QUALIA 3: Multi Agent

In this game, you play as an insect swimming on the surface of a big, rectangular tub of partially-set gelatin, fighting against a horde of pickle slices, slices of star fruit and other fruit and vegetable slices. I guess just having a bug in the gelatin wasn't bad enough, and you have to ruin the whole fruit salad. Anyway, you fight against the slices by splashing the gelatin at them, either using energy bombs or telekinetic pulses, depending on which armaments you purchase from saving up clouds of magnetic money gas. (This story is my personal interpretation.)

It's actually kind of fun once you figure out how to build up harmonic motion to generate strong enough splashes. Notice that your own motion compresses the gelatin in front of you. If you take advantage of this and also save up enough magnetic money gas to get some of the pulse weapons, it becomes like a surreal shooting game.

If you pick the right settings, you can play this game with an XBox360 controller, which I definitely recommend. On the downside, this game requires a lot of grinding to get to the decent weapons. On the up side, it provides a new and entirely different kind of challenge than any normal arena shooter. It totally breaks out of the gelatin mold.

Probably made by some teenager that did not know how to put it on a flash game website. There are clearly many areas for improvement. First, this game is made for only one to two hours of fun. Second, it is hard to get upgrades unless you get ahievements. Third, nothing is well defined for the player. The initial set-up is about just as good as the other set-ups that are reasonable to get if not better.

The game has a great soundtrack but playing it is still confusing.

Most negative reviews come not surprisingly from people who have played the game only for a few minutes or had wrong expectations what the game is about.

I'm playing with my keyboard (you only need Y, X, C) as my generic Xbox controller only works for movement and I can't attack. The game renders in 800x600 but is displayed in 16:9 fullscreen stretched on my display.
I made a short video to give an impression of the first minutes in the game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rcunwmRDzM

Qualia has unique gameplay mechanics, visuals, and a cool soundtrack. For the €0.49 in the midweek madness, it's a steal.

Edit: Configuring the controller with Xpadder did work for me
Edit: The Abyss Fascination achievement drops after 4 hours instead of 2 as in the description

Surprisingly innovative game, which is fun when investing a bit of time!

It need some time to get used to the game. It has some mechanics from a shoot'em'up, but not shooting on the players side. Instead some "ripple graviational deformation" are created by bombs and "inversion bombs". The ripples are visualized with a dynamic grid.

Check the official webpage, as it contains some more explanation than the ingame help.

The initial "ship" is a bit weak. Nevertheless with some experience it is possible to beat at least everything up to boss number 4, even with this ship. Tipp: use both weapons quickly one after the other while rotating the ship, therefore positioning the bombs close together.

One main shump mechanic is the move or get killed one, which applies strongly here. But as there are no long range weapons (at least the first upgradeable ones are not), it is necessary to get close to moving enemies. This is what makes up a lot of the fun of the game.

The enemies (I played up to boss 4) are all very nice, challenging, partly innovative. Graphics is ok, a bit generic, but practical, as it does not overfill with effects which are not directly linked to the game mecanics, as many other games have.

If you are not fixed to the standard move and shoot shoot'em'ups but want to try something a bit different, while still having some of the mechanics, I can highly recommed this game.

Really slow grind to unlock more stuff for the kind of somple game it is. Feels like a miscarriage from bubble tanks or whatever that online game was, but nice visuals and music fits. All in all I wouldn't reccomend.

Can't say I really enjoyed this game. It's a fun concept game but feels like a student project. The upgrades aren't very exciting and seem only based on the push/pull aspect of combat. Speaking of combat, it's fine, place bomb and hope it floats to your target. The bosses (that I fought) can only be hit in 1 spot and nothing on them is breakable so it's just frustrating having to grind the same slow levels you can beat and hope you can unlock something that might help.
The music is fun at first but does get repetative.
Fifty cents for this game, fine. Investing more time into it, nope.

*I think this game is definatly worth your time.
I can see that the game isnt for those who dont like THINKING for about a game because this game is actuily fairly easy if you take the time to learn how to play.

If you dont know what this game is then let me explane.
You play as a small CREATURE* moving around in a box above a net of hexigons, you fight against small THINGS* that bunch together to make one larger creature which you can KILL* by using your weapons to create ripples on the net.
Sounds simple right? well it is a bit trickyer then that, you have to create a fairly large wave to damage the enemys and after the first level you will have to get creative.

I wont tell you any of the tecniques because working it out is part of the fun but dont expect this to be a game that you can just mindlesly storm through and dont just give up because you cant work out how to play. If that isnt enough then what about the price, £3:99 is very good for a game that dosen't have many downsides that I can see!**

*sorry for spelling mistakes.
**Im not %100 sure what this game is about or what you are.
***Playing for a long time might make you start seeing a hexigonal net when you close your eyes (mabey its just me).

10/10 Play It Again All Day Everyday No Way This Game Is Gay

SMALL NOTE
First off, whoever said this game's just bad or doesn't play like a shooter... didn't play much, it's obvious they probably got stuck with the "place timed bomb" power and never moved forward...

REVIEW
This game feels pretty unique as a shooter, it's not actually a shooter in a strict sense, but it feels like one, let me explain:

CONCEPT
You maneuver a creature that's made of 3 parts, a head, a body and the fins, each part has a specific power or bonus that changes the way you can approach enemies, however the point of the game is to distort the "net" of the arena so that the enemies get stretched into it and eventually explode, at the end of each stage there's a unique boss.

RPG-FEATURES
There are parts that make you place timed bombs (I'm lookin at you, bad reviewers >.>) which can be used to wipe clusters after significant stretches to the net (meaning the fins do the big job, in this setup), some that make you greatly distort the net in front of your head (which results in a very precise snipe, or shot if you like that stuff...), some wings actually distort the net to form wave-like motions which, if moving fast enough (and accurately as well) can wipe whole clusters of enemies, some others suck-in enemies while running away from them (circle works too, actually better),
there are also bodies that empower health and movement.

TACTICS
Now, combine said parts to make your own playstyle (either fit the one needed for the stage) and consider this, while "swimming" you cause waves through the net... let's pick the snipe-head mentioned previously, if aimed correcly gathering enough speed, swimming towards enemies empowers the "shot", because you are moving the waves towards them.

MONSTERS
The monsters in these arenas usually come in clusters, actually it's a single sentient being that comes with meat parts (non-moving, non-attacking), shaped parts (those shoot or attack in some motion), and purple parts (which function as the creature's brain, dispose of those and it won't move any longer).
It's also worth mentioning that whenever you manipulate the net these monsters react differently, some may come closer to you from behind, some try to dodge predicting your route, things can get hairy quickly if you don't pay much attention to how you manipulate the net because it's made by squares and less squares to travel (stretched wide net) means faster movement (ie: movement=5 squares per second).


MY OPINION
It could take a while to adjust to this game as it's rather original (which I appreciated, very), but it's rather good, especially if you are bored of the usual projectile-hell shmups (either you don't appreciate that design).

TIP
On a note, the game requires some grind to gather points to buy the different parts (so spend'em WISELY), you might want to check other players' videos to see which parts they are using and what they do, because every body part does different things (and some parts are very expensive).
The game doesn't seem to have a proper tutorial (considering the "net" mechanic), and I forgot to mention that... If an enemy gets too close or shoots, it hurts you...


ABOUT THOSE COMPLAINING MONSTERS DON'T DIE
They die from a single snipe with one of the head parts... a suck-in from some fins... waves correctly placed... basically anything done CORRECTLY works, really, yea, just one shot, now go and stretch that net.

The Qualia 3 Steam store front reads "Qualia 3 is a 2D, shoot-’em-up game that brings a few unique elements to the classic genre.". Attention: Qualia 3 is not a shoot em up nor is there any semblance of or association with the classic shump genre. An outright hoax to appeal to and lure shump fans.

Tedius game-play has you placing explosives with a customizable ship in a quasi wire-frame wave based arena. Conceptually, the bomb induced wire-frame waves damage and will ultimately destroy the evil denizens which in turn drop the currency utilized by the customization system. The ship customization options cost mucho dinero but you'll un-install Qualia before you customize anything.

The presentation is rendered in a 1024x768 window or full screen in the same non customizable resolution making windowed play optimal solely for crisper 1024x768 visuals. For what it is worth Qualia does offer Steam integration, offering achievements and cloud based saving.

Unless you have a desire to watch a wave based wire-frame, Qualia wallows in tedium. Steam offers many far superior arena based alternatives including Mutant Storm Reloaded, Geometry Wars, Waves, Ultratron and Everyday Shooter.

This game is awful. Looks like a version of Geometry Wars with a twist, plays like Snake on an underpowered Nokia emulator.

Progression isn't slow in a 'low skill floor, high skill ceiling' kind of way, but in a 'this game offers slow monsters, slow craft, few gameplay mechanics and nothing other than vague 'monster' iteration.

Avoid it - however cheap it is, however pretty the screenshots look, it is ultimately a painful exercise in futility. If you enjoy painful experiences, bang your head against a wall instead. It's cheaper and the graphics are better.

Gameplay itself is like playing in a fishtank filled with a vicous oil - slow, unresponsive and yawnsome. However much other people recommend this game - note that they all stopped playing after a handful of hours - and I suspect most of them just left their game on by accident! This has no replay value, no story, no real hooks and is just a boring snoozefest of blue and green biocreatures.

This is definitely NOT a shoot 'em up. There is no shooting involved, only laying down bombs. The upgrades that allow you to 'evolve' cost a ridiculous amount of points which are difficult to earn in the first place since your only weapon to start is a bomb that doesn't even do that much damage, making the game super slow and frustrating.

Its an interesting take on Shmups and feels like a cool step towards change.
Your combat revolves around the parts (3 of them) you equip, giving you different firing style and stats for your character, as well as how your movement is morphing the environment which in turn varies the way your projectiles will move as well as the enemy. This simple concept makes it difficult to get the hang of the game on the first few tries but after repeating the first level a couple of times, you'll get the hang of it.

Pros:
- Nifty visual effects
- Concept which varies the Shmup formula.
- The dance beats style music is very catchy.
- Character evolution morphs gameplay style.
- Low Price.

Cons:
- Keyboard controls arent the best for the ship movements.
- Lack of tutorials
- Large difficulty spikes

Video Look at Qualia

When I first saw this game, I mistook it for a shooting game, in the sense that you run around dodging the enemy while you fire at them from afar (The problems of not reading and looking at the game carefully!)


At first, it kind of felt hard, it wasn't easy getting your bombs to detonate right in front of your enemies' faces when both sides are moving. Your bombs are affected by your surrounding, which are in turn, affected by your bombs, your movements, and the enemies' movements. This surrounding of yours is very important because it will affect everyone's movement. You can drop absorbtion bombs which will compress the surroundings, dragging everything, bombs, enemies (and you!) into it like a black hole. You can even absorb them to yourself, (be careful of letting them touch your head! Your hitbox is in your head) causing them to follow you in a line and crushing each other. Spin around in a circle, and your enemy will ball up and crush each other to death (or be crushed by the surroundings)

It's hard to explain. I found this game fun because there's a slight tactic to it. Simply placing bombs at the enemy's location might not work, and you would have exploit the enemy's patterns and your own abilities to be able to blow it up. You can also do the tactic above, carefully compressing the space in the surrounding and forcing the enemy to be squished by the web or by each other.

Well, I liked this game and would recommend it for anyone who wants to try something new

Oh, and by the way
Good luck on bullet hells. It's a Japanese game, of course your enemies will be firing at you from everywhere

Fun game really, its a pain when you have 2-4 left and they just wont die. if there was some kind of bar to know how much more it will take just to kill them just like the boss (but on the creature its self), that would be awsome. The beginning was confuseing though. i had no idea that Z and X were the main controlls. you would figure it was enter but it was not. Maybe if there was a caption or something telling you instead of smashing every buttion just to get a response, couldnt even open the help menu. Other than that, this game is well put together.

When I purchased this game, I really kind of expected a GeoWars type of gameplay. Q3 has the same wavey background but that is where it ends with the similarity. The Sh'mup genre does not fit this game, as there is no real shooting envolved. A better genre for this one would be, Arena Blow'mup and also has some mele and strategy traits. The strategy to this creates a challenging game with challenging bosses and once you get the idea of how the physics of the "wavey" background interacts with the weapons, enemies and player this is where the fun gets started. Combined with the multitude of upgrades will have you playing "just one more time" over and over. I'm recommending this one based on fun factor, though I have not played this long enough to know the length or replayability of the game is. Will update with further info... [to be continued]

It is what it is, imagine being in a wavy fishtank and using, not just your movement, but the flow of water movement to attack, its not easy, but not overly hard.
Yeah the resoulution is handpicked by the game, and dident see a music control, and YES no mouse control, put joystick works very well. Probably more is lacking, Its an evolve creature game with a good element of water flow control, and yeah you have to work to grow, but not bad, and especially for less than 5 bucks.

BAD:
The main problem of this game is that killing enemys is a chore. With bigger groups it has a decent challenge but when the group is cut down to 3-5 individuals it takes to long to kill. You place the bombs on them directly, on the side or just spam them with bombs or carefully place a bomb on them and they wont die. Takes 3 to 5 trys to kill one in a small group. It kills the paceing of the game for an action game. And I swear they have some sort of short invincibility time after they get hit because of this.
I dont like the fact that it advertises itself as a shoot em up as the only way to attack is to place bombs everywhere. It's interesting and the only problem I have with it is what I said as above and that placeing bombs dosnt count as a shootemup but you do get shot at.
I wish this game came with a tutorial because as I said above, you can place bombs on enemys and it wont do a thing when theres a few left. Because of this I didnt know if I was playing it right or not.
Also with small groups not getting hurt the same thing applies to 2 bosses I have encountered but worse. They seem to be invincible at times not getting hurt at all only for you to do a small amount of damage. If theres an opening for when your supposed to hurt it I dont know what it is plus I wait 3 or 5 seconds before I spam it with bombs for a good 10 seconds
Note: The bombs themselves dont kill them its the waves and ripples the bombs make. If you do get this game I find the minibombs to be the worse one to use. Still find it hard to kill them.

GOOD:
One thing I do like about this game is the risk reward it has. The power orbs which play as money lay on the screen disappear when you get hit once and the power orbs can increase in value when they gather into one big orb.
Another thing I sorta like about this game is that you can make waves with the bombs to try and push them towards enemys,speed up or slow you down.
The designs of the player character and the bosses are cool but the main enemys look like cereal.

In the end if you love these kinds of games and have more patience with trying to kill a couple of enemys that wont die untill the 3rd bombing attempt youll find some enjoyment with this game. I dont really like it but I might play an hour of it per month or just try to see all the levels then be done with it. Not a bad game but not a good one also as I see it. In the end I have to give it a no that I dont like this game. What really kills it for me is that it takes forever to kill a single guy and that takes up to much time for an action game. Fix that and ill just give this a pass. Mabye its just im more used to bullet hell games.

It is nothing at all like geomotry wars, which is why I was originally excited after seeing the screenshots. While the description and graphics are definitely intruiging, the actual gameplay was dreadful.

The initial attacks are essentially mines you drop in front of you that move along with the current, which is neat conceptually, but ultimately causes even the initial levels to be overly time consuming since you're spending 5 minutes trying to finish off the last head of the wave only to repeat the next.

It took 30 minutes to go through the first two levels a couple times, which remained overly time consuming even after I bought the splash weapon upgrade and decided to cut my losses with the game.

The fact the game opened up and screwed up all my other window resolutions was just another obnoxious aspect for the game.

Ultimately a waste of $3 I wish I had spent on skittles.