Thank you Circle Entertainment for sending us this game to review!

There are many Quell games out there and they have been available on phones and tablets for a while.  (At a much cheaper price too!) Quell Reflect is the first of the series to come to Nintendo’s 3DS platform.  Quell Reflect starts with eighty-four levels that span through the years 1962-1975.  Each year (or shelf) has three stages with four puzzles each that can be played in any order.   

More stages become available as you clear the previous one.  After the initial eighty-four levels are beat, a fourth stage is unlocked on each shelf making one hundred and twelve the final number of puzzles available.  Each puzzle has a hidden gem and a perfect number of moves to solve it.  Even if you solve every puzzle, there is plenty of re-playability in beating the number of moves it took and locating all of those pesky jewels.  

If you are new to the series, the premise is simple.  You have to move the droplet(s) of water through various obstacles to collect all of the pearls.  Some of the obstacles include spikes and poisonous droplets that will destroy your droplet upon impact.  There are some gates that will let you pass through once and then close; you must plan every move before you make it.  If you make a mistake, you cannot undo your last move; your only option is to restart the level.  

There are various achievements including some funny ones like “No Hedgehog Jokes” for getting spiked fifteen times.  Since this is a single-player game, no one else will see these accomplishments unless you hand them your 3DS.  

Even though this game is on the 3DS, it does not utilize the 3D effects in any way.   The top screen will show rain drops dripping from the window pane and generic hints about the obstacles in that particular level.  The bottom screen displays the puzzle and you can use the stylus, d-pad, or circle pad to navigate your droplet(s).  

The violin and piano music are very serene and combined with the relaxing sound of rain, makes this a soothing gaming experience no matter how tricky the puzzles are.   While I solved a majority of these puzzles on my own (most far from the perfect score!), I did find some solutions on youtube for the levels that stumped me.    The Android version has a built in hint system, but the 3DS version does not.  The Android version also offers a jewel detector add-on for $2.99 which I think is rather silly.   

Quell Reflect is a fun and family friendly puzzle game that is both relaxing and challenging.  With over 100 levels, it‘s worth the $3.99 on Nintendo’s eShop.  If you have a Android or iOS device  you can get it on Google Play for $.99 and iTunes sells it for $1.99.