That same meta-ness is back this time around, but the jokes have a little more purpose. Anyone who has played an RPG in the last 20 years is going to understand the goofiness of it all -- within five minutes you'll have a screen filled with nonsense about leveling up, discovering new areas, getting new quests and more.
The story, as one would expect given the title of the game, is utterly ridiculous. Wooly the Mammoth has stolen your hat and you want it back; as you seek him out, you'll have to find a collection of keys, complete quests for other elephants (and a bison in an elephant disguise) and eventually challenge Wooly.
To complete this task, you're given a ridiculous upgrade menu that lets you enhance skills like your jumping ability, hit points and, of course, lasers. Right, you play as an elephant that can shoot lasers. Controls are mapped to WASD or the arrow keys and shooting is handled by the mouse. It's simple and effective.
The game is all about exploration and shooting. That doesn't sound like much, but the atmosphere and characters here are so rich and ridiculous, it's more than enough to keep you playing for an extended amount of time. Speaking of which, if you want to actually complete all the side quests and get everything done, it'll take around 30-45 minutes to complete.
Elephant Quest is a prime example of a game that can cross genre-borders and appeal to a wide variety of people. It's not particularly difficult, but there is still a sense of reward on completion. If you're the type to needs to pick up everything and complete all the various quests, you'll have plenty to do here.
Play it here.