Strikes Everywhere

Elf Bowling first hit years ago and quickly became a hit due to it's charming presentation and goofy sense of humor. It even spawned a full length animated movie. Now, six sequels and even more years later, we have Elf Bowling 7 1/7: the Last Insult. Does the series retain it's trademark humor and fantastic visual style? Absolutely. Plus, it brings you some pretty excellent gameplay to boot.

Santa Claus is perhaps the greatest computer game protagonist of all time. He's well known the world over and everybody loves him to death. That's why it's so easy to sympathize with him when his elves go on strike and put Christmas in danger! A cranky elf named Dingle thinks that he should be in charge of Christmas and convinces all of his co-workers to go on strike in his support. With nowhere else to turn, Santa enters into a bet with him. It's time to do some bowling, and the winner takes Christmas.

Hilarity Ensues

Is there really any better motivation than having to save Christmas? I admit, it's been done a lot, but it still tugs at my heartstrings every time. The actual bowling in Elf Bowling 7 is fantastic and possibly the best in the series so far. The mechanics involve using the mouse to both give the ball throwing power, and then steering the ball as it goes down the lane. It's simple, it's fun, and it's highly addicting.

There's more here than your standard game, however. There are numerous power-ups to collect that will either help you or cripple your opponent. They'll appear on the lane and simply roll into them with the ball to collect them. There are simple power-ups, like ones that make the elves bigger and easier to hit (or shrinking them to give your opponent a hard time), but there are also more complex bonuses such as turning your bowling ball into a basketball, which gives it the ability to bounce. Once you hit the elves at the end of the lane, the ball will bounce backwards and then go in for an additional blow. If you're skilled at aiming, you can repeat this process until all of the elves are down, resulting in a strike. This isn't a conventional sport by any means, but it sure is fun.

The elves themselves are hilarious, constantly spouting off popular sound bytes and catchphrases. Some of the best lines I heard were "never give up, never surrender" from the comedy movie Galaxy Quest, "here it is, your moment of Zen," Jon Stewart's sign-off phrase on the Daily Show, and even "don't taze me, bro" from a college news story a while back. It's pop-culture at its finest and hearing these squeaky little voices will have you in stitches.

A Christmas Miracle

Elf Bowling 7 is a fantastic game and a great way to celebrate the holiday. Due to its simplistic nature, it's not bogged down by a specific genre, resulting in a game that just about everyone can get lost in.