The best part of the Game: Super Bowl Ads 2008 Video Clips

We laughed. We smiled. We grinned. We even enjoyed that Will Ferrell commercial. And, we bathed in the beauty of Coke's beautiful balloon ballet. In the heat of the battle, people can be harsh and in some cases, we were. But from the perspective of the average viewer not hunched over a computer or in front of a conference room screen, most of the ads weren't so bad.

Closely watched advertising polls showed on Monday that U.S. audiences went for humor above all else, with four of the top five spots in USA Today's Ad Meter taken by commercials aiming for laughs.

Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc's Budweiser spot showing a Dalmatian training an underdog Clydesdale horse -- the beer's mascot -- scored the highest marks on the Ad Meter, which tracks the second-by-second response to commercials from a viewer panel.

Second through fifth places went to advertisements from Fedex, Bridgestone, Doritos, and Bud Light.

Another review, from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, rated commercials from Tide, which featured a talking stain, and E-trade, which starred a day-trading toddler with an attitude, among the top spots for the year.

"Overall it was a great year for Super Bowl advertising," said professor Tim Calkins, who leads the Kellogg review.

Broadcast by Fox, the Super Bowl came down to the final seconds, with the New York Giants pulling off an upset of the New England Patriots in what will probably be the year's most-watched TV event in the United States.

At an average price of $2.7 million for 30-second spot, the advertisers and the agencies that created the spots were anxious to make a lasting impression with audiences and win honors in poll ratings.