfully, the difficulty looks to ramp appropriately in the early levels so that you're taught the skills needed to complete the toughest challenges by the time you reach the end of the game.

Beyond the preset levels, Glu is considering releasing an editor for crafting your own levels. Whether that will be available upon initial release or introduced in an update has yet to be determined, but it's without hesitation that I say such a feature would bring immense value to the game. Not only would it extend play beyond the core level, but it would also encourage social network to share stages.

It's got a ways to go in terms of development - a release on iPhone and iPod touch is tentatively slate for May - but the promise of Escape from NOM is definitely clear.