First, it’s Dexter, not Dexter’s Laboratory. This is not a kid-friendly game, and while we’ve seen such titles on portable consoles, the 40+ million iPhones on the market and its unique control scheme make it the perfect killing machine.

OK, no more death and murder puns.

Besides searching for the Ice Truck Killer, the game follows the same path the TV show did that the book simply couldn’t: it gave many different situations on each episode for Dexter, an emotionally absent human being, to go about his normal business. That being both a homicide investigator and stone cold killer, undertaking missions to kill a new perpetrator every so often. As Dexter, players will have to investigate crime scenes and potential targets, going on dates, and living the life of Dexter.

There isn’t any gruesome blood-filled killing that we see on screen, though it’s clearly happening. Michael C. Hall, who plays Dexter in the show, is also doing the voicework for the game. At this time, he is the only character from the show who is working on the project, but that’s subject to change. Most characters don’t actually speak at all, and the dialog occurs as text on-screen, but all narration is done by Dexter in his most eloquent, sardonic voice.

One thing about Dexter is that it looks great on the iPhone. While most games are fairly limited graphically, Dexter looks better than most Nintendo DS titles. There is also some talk about a PC and possibly a console version, but that will happen at a later time.

Dexter: The Game is set to release for the iPhone later this summer.