Video games are serious business, but that doesn't mean game-makers and their fans take it too seriously. YouTube is full of hilarious game-related videos and gaming trolls who'll crack you up.
Game developers also have their own sense of humour and aren't afraid to infuse their creations with it. Some are subtle, some are in-your-face slapstick, while others make a tense situation lighter with some well-timed comedy. No matter what, these video games are bound to tickle your funny bone.
The Monkey Island Series [Broken URL Removed]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AawQvD8L_h4
I tried to pick one, but man, the entire Monkey Island series of video games is too hilarious to exclude any of them. This is the perfect introduction to the comic genius of Tim Schafer, one of the coolest game developers. What do you expect from a game where your protagonist is a pirate-wannabe named Guybrush Threepwood?
Guybrush Threepwood: What's your name?
Slappy Cromwell: Cromwell, Slappy Cromwell. It's not my real name actually. My agent told me my given name just didn't have star quality.
Guybrush Threepwood: What was your given name?
Slappy Cromwell: Rex Fortune, Adventure Seeker.
If you absolutely want a single one to start with, I'd suggest The Curse Of Monkey Island, the third part in the series. But that's difficult to find, so you might have to pick up the Tales Of Monkey Island pack from Steam.
Portal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ljFaKRTrI
Dave's already got GlaDOS in his list of favourite video game antagonists, and I have to second that. Rarely has a video game villain been so charming, funny and intimidating all at once — and this one is a bot!
GLaDOS: When I said "deadly neurotoxin," the "deadly" was in massive sarcasm quotes. I could take a bath in this stuff. Put it on cereal, rub it right into my eyes. Honestly, it's not deadly at all... to *me*. You, on the other hand, are going to find its deadliness... a lot less funny.
And of course, there's the Still Alive song at the credits, which you can listen to in the video above.
Portal 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di2wDDwxqHg
While GlaDOS was the comic relief in the first Portal, Portal 2 relied on the voice of British comedian Stephen Merchant in the form of a robotic companion named Wheatley. If you think GlaDOS was funny with her deadpan dialogues, you need to hear Wheatley! And it only gets better when GlaDOS and Wheatley start riffing off each other.
Wheatley: You know, there are test subjects in Africa who don't even have monitors in their test chambers. Why don't you think of that before you break any more of them?
Oh yeah, Wheatley has his own song too, which you can check out in the video above. So buy Portal 2, it's a game that makes you feel smart when you play it.
GTA Vice City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD1atZVNvjQ
I had a hard time choosing which of the Grand Theft Auto series to pick for this but I'm going to go with Vice City purely for the hilarious radio jockeys which you can listen to while driving around the city. I have had to stop driving midway and just laugh so many times while playing the game.
Lazlow: You know if one more mom calls in complaining, "My son listened to your station and then he flunked out of school, wa-wa-wa...", well how you gonna learn to party at school, mom?
The rest of the game and the GTA series in general has some great funny lines too, featuring gaming voice-over stars like Ray Liotta and Samuel L. Jackson.
Grim Fandango
Monkey Island is the perfect introduction to Tim Schafer, but if you like that, then you have to play Grim Fandango. It's the story of Manny, a reaper agent who ferries souls in the Land of the Dead to the Ninth Underworld, depending on how good or bad they were in their life. The game is full of witty one-liners, cheap puns and laugh-out-loud moments. Even with the dated graphics, I'd still say you should play this.
Manny: That Dockmaster Velasco is one salty old bag of rope.
Velasco: You should see his wife.
And hey, some fan recently modded it into a point-and-click adventure!
Brutal Legend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRCh30RZwqM
All right, I promise, this is the last Tim Schafer game (although you should check out his other work too, like Psychonauts). Brutal Legend not only has Schafer, but he teams up with funnyman Jack Black, voicing the character of Eddie Riggs, who claims to be the world's best roadie and is on a mission to save rock'n'roll.
Lars: What do you do with a bunch of kids who don't know how to do anything except bang their heads all day?
Eddie: Start a revolution, Lars.
The Sam & Max series [Broken URL Removed]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heMQG06FU7s
Sam & Max is about a straight-faced detective dog in a suit and his hyperactive sidekick rabbit with a wise mouth — how can that not be enough to get anyone interested? The early games like Sam & Max Plunge Through Space are decent, but it got really funny with the episodic series by Telltale Games starting in 2006 with Sam & Max Save The World.
(On TV Station Door) In case of fire: This door will be locked and cameras will be switched on for impromptu reality show.
Saints Row: The Third
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoCeEhE0UWQ
Humour doesn't always have to come from the game, sometimes you get to make your own. And that's what Saints Row: The Third is all about. Let your creativity run wild in this third-person shooter and enjoy the many, many cool things it lets you do, like dancing to Tom Jones' It's Not Unusual or putting on crazy costumes and running havoc. You need to play this right now.
Josh Birk: Why do you fight what you feel in your heart?
Shaundi: Because if I did what I felt in my heart, they'd never find your body.
There's also Saints Row 4 when you get done with the third one!
Amateur Surgeon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyG_vFwyxYk
Amateur Surgeon isn't available on consoles, but you can play it for free as an online Flash game or download it on your mobile. It's got Adult Swim's brand of entertaining and offensive humour, so you'll have a blast if you enjoy that kind of stuff, or hate it if that's not your style. Alan Probe is the protagonist, a pizza delivery guy who uses his delivery tools to perform life-saving surgeries under the eye of his mentor Dr. Ignatius Bleed. Yup, the game is just as wacky as it sounds!
Dr. Bleed: Who would want to be operated on by a washed up drunkard and a pizza delivery boy?
*CRASH*
Alan Probe: Oh hello Mr. Burglar! Fall through the window trying to rob our clinic?
Oh yeah, when you're done with that first one, make sure you check out the two sequels as well! And if you want a proper, full-fledged PC game, then Surgeon Simulator 2013 is both hard and funny.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ol3ZxZSEhY
You know how the world can't tell Clark Kent apart from Superman because of just a pair of glasses? Well, the world can't tell an octopus apart from a human purely because he wears a suit! Meet Octodad, a cephalopod just trying to raise a family in the suburbs and trying to act as normal as he can so no one suspects he's an octopus. And it all starts with just trying to walk like a human…
Who's that man with the three piece suit?
Makin' a doll with a log and fruit?
Who's that man with the eight strong legs?
Tried to make me breakfast but he broke my eggs?
Octodad - nobody suspects a thing.
Octodad - he's got a good thing going.
Octodad - nobody suspects a thing.
Octodad - Octodad.
Funny Faves
There are plenty of other funny games released recently or on the horizon, like South Park: The Stick Of Truth. So tell us, which video games have made you guffaw?