Fact. Everybody loves vikings. Miniature vikings escaping dungeons? Even better. And there’s a lot to like about Utopian Games’ Little Viking Dungeon Of Doom ($0.99), but a bunch of small annoyances hold it back.

In Little Viking Dungeon Of Doom, you control the titular lil’ viking as he moves from room to room (100 total), collecting coins and keys to unlock doors to the next level. At the end of every level, the lil’ viking does a lil’ viking yell that is simply darling. Darling, I tell you!

A virtual controller moves the viking left and right and shifts gravity in four directions. You avoid spikes, monsters, guillotines and pits, and use boulders and pulleys and quick gravity shifts to get to those beloved golden keys. Levels start out incredibly simplistic, but gain in difficulty. Figuring out and finishing the later levels feels tremendously good, as that viking yell feels more and more earned.

The gravity mechanic is cool, and the best stages require thoughtful consideration and nimble movement. It takes a fair amount of futzing with each level, followed by some solid strategy, and finally, solid execution of the strategy. Unfortunately, the virtual buttons are way too small and close together, so after thirty attempts at one stage, losing because that gravity button is way too small and too close to the “move left” button makes the game feel like a dirty cheat.

This is the kind of casual game the iOS was made for. It’s got a nice, colorful art style reminiscent of Dungelot, the levels are quick and low commitment, and the concept is incredibly simple, but will have you constantly coming back as you further refine your technique- A similar impulse that classic puzzlers provide.

And yet there are so many issues that keep Little Viking Dungeon Of Doom from achieving casual bliss. All 10 levels need to be completed before gaining access to the next 10, meaning if there’s just one obnoxious stage that’s impossible to finish, tough luck. Keys don’t reappear after beating a level, meaning going back and replaying a level is useless. And there’s no Game Center support. So many little bummers.

The 100 stages are fun, and the gameplay gets more complicated and interesting as it goes along, but the look and music are stagnant. The visuals may be nice, but after 50 levels of the same color scheme, it’d be nice to see a change.

It was just released (with no IAP or ads), so hopefully Utopian Games could remedy some of this in an update. Bigger buttons alone would improve the experience immensely. As it stands, Little Viking Dungeon Of Doom is an imperfect but charming time-waster with lots of potential. And that viking yell. Seriously, someone needs to add that to a soundboard. So darling!