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Top 5 Funniest Video Games Ever

Top 5 Funniest Video Games Ever

Video games can be touching, and there is no shortage of dramatic games. When games aren’t tugging at our heart strings, they are thrusting us into perilous action or horrifying us. For sure, there are a lot of ways for games to engage us emotionally, and one of the rarest, but most powerful, ways for that to happen is through comedy. Here are five funny games that have our stamp of approval.

Portal 2

Portal 2

Portal 2 challenges players to navigate through physics based puzzles while they are being studied by an entity called GLaDOS. She is the antagonist, but also seems distant and uncaring. This is already a humorous concept, but her sarcasm and mocking tone really help establish her presence, even if most of your interactions are over a PA system.

The humor is welcome because the puzzles can be stressful and a gauntlet of them risks being potentially frustrating. Stephen Merchant’s performance as Wheatley and the pleasant ending credits also produce a fair amount of laughs. The game isn’t afraid to blend wry humor with silliness, and I appreciate that.

PaRappa the Rapper

PaRappa the Rapper

PaRappa the Rapper is a PS1 classic that was recently remastered for the current generation. Its flat, papercraft-looking art style and novel, rhythm-based gameplay helped generate buzz, but its pervasive humor is probably why the game is remembered so fondly.

As you might expect, the titular character, PaRappa is a rapper. As he navigates his day, he raps with absurd characters, often during and about mundane tasks. The narrative is funny, to be sure, but lyrics like “check and turn the signals to the right,” sung by Instructor Mooselini during a driver’s license exam, are catchy, insane, and exemplary of what this game is all about. While that, in and of itself, might not tickle your funny bone, it’s worth mentioning that the game contains a wide range of topics that it will happily joke about.

Saints Row IV

Saints Row IV

The Saints Row series has long felt like a parody of the Grand Theft Auto series, which has never shied away from offensive humor itself. The open world game features over-the-top action that is laughable in and of itself, but its rapidfire approach to shocking and absurd comedy is what makes the ride so enjoyable.

The game also occasionally gets political, but that never quite feels like the point. Instead, it seems as though nothing is sacred, everything is fair game, and you’ll never quite know what is coming down the pipeline.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day

Conker’s Bad Fur Day

When I first met Conker, it was in the Rare produced Diddy Kong Racing . In that game, he was a chipper and cute squirrel who basically radiated innocence. He soon appeared in a GameBoy Color game called Conker’s Pocket Tales. In this game, his happy personality endured. Then came Conker’s Bad Fur Day for the Nintendo 64 and everything changed. Suddenly, Conker was like some kind of hybrid between Charles Bukowski and the Punisher.

This legendary game was a surprise for reasons beyond the sudden personality overhaul. It was also a bit shocking that the game had a place on a Nintendo console. The core concept is this juxtaposition of cute things doing offensive things and it’s a formula we’ve since seen before. But musical numbers, memorable lines, and GoldenEye-style gameplay helped sell a lot of gamers on the squirrel protagonist.

The Stanley Parable

The Stanley Parable

The humor in The Stanley Parable is closer to Portal 2 than the other games here. It’s fitting too, because the game mechanically benefits from the presence of a witty character. In this case it is a narrator whose voice accompanies you throughout this “walking simulator.”

It’s hard to talk about the game without giving too much away but the style of humor on display can get very meta. The confident, aware narrator, voiced by Kevin Brighting, feels like a kinder GLaDOS. Well, that’s where it starts anyway. As the player makes choices, the Narrator’s tone changes. It’s a real feeling relationship at times and it’s amusing to watch the humor change. I particularly enjoy angry Narrator’s insults.

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