What The Dub?! Review (PS4) – Getting A Dub
A party game about dubbing your wittiest lines over movie footage, What The Dub?! is a laugh a minute. The Finger Guns Review.
Some games don’t need innovation or revolutionary mechanics to be fun. They take a simple concept and deliver it without frills or complexity. What The Dub?! is one such title. If you’ve ever sat watching crap TV because you can’t find the remote control and have instead created your own dialogue for said terrible TV show, you’ll be a natural at this game. That’s exactly what this game is.
What The Dub?! is a casual party game for 3 to 12 players. Using a device (phone, tablet or computer), each player links to the game by vising the playwtd.com site. Enter the room code presented on the game screen then give yourself a name and you’re ready to play. It’s an easy to use system that all of my family were able to use, from those still in school to those with a cardigan sleeve full of tissues.
Each game of What The Dub?! is made up of 5 rounds. In each round, a film clip is played with a section of audio missing. It’s the players’ job to come up with the funniest, wittiest, most humorous lines they can think of to replace the absent audio. These have to be typed into a text box on the players device and submitted within 35 seconds. The game then uses a text-to-audio system to play the clip back including the submissions for each active player but does so anonymously.
In order to help with the delivery of the rib tickling dialogue, What The Dub?! includes the option to add sound effects. From a menu, it’s possible to add all manner of effects from boings, burps and beeps to Wilhelm screams, farts and crashes. These can either be added alongside dialogue or simply added alone. My kids got a big kick out of simply making a character burp or fart in tense situations. I’m not ashamed to say that I giggled a few times too.
Once every player’s clip has been shown, each player then gets to vote on their favourite dub (no, you can’t vote for your own). Each vote for a dub grants the originating player points and the player with the most points after 5 rounds is the winner. The votes count for more points in each subsequent round which means even if you’re in last place coming into the 5th round, you still have a chance to win the whole thing.
Each round of What The Dub?! is the same. There’s no tricky rounds, creative uses of the format or changes to the concept. A video clip is shown. Each player attempts to make everyone else laugh. The funniest gets a laugh and the votes. While it might have been nice to see this concept pushed a little further, the concept as it is has a lot of legs. Our first session with What The Dub?! lasted 2 hours and the only reason we stopped was because we were getting hungry. We laughed a lot. So much so that my wife got chest pain and my eldest child got stitch.
The moreish play of What The Dub?! is created by the careful choice of clips which inspire the hilarity. There’s more than 300 clips in this game taken from tacky B-movies, cheesy PSA’s, odd educational films and industrial tapes, all of which are now in public access. You can tell the developers had fun picking the audio to dub out for the player to fill. “Dead or Paralysed – which would you prefer?”, “Why didn’t Mary invite me to the party?” and “Hmm. That looks pretty. What is it?” are all set up lines for the player to follow.
The text-to-voice system in What The Dub?! is great too. There’s various different voice types which have been used to match the character that the dub will be replacing. The pronunciations of words are spot on too. It really lends to the humour of it all.
I need to nit-pick though. The pace of What The Dub?! can be too quick for its own good. Some of the clips are short and they are only ever played once. It can a little frustrating when you’re still laughing your ass off from the last round and the next clip you’re supposed to be dubbing has already finished. The game could have done with a count down to each round or an option to replay a scene. Instead you get a very quick title screen and the clip begins straight away.
If I’m honest, the lack of variety in What The Dub?! will certainly limit its longevity too. This would be a perfect game as part of a collection with other games to play. On its own, it certainly will fill an evening or two and it’s pretty great value for the price, but it’s unlikely to become a go-to party classic.
What The Dub?! gives back as much as is put into it but it also provides a few laughs all of its own. The game is narrated by a wise cracking host that brutal with his commentary. If a dub gets no votes, the host can rip into them and calls them names. If you manage to play a whole 5 round game without earning a single point, the insults are hilariously curt.
What The Dub?! takes a simple and enjoyable concept and builds a whole party game from it. There’s no deviation from the premise, for better and and for worse, and the game doesn’t leave a lot of breathing room between rounds. With a few creative jokers to play with though, this game gives you all the tools to have a very fun night in.
What The Dub is launching on PS4 (review platform), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC via Switch on April 8th, 2021.
Developer: Wide Right Games
Publisher: Wide Right Games
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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