TanZen debuted on the App Store last year, with a price of £1.79 and a little over 100 puzzles to complete. Since then, the amount of puzzles has quadrupled, two additional piece skins have been introduced, music has been added, and a 'masters' mode has also been thrown into the mix - the price has also been slashed. What was originally great value has become superb, simply because the developer is committed to providing high quality incremental improvements. We're sure that it will still see updates, but even if it doesn't, TanZen's 441 puzzles will take up a lot of your time.

Tangram puzzles are made up of 7 polygons - one square, one parallelogram and five triangles of different sizes. The idea is to rotate and place pieces in such a way that they fill all of the given silhouette, much like a jigsaw. Solving a puzzle is usually a case of trial and error - so it's a good job that TanZen plays without any pressure. There's no time limit or score goals, just you and the pieces.

The controls work well - drag a piece to move it into place, and rotate it with the selection ring around it. Rotation itself isn't completely freeform, the pieces snap into predetermined angles - but this is ultimately a good thing as most of the time you will need only to rotate a piece 45° or so. What we didn't like so much is that pieces don't snap together when placed on the silhouette - and often there will be small gaps between them. It feels more natural, but it's fiddly, and we would have preferred the speed of snap into place rather than TanZen's realism. Shaking the device resets the puzzle, and double tapping in a blank area reveals a hint, which doesn't come with a penalty of any sort.

What is of note is the game's completely freeform approach to puzzle solving and progress - you can have any number of puzzles on the go at once and TanZen will save state for all of them. You can truly go back and play any time you wish, so it's perfect for short breaks or bus journeys when there's not much time to kill. And if you've completed all of the included puzzles, you can try again in the Masters mode. Basically this involves you making a mirror image of the silhouette rather than slotting pieces into it - and so a lot more precision is required. Fortunately it works very well.

The presentation is very calming and minimal - from the subtle sound effects upon a puzzle completion to the serene, tranquil music and textured backgrounds, it has to be one of the most leisurely games on the Store. The menu system is intuitive, with half filled bars denoting puzzles that are yet to be completed on that page, and full bars for a whole page of completed puzzles (see below). Touching the arrows navigates to the next screen of puzzles and swiping navigates to the next page - and you can select pages by tapping their progress bars. It works especially well considering how many puzzles are included - and when they are completed it shows the exact way that you arranged them, which is a great touch.

Overall, TanZen has a lot going for it - and Little White Bear Studios have proved that the update system is a huge positive for the platform, with their steady stream of new content. For the money, don't bother with the Lite version - go download the full edition now.

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