Reflexion

Title: Reflexion
Author: Juho Pohjonen
License: Freeware
Website: http://www.gamemaker.nl/games_exe.html

While randomly wandering the Internet, I found John Cletheroe's Puzzle Game Programs website which contains short reviews of about 140 puzzle, logic, and adventure games. Many of these games have also appeared in this blog. From reading his reviews, I sense that he is a kindred spirit to myself. For most games, we have similar opinions as to their merits. I suggest you give his site a read. One downside to John's site is that he lists the games in alphabetical order. So, it is hard to tell what is new.

On John's site, I found this week's gem. It is an older game which somehow I missed. Reflexion is a great puzzle game that is 99% logic and 1% careful clicking.

Each Reflexion level starts with a ball exiting the S tile. Your goal is to collect all of the gems by running the ball through them and make it to the exit (the E tile). You control the mirrors. By clicking on a mirror you change its orientation and thus the direction the ball will bounce when it hits that mirror. When the ball hits the a wall, it bounces back 180 degrees.

It sounds so simple. However, figuring out how to get the ball to certain parts of the map can be quite challenging at first. The thinking needed for Reflexion is novel, and I really enjoyed getting the hang of it.



Along the way additional items are added to complicate things. There are mirrors which you cannot flip. There are toggle tiles which control a door. You have to make sure the parity of the number of trips across these toggle tiles is correct. On some levels there movable tiles. Hit one with the ball and the tile will move one space. In the level in the screen shot, you have to move these tiles so the the cannon cannot hit your ball as you move to the right side to collect the gems. There are many more which keeps the game fresh.

There are 36 levels broken into three groups of 12. You have to finish all of the levels in each group to gain access to the next level. The interface is simple and intuitive. The graphics are sharp and not overdone. The sounds are good. Neither the graphics nor the audio gets in the way of the gameplay. My only complaint is that I wish there were more levels.