Death to Mantodeans

Death to Mantodeans was a video game available on Earth in 2006. It attracted attention for both its difficulty and the large cash prize on offer to the first person who could beat it. The game was actually a ploy by the Quevvil species in their war against the Mantodeans to recruit humans to fight for them, and players unwittingly controlled kidnapped people on forays into the Mantodean stronghold on Toop.

Description
Death to Mantodeans was installed on its own special game console, which came in an orange box depicting a cartoon Quevvil shooting a cartoon Mantodean.

The game began with an explanatory cutscene which laid out the conflict between the two species, and why the Quevvils wanted to recruit humans to infiltrate the Mantodean stronghold. A tutorial level was included, which was noted to have different-looking graphics compared to the rest of the game, as it was the only part of the game that was truly just a game.

As players were actually controlling kidnapped humans within the game, all deaths within the game were actually real. This manifested as supposed glitches where players, upon starting a new session, would find that their previous game had apparently been deleted, causing them to have to start over. In actuality, this happened because the "carrier" being controlled had been killed by the Mantodeans, becoming easy prey.

In order to prevent players from seeing the people they were controlling, another supposed glitch within the game caused distortions and sticky controls if the carrier they were controlling got too close to another carrier.

The game developed a reputation for extreme difficulty. (PROSE: Winner Takes All)

History
The Quevvils, a porcupine-looking species, and the Mantodeans, who resembled praying mantises, both lived on the desert planet Toop. The two species were at war with each other, but their respective natural defences of quills and exoskeletons prevented them from killing each other. The Quevvils, particularly wanting access to the natural resources beneath the Mantodean stronghold, attempted to develop teleportation technology to give themselves the upper hand, but the Mantodeans in turn protected their stronghold with a shield which both blocked teleportation and was tuned to Quevvil biology, killing any individual who attempted to cross it. In response, the Quevvils invented a disruptor to take down the shield, but could not get it inside the stronghold.

The Quevvils turned to looking offworld to find a species to recruit to fight for them, locating the Earth and its human population within their teleport range. In order to acquire humans as soldiers, they developed Death to Mantodeans and invented the Percy the Porcupine promotion to both distribute the game and acquire human "carriers" to infiltrate the stronghold. In order to induce people to play the game, a substantial cash prize was stated to be on offer to the first person to beat the game.

Jackie Tyler won a copy of Death to Mantodeans off a scratch ticket, but gave the console to Mickey Smith, who actually played video games. When Jackie's daughter Rose returned to the Powell Estate with the Ninth Doctor shortly thereafter, the two first learned of the promotion. Mickey let the Doctor play the game for a bit, and before he got bored, the Doctor swiftly racked up a very high score. This attracted the attention of the Quevvils, who believed they had finally found a "controller" who was skilled enough to play the game through to completion. As the game session had been ended, however, a Quevvil was sent to abduct the player, kidnapping Mickey as he had been left alone in his flat.

While out shopping, the Doctor and Rose determined that aliens were behind the Percy the Porcupine promotion, and they returned to Mickey's to find he had been abducted. They quickly deduced why Mickey had been taken, and the Doctor started a new play session, running up a new high score to attract the Quevvils' attention. (PROSE: Winner Takes All)