By Declan Hertel Staff Writer
The surge in indie games has brought with it a new genre of game: interactive slapstick. Funny games used to be games where you do a thing, someone says a joke, repeat. While those games still exist in fine form (“Portal 2” is a prime example), there is a new sort of comedy game that derives humor from its physics or controls.
Below is a list of very fine examples of the genre, and all come with high recommendations from me.
“Surgeon Simulator 2013”
This game is an example of an absurd control scheme used for humorous effect. In “SS2013,” you must perform complex surgeries with the use of only one hand.
The arm and hand are controlled with the mouse, and each of the fingers and the thumb are operated with the A, W, E, R, and Spacebar keys on your keyboard.
Picking up a scalpel becomes a gargantuan task, never mind using it to any great effect.
On more than one occasion, I’ve taken the heart I’m to transplant and accidentally thrown it full force into the patient’s face and watched it fall to the floor, never to be seen again. After many failed attempts, I finally completed the operation by removing everything from the man’s chest cavity and plopping the heart in. This is good enough in “Surgeon Simulator.”
“Goat Simulator”
The other main type of interactive slapstick comes from odd usages of physics. The developers of “Goat Simulator” left in every bug and glitch that didn’t crash the game, created a monster that plays like a demented “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater,” awarding points for tricks and stunts like running up walls, getting thrown across the map by a speeding truck, or knocking over a crowd of people by headbutting some poor sap into them.
That’s all you do; run around the map and cause mayhem as a goat. And it somehow never gets old. Every time you fire it up, you find some new way to mess with everything.
“Octodad: Dadliest Catch”
“Octodad,” a fusion of the above two methods of interactive slapstick, is a heartwarming game by Young Horse Inc. about a suburban father trying to be the best dad and best husband that he can possibly be while keeping his dark secret safe from the world, and even from his family; his secret being that he is, in fact, an octopus.
The player must guide the titular cephalopod through simple activities, like making breakfast, while controlling each of his super-elastic limbs individually.
But you also have a secret to keep, so you must fight against your rubbery appendages and try to accomplish these mundane tasks as mundanely as possible.
You’ll be doing well, walking around the kitchen, making small talk with your family, and then one false move later you’ve thrown the milk across the kitchen, and then as you go to retrieve it you knock over some chairs, and that sends your leg flying into the air and you flip into the wall, and after much hilarious flailing, you finally deliver a bowl of cereal to your daughter, who thanks you wholeheartedly. And all is right.
