Amongst all the glossy visuals and over-exaggerated demos of high-tech soldiers blowing up all and sundry with everything from mechs to motion-captured dogs, it's easy to forget about the games that are genuinely so well-written they could have been comedy movies or TV shows. Being that they're in the gaming realm though it's something very special indeed, especially as any who have played through the original Monkey Island can attest to a certain scene that has you trading quips with a pirate instead of fighting them with your sword. Humour is something that's hard to get right for a mass audience at the best of times, especially when you factor in that everyone is going to play through games differently in terms of how well they can control a character, which direction they're going to be looking for sight gags, or just making it through to a section without being too frustrated along the way. These days a little - or a lot - of humour can go a very long way in terms of establishing the identity of any given experience, and in the case of a few titles on this list they may have ended up utterly broken - but we pressed on for the sake of the next cutscene or character-interaction.
15. Grand Theft Auto Series
Choice Quote: "My mother's ma' sister!" - Random pedestrian dialogue, GTA III. For all that these games are remembered for their escapism and free-wheeling anarchism, the reason we love to get lost for hours at a time is because it's all brought to life through memorable characters, quotable dialogue and hilarious in-game assets such as billboards, pedestrian banter and the series-defining radio shows. It's hard to pick just one game that shows itself out to be the funniest of them all, because each GTA title takes years to come out these days, and each one is laboured over as a passion project from some of the most talented people in the industry. Whether it be San Andreas' playfully exaggerated 'gangsta' OG Loc who speaks only in clichéd phrases and rap-like lyrics, Vice City's V-Rock heavy metal show where long-haired nerd Lazlow is teased for looking like "an ugly girl" or just GTA V's Jimmy De Santa being a representation of what happens when white suburban kids get far too into rap, it's all written and performed superbly. GTA IV remains the one that stands out amongst the pack as Rockstar's attempt to take the series in a more serious direction following Saints Row's parody of their older games to perfection. However amongst this tone their was still random pedestrian banter that hit home at the most perfect of times, as well as character Niko's desensitised observations making for occasional laughs like when he and cousin Roman must dispose of a body:
Roman: What have you done? Niko: What does it look like? Roman: We're dead! Niko: No, he's dead... we're fine.