The 3 best iPhone and iPad games this week - Bug Heroes 2, Coldfire Keep, and Shapist

Every Friday, Pocket Gamer offers hands-on impressions of the week's best new iPhone and iPad games.

I really hoped I could include Tengami on this week's round-up of three essential iOS games. I genuinely wanted to love that relaxing game of intricate pop-up pagodas and Japanese folklore.

Sadly, it turned out to be disappointing. Too brief, too shallow, too slow, and too linear for a full-bodied recommendation.

So, you'll have to make do with the games below, instead.

Think we've missed a top new iOS game? Shout at us with all your might in the comments section at the bottom.

Bug Heroes 2
By Foursaken Media - buy on iPhone and iPad (Free)

Bug Heroes 2 is apparently a MOBA. It's also a tower defence game, a squad-based shooter, and a resource-management sim. It is, in a word, complex.

But if you stick through the tutorial and figure out the game's various systems, you'll find that Foursaken Media has come up with a deep, rich, and engrossing game of spinning plates and thinking on your feet.

It's also got a cute insect aesthetic with bruiser beetles and gun-toting woodlice fending off fleas and spiders. And this free-to-play genre mish-mash boasts online and local multiplayer for up to four people.

Shapist
By Qixen-P Design - buy on iPad (£1.99 / $2.99)

I first spotted this elegant iPad block shifter on the show floor at Casual Connect Amsterdam. I then proceeded to spend way too damn long trying to solve its tricky claustrophobic puzzles just to see what would come next.

Because while this one starts out as a simple but satisfying and well-tuned game about sliding coloured boxes, Qixen-P soon introduces ingenious new toys here. Toys like magnets that repel and attract; fold-up springs that bounce back to shape; and more.

Shapist is about as pure as puzzlers come. Bar its Unity splash screen, there isn't a word in the game. And there are no hints, level skips, timers, or scores. Your iPad simply transforms into a physical toy as all digital artifices are stripped away.

Coldfire Keep
By Crescent Moon Games - buy on iPhone and iPad (£2.99 / $4.99)

Coldfire Keep is not going to be for everyone. If the thought of trudging through a dank dungeon and getting into stat-swapping battles with a rat makes you break out in hives, you should probably give this a miss.

But if you consider D&D rule books bedtime reading material and have fond memories of Ultima Underworld and the early Elder Scrolls games, you'll appreciate the exploration, puzzle solving, surprising traps, and gripping tension.

In our Silver Award review of Coldfire Keep, we said that "the thrill of eventually overcoming the game's stern challenge is hard to top". We then declared that "every RPG fan with an iOS device should buy this game."