I don't know how well this topic will go over but it's something I was thinking about tonight and figured I'd blog about it anyway. I'm not sure what got me thinking about this but I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when I thought about the possibilities. Hah Hah...um, anyway. I think maybe it was the review I read earlier by jconner800 about Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (check it out here). Anyway...
If I were going to rate my favorite genre of movie I doubt comedy would earn the top couple of spots. Science Fiction, yes. Action, yes. Drama, maybe. It's not that I don't like comedy it's just not my favorite. But every now and then I get a hankering to watch something that'll make me laugh - and nothing seems to make me laugh more than a good...hmm, what do they call them? Parodies, spoofs, satires. Movies like Airplane, Naked Gun, Space Balls, Hot Shots and Police Academy - they get me every time. A recent study found that Airplane (of all movies) gets the most laughs per minute, more than any other movie. If you're interested, the article I read this odd little fact was at Forbes and you can read it here.
Many of these parodies make fun of other movies, like Space Balls makes fun of Star Wars; Hot Shots makes fun of Top Gun and The Scary Movie makes fun of a whole handful of movies.
I think I play a fair amount of games. I don't know if I'd say I play a lot, but definitely more than a little. I'm trying to recall the last "funny" game I played and I can't think of one. The Last of Us maybe? Hah, now that was a joke. Don't get me wrong - I know I've played some before, in the past. Games like The Secret of Monkey Island. But as far as games I've played recently, no funny ones I can think of. Now, it's not really that big of a deal because I like my video game about like I like my movies - science fiction, yes; action, yes; drama, maybe.
But every now and then I wouldn't mind a game to make me laugh a little. And maybe that's what got me thinking about this topic, and what if we had video game parodies. Or maybe we do and I just don't know about them. Hmm, let me think. Well, there was an old Lucasarts game called Full Throttle - it was sort of like a parody...at least some of the witty one liners poking fun at movies and what not. And it certainly had plenty of funny parts. Then of course you have games like Saint's Row and Retro City Rampage. Maybe even Portal? I guess they fall into the category I'm talking about...
But consider this...
In the introduction I mentioned what I think inspired this blog or at least contributed to it was the review by jconner800 about Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Here was a game that, in late 2012, was regarded by many as the best First Person Shooter of the year (some thought one of the best shooters ever). I mean, a tropical island paradise full of mystery and intrigue...and death. Some colorful characters set loose in a huge open world. The game did really well, both because it had stunning audio / visuals and a fairly decent story.
Then a few months later in a stunning turn of events Ubisoft releases Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, described by its Wikipedia entry as...
A first-person shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It is a stand-alone expansion to the 2012 video game Far Cry 3. The game, a satire of 1980s action films, takes place on a retro-futuristic open world island crawling with evil, with players assuming the action role of eye-patched cyborg protagonist Sergeant Rex Power Colt.
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I know a few friends who were rather surprised when the DLC released. I also remember getting a text message from my son asking if this was a real thing. It did seem a bit far-fetched. And it was certainly quite different than the original Far Cry 3.
Now I'm not asking (it wouldn't do any good even if I was) to get rid of the games we have now, or the games that are getting ready to come out, but I am thinking about if other developers took a similar approach to Ubisoft and released some downloadable content to their games...kind of out of the ordinary modifications much like Blood Dragon and not at all what you would expect from the series...something somewhat funny maybe.
Here is kind of what I am envisioning, the ones that make me chuckle just thinking about them...a parody like Space Balls for Mass Effect or Halo or maybe a Blazing Saddles version of Red Dead Redemption. An Assassin's Creed inspired by Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Oh, I know...a Shaun of the Dead version of Left 4 Dead. Or maybe a Tropic Thunder rendition for Call of Duty or Medal of Honor. Wow, the list is almost endless.
Heck, even a game like Limbo can get a parody makeover...
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I don't know about you but I get attached to the characters in my favorite games - characters like Masterchief, Commander Shepard, John Marston, Gordon Freeman, Chell, Nathan Drake and Elena Fisher, Joel and Ellie, and on and on and on. Often times, I find my favorite characters are almost always in serious games...serious games with little comedic relief. Sure, sometimes there are funny parts and humorous dialogue, but not quite like a good spoof. I think it'd be kind of cool to see these characters in a setting nothing like we've ever seen them in before or expect to see them in.
Many of you know my love of the Halo series...and if you've played the game a lot and really explored every little detail no doubt you've over heard the grunts and the funny things they say. Imagine hearing one of the grunts instructing another how to use a plasma grenade and it coming out something like a popular Monty Python quote.
"First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it."
Chuckle.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend. May all your games be good.
Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.