The Mischievous Molluscs

The Mischievous Molluscs is an episodic action-adventure video game developed by Ministry Interactive Software. The game, structured like a television series, is centred around a group of talking mollusc animals as they get up to antics that cause trouble for the human race. Unlike other games produced by Ministry Interactive Software, The Mischievous Molluscs is targeted towards an older audience, with minor profanity and sexual references. The game also mocks American Saturday morning cartoons, implementing limited animation, inconsistent continuity and in-universe "rules" and purposefully flat villain characters.

The Mischievous Molluscs was released on 14th October, 2005 for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PlayStation Portable. The game received mixed reviews from critics, who enjoyed the game's episodic format and large amount of easter eggs, but criticised the writing and humour. It sold approximately 3.5 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling game developed by Ministry Interactive Software, and was the only one to be released on a portable console.

Plot and setting
The Mischievous Molluscs is structured into thirteen different "episodes", each of which jave a different storyline. All of the episodes, however, focus on four land animals who live together in an underground tunnel. The group consists of Happy, a green snail who likes to learn about human life; Ringa, a lazy white snail who enjoys causing trouble for the human race; Zeux, a pessimistic blue caterpillar who dislikes the human race for no reason; and Amber, an extremely arrogant yellow slug who often ends up getting herself kidnapped, frustrating the others.

The group are capable of talking to each other, but claim that humans are unable to hear what they are saying. However, it is implied that the humans can hear the creatures speaking if it is through a telephone or they are unaware they are talking to animals - the group begin to take advantage of the loophole later on. The final few episodes ignore the rule completely, and show humans understanding the group with no problem.

The Mischievous Molluscs frequently mocks low-budget animated cartoons. Tropes included in the game include an inconsistent continuity, repetitive dialogue, limited animation, reusing character models and settings whilst treating them like new people/places, deliberate animation errors, characters learning and forgetting the same lessons frequently and one-dimensional villain characters with overtheatrical personalities. The game also breaks the four wall a lot, especially by Ringa.

Gameplay
The Mischievous Molluscs is divided between thirteen levels or, as described in-game, episodes. Each of the thirteen episodes is centred around one of the four main characters (except the last, which is centred around all four of them). Due to the way the game is structured, once a certain episode is complete, it is impossible to replay the episode until they buy the "DVD Bundle" after completing the game, which allows them to regain access to older levels.

The four playable characters; Happy, Ringa, Amber and Zeux, all play similar. Generally, they have to traverse through a 3D open-world environment, which is very big due to all four being small mollusc creatures. The player is incapable of dying, as getting hit simply causes a certain comical animation to play before the player can move again. Though the group normally crawl their way through levels, there are four instances where Ringa gets access to some sort of fast-moving vehicle, such as a shopping trolley.

During cutscenes, with the exception of the final level, the player can choose what they want the character they are playing as to say. What the player chooses to say can alter what occurs in the episode, and some choices can lead to "Bad Endings". If the player receives a Bad Ending, they must redo the entire episode from the beginning. However, obtaining all the Bad Endings is required for 100% completion.

Development
The Mischievous Molluscs was developed as a means to contradict the more serious and down-to-earth approach Ministry Interactive Software took with their previous games like Penny's Paradox World. Director Adam T. Clark said "the main purpose was to have fun making the game".

Alongside the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, the game was also released for the PlayStation Portable. This was decided because the console had a more powerful graphic engine than the Nintendo DS. A GameCube version was planned, but Clark thought its child-friendly nature would make the game unsuitable for the console.

Censorship
At one point in the game, Ringa and Happy originally came across a man who appeared to be under the influence of drugs. The scene, intended to be a comical optional cutscene, ultimately had to be removed in order to avoid a higher rating. However, it is possible to still activate it through hacks. The game crashes once the cutscene ends.

Reception
The Mischievous Molluscs received mixed reviews from critics. The game's episodic format received praise, with many believing that, combined with the large quantity of easter eggs and alternative endings, meant that it had a lot of replay value. Outside of that, however, it also received criticism, particulate its humour, which several critics found repetitive and unfunny. IGN awarded the game a 4.5/10, citing the game had a lot of crafty ideas, but its gameplay was too uninspired. A review from PlayStation 2 Magazine UK said the game was "a run-of-the-mill Grand Theft Auto clone with some adult jokes thrown in".

In spite of the mixed reception, The Mischievous Molluscs was a commercial success. The PlayStation Portable version sold approximately 850,000 copies by January 2007, making it one of the best-selling video games on the console.

Anti-Piracy measure
The Mischievous Molluscs has caught attention over its anti-piracy measure for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox version. If the console detects it is running a pirated copy of the game, a group of snail-like skulls creatures will, at a random period during gameplay, jumpscare the player whilst "Bite Me", a song by "Weird Al" Yankovic, plays loudly in the background. This is followed by a bomb appearing in the middle of the screen and automatically switching the console off if it explodes. In the PlayStation 2 version, this also formats the memory card.

The game's unusually cruel anti-piracy measures resurfaced on the internet in early 2020, with rumours claiming that repeating the entire process again corrupts the console and causes it no longer function at all. However, these were proven to be false.