The Humble Indie Bungle 3 - The Stanley Parable HD

CousinDupree stared blankly at his computer screen while pawing ineffectually at it's keyboard. He was racking his brain. How on earth was he going to talk about The Stanley Parable?

With it's multiple endings, hilarious premise and seemingly limitless hoard of secrets, it seemed antithetical to write a verbose and detailed analysis. And to be perfectly honest, he really wasn't capable of a verbose and detailed analysis anyway...

Perhaps he should take a break for a few minutes to think about it. Yes. He would take a break. He stood up and stared at the pungent squalor surrounding him. Hundreds of discarded Doritos packets were scattered around his computer. A pile of half empty Mountain Dew cans - an effigy to his Lord and Saviour - sat in the corner, their satanic contents slowly spewing onto the fusty carpet. He knelt down to pray.

Suddenly it hit him. He knew what he had to do. He would write about some other funny games he had played. He would write about why he thought games rarely succeeded at being funny. He would write about humour in general. Yes, it was perfect.

But first, he would stop writing his blog in the third person. Because, truth be told, it made him seem like a bit of a knob jockey.



The Stanley Parable is, without a doubt, the funniest game I have ever played. Bar none. There were numerous times that it sent me into painful hysterics. It's also one of the cleverest games I've ever played.

But, as I said above, if I were to tell you why it's so funny and clever I would be ruining the entire experience for you. So instead, let's talk about some other games I've played that are funny.

The obvious answer is Portal. Everyone has played it and (just about) everyone loved it. GLaDOS's razor sharp tongue and bone dry delivery often left me heaving with laughter. But as with the Stanley Parable, the humour mostly stems from a hilarious and well written narrator.

Another funny game (and a forgotten gem) is de Blob for the Wii. The cut scenes in de Blob are riotous; some of them rivalling the best work of Pixar, DreamWorks and Disney. (Also the fucking soundtrack is unbelievable!) But that's exactly what they are. Cut scenes. The actual game itself isn't particularly humorous.

My third and final example is the Paper Mario series. Those games are so crazy and bizarre, they make me wish Nintendo was willing to let itself get weird more often. But the humour in that series almost exclusively comes from the funny writing. The gameplay itself isn't all that funny.   



I guess what I'm getting at is that there are plenty of funny games out there, just very few that have funny gameplay. There are plenty of games that are funny to watch/listen to/read, but very few that are actually funny to play.  

This probably has a lot to do with timing. Comedy - for the most part - has a lot to do with precise timing. Video games - for the most part - aren't particularly good at precise timing. Imagine watching a stand up comedy show in which the comedian was only allowed to say the punch lines after the audience had completed a series of complicated button presses. Sure, the jokes would still be funny, but not as funny as they could have been if the comedian had full control.

What's more, not everyone plays a game in the same way. So trying to accommodate for every play style would be like trying to ram your fist through a keyhole.

Then again, there is always Octodad. But I guess that's just the exception that proves the rule. Except not at all. Because that's not what that phrase means. Never mind.



So my question to you is: What are some funny games? More specifically, what are some games that are actually funny to play, not just funny to read/listen/watch?

Also. You should definitely play The Stanley Parable. It's fucking hilarious.  

~

CousinDupree slammed his fist onto his computer desk.

"I've done it!" he said. "I've written my tenth Cblog!"

He had so many things to say. So many people to thank. He wanted to thank the awesome Cblog community for reading his drek. He wanted to thank those who had fapped and commented. He wanted to thank Mr Andy Dixon for fapping one of his blogs (it had made CousinDupree's week).

But instead CousinDupree just indulged in a quick and shameful victory wank.

He figured it was probably appropriate.

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