Don’t let the cutesy look fool you - Chillingo Ltd’s Kumo Lumo has more than enough touchscreen action to keep you and its deep-voiced titular cloud character busy as you rain on forests to help them grow and fight off baddies in one of the most surprisingly fun iOS games to date. The word 'kumo' means cloud in Japanese, but there's nothing lost in translation in this wonderfully quirky, visually appealing mix of whimsical puzzle fun.

When I first saw Kumo Lumo, it reminded me a lot of Hand Circus’s Okabu that was released last year, as both feature clouds raining on stuff to put out fires and to help things grow. But unlike that glitch-riddled effort, developer Blitz Games Studios gets it right here. There’s not much of a story, as you’re just a cute looking, yet deep-voiced cloud named Kumo Lumo who goes around the world raining on forests to help them grow, all the while putting out fires as mean baddies such as volcanoes, dark clouds and little demon-looking things set the trees ablaze. Of course, our fluffy hero won’t stand, err, float for that, as you can zap the meanies with lightning to set things straight.

There's two control schemes to make things easy. You can either swipe your finger on the ground which spins the world on it’s axis while dragging Kumo around when it stops. Or you can use the other method, which both the world and Kumo are dragged around by your finger. No matter which one you choose, you’re bound to have fun raining on stuff and zapping bad guys, both which are done by tapping on Kumo when above either objective. When you've performed enough of these actions, a meter fills in the upper right corner of the screen to let you know when you've done enough to move on to the next level. When water and lightning power gets low from using either using those abilities or from enemies sapping them from you, there’s always some smaller clouds floating around you can collect to replenish our hero. Along the way, you’ll also be able to collect currency to spend on upgrades, such as expanding the limit of water Kumo can hold and improving his lightning abilities that will definitely help as you make your way to the later stages.

I knew I was in for a good time when I first laid eyes on Kumo Lumo, as the graphics and sounds are some of the best I've ever seen on an iOS device, especially when played on an iPad 3. I enjoyed how the visuals have a sort of higher-definition LittleBigPlanet feel to them, especially with the background and land below looking as though they’re constructed from cardboard. As mentioned earlier, I also love how cuteKumo looks, yet has a very deep voice that’s sure to bring a smile every time you hear him yell out “Yeah!” and “All right!” as you bring the rain and pain. I’m also glad that I didn’t find much to complain about, except for every now and then when the action gets heavy, some slowdown becomes apparent. It’s not that bad, but it does happen enough to bring a few dark clouds over the fun.

If you’re looking for something fun to keep you entertained on your iOS device, Chillingo's Kumo Lumo is sure to fit the bill, as you're unlikely to find a softer, more curiously cloudy game like it anytime soon. With simple touch controls that help make guiding our fluffy hero's various raining, lightning, and other activities a joy there's little to complain about, especially in the audio/visual department, as it really does seem like there's a living cardboard world inside your iDevice. While many of the later levels can test your mettle, there’s plenty of fun for gamers of all ages here as they take our baritone fluffy hero on plenty of lightning-filled adventures that’s sure not to rain on your parade.