Funniest Game

Legitimately funny games are possibly the rarest games of all. For a wide variety of reasons, the medium of gaming just isn't very conducive to humor, partly because games often involve repetitive or scripted actions, while humor requires spontaneity and surprise. At any rate, some games do manage to be extremely sharp, clever, or even downright hilarious--hence we present the award for Funniest Game of 2003. Here are the finalists:

Armed and Dangerous (PC, XBOX)

Publisher: LucasArts
Developer: Planet Moon Studios
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In the vein of Planet Moon's other humorous action game, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Armed and Dangerous is a quirky, off-kilter piece of work, with plenty of amusing gags and bizarre characters to keep the story consistently funny. In particular, Armed and Dangerous has an unusually good--and unusual--sense of comic timing. The cutscenes alone are worth playing the game for.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (GBA)

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
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The game's goofy storyline and its hilarious roster of special moves make Mario & Luigi a humorous experience from beginning to end.

The Simpsons: Hit & Run (PC, XBOX, GC, PS2)

Publisher: VU Games
Developer: Radical Entertainment
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Game companies have spent years trying to re-create the irreverent style of humor that The Simpsons made famous. Finally, someone got it right.

WarioWare Inc.: Mega MicroGame$ (GBA)

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
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No game this year shows the off-beat penchant for the utterly insane that WarioWare: Mega MicroGame$ does, and you can't help but laugh at every ludicrous bit of it.

Whiplash (XBOX, PS2)

Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
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Whiplash makes up for its less-than-stellar gameplay mechanics with a healthy dose of legitimate wit and an amusing pair of lead characters that could have come straight out of a Warner Bros. cartoon.

And the Winner is...