Why Can't Comedy Games be Funny to Play?

[warrenEBB]

Since repetition usually kills the humor (and the fun) has there ever been a game that limits your ability to repeat actions?

Like, if deadpool just refused to use his Uzis because it's just not funny anymore - it'd force the player to explore other fighting mechanics.

... I remember playing maybe halfway through God Hand. While i dug the variety of moves you could buy, i don't remember what the incentive was to buy them. did you just buy them out of curiousity?
... Basically i'd love to see a godhand game where moves become less powerful, until the character just flat out refuses to do them, unless you change them up to keep them fresh.

... maybe related: I remember being slightly baffled by the fighting challenge stages in the Batman:Arkham games. like you got some kind of score for using a variety of movies. I wasn't sure how they were judging this (there were times I thought i rocked it, only to see some kind of low score). but maybe they already implemented a lightweight example of what I'm babbling about here?

 

[KarlMonster]

Previously... [I'm not going to quote you all]
(Saints Row series was funny)
(Bulletstorm was funny)
(ArmA II could have funny moments)

To some extent it depends on how receptive the player is. Saints Row can be played straight, if the player just goes for the full gansta experience. Granted there were some really well scripted and planned parts of the game (Pierce, the dope making school teacher, etc etc) that were absurd and could be funny, it's really up to the player to make the transition from absurd to hilarious. You could play the game straight, or you could embrace the absurdity by running around in the octoberfest tutu, sledgehammering your foes into paste.

Bulletstorm rubbed me the wrong way, and as a result, I wasn't receptive to what you assert to be humor. Throughout the game I chafed at the color scheme and invisible walls. The vulgarities made me feel embarrassed for the writers. I didn't even enjoy the robotic dinosaur because it was difficult for me to control. The various stylized kills were amusing at first, but then repetition rears its ugly head. Even the "my best friend is a cyborg now" part of the story was off-kilter. There are parts where I expected to hear the studio audience laugh uncomfortably, but it would only be because the "Laugh" sign had been illuminated.

I don't wish to ever play Deadpool, but I have a retro-active suggestion to make it funny/er. I hear that it's hack/slash, so I presume that there are melee attacks. Add a button for *wacky* melee attacks. This works best if the developers went out of their way to script and render nearly a hundred different wacky attacks. When you engage the wacky attack, only a handful of the attacks are valid for specific enemy types, and of that handful, the first two that are executed would be random. This would keep it fresh, since these enemy types get an atomic wedgie, while those guys get a mackerel in the face. As I mention above, receptiveness is key here, or the 'indian burns' might be taken at face value.

 

[MaddKossack115]

Personally, I think that the best comedic games involve being able to let the player make as many of their own funny moments as possible, using the tools of the gameplay. An obvious example is the open-world genre, whether it's raising hell on wheels and throwing down with the cops, like Grand Theft Auto, or using a grappling hook and an infinite amount of parachutes out your ass to make physics your *****, like Just Cause 2. This also extends to customization, with Saints Row being the king of this particular challenge by giving countless costume options, and even several voices to add to the havoc.

However, I think some of the greatest comedic material from games comes when people go one step beyond the actual game to create entirely fictional works within the game world. Specifically, I'm talking Machinimas, like Rooster Teeth turning a multiplayer skirmish in Halo into an epic, comedic series that stands as tall as the actual game lore. Or things like Garry's Mod and Valve Filmmaker, which allows people to stage their own comedic adventures using characters and stages from Valve's games, and beyond even that thanks to Steam. Hell, this extends to Let's Play videos, where the player has a running commentary of the action as it happens, or Fanfics, which can capture all the comedic potential and then some with words.

True, I think a good comedy game should still be funny on it's own. But a great one should give it's players enough tools to create and share moments of their own as well.