Since "The Red Balloon" was one of the finest films of the 1950's, it stands to reason that a video game centering around a balloon as the protagonist would be just as amazing. This might be the core idea of Flight Doodle, in which your task is to push a balloon higher while avoiding falling pushpins, rocks thrown by infants (yes, les infants), and tempestuous rain and windstorms.  To defend yourself, you must collect power-ups along the way to shrink your balloon, shoot missiles at targets and use a temporary force field or activate a bomb that clears all enemies and obstacles from the screen.

When in doubt, snag the power-ups from passing planes.

It's like your mom always told you, there'll be falling pushpins and demented babies on floating ledges wanting to throw rocks at you...

The game is held together by an appealing blend of good graphics, fun sound and controls customization, which can be easily accessed via menus that can be fine-tuned to meet your preference.

Never underestimate the power of being small...

Like most mobile games these days, there's a fair amount of social networking and interactivity going on in both the foreground and the background. Flight Doodle allows you to hook into an Apple Game Center account as well as Facebook, Twitter and OpenFeint to upload your score and compete against others. This has some neat side effects in that it can function as an instant scoreboard (your character can literally float past other players' scores in the background, kind of a neat thing to see) and it's satisfying to post a meaty score online. But, while Flight Doodle is imaginative and its level of customization adds some replay value, it doesn't really hold your attention beyond wanting to beat your previous high score, though a possible unlock/reward system might make it that much better. This, combined with some buttons being occasionally irresponsive, make the game interesting for a few minutes but not indispensable.

In a world filled with falling pushpins, one floating snow globe must use all its rockets to survive...

The bottom line: For a buck on the App Store, it's hard to go wrong, so inflate yourself with helium and see if you can't deliver the goods...