What The Dub?! Review – A Classic Party Game

You’ve probably played or at least heard about the series of games called Jackbox Party Pack at some point in the last 7 or 8 years. They are fantastic for being the perfect kind of game to put on the TV at a party and to allow you to enjoy jokes with old friends or to create new ones with people you’ve just met. 

Over the years since the Jackbox series skyrocketed in popularity, there have been a few attempts at creating similar games, usually to varied results. Some are good, and some are not so great. So when I got a copy of What the Dub?!, I was unsure what to expect. But as a connoisseur of b-movies and obscure content, I figured this one would be a great game to play with my buddies. 

To set up the game, each player either needs a computer, phone, or tablet with an internet connection. Once you start the game on the console, you are given the URL and the 4-digit code that you need to type in to join. Only the console needs to have the game installed, so nobody has to buy in once the game has started!

What the Dub?! is an incredibly simple game. With up to 6 players (with room for another 6 players who can vote on their favourite answers to help determine the overall winner), the game shows you a short clip from a random old movie or PSA but cuts out some of the dialogue. Each player then has a time limit to come up with a line of dialogue to fill in the blank space, after which the scene is replayed with a text to speech voice reading out the lines submitted by the players. All players and the audience then vote on their favourites which awards the players points for having more popular lines.

Each game can go between 3 to 10 rounds, and how long each round goes for does tend to vary based on the random clips selected and how many players there are. You can choose to extend the timers, add bad word filters, and change the various volumes within the game options menu. It’s all very simple stuff, but you don’t really need anything else given the nature of the game itself.

I saw clips from such classics as Night of the Living Dead, Teenagers From Outer Space, and what I believe was War of the Robots among the multiple clips I saw among the numerous games I played. Every one of those games were the full 10 rounds long, so I dubbed either 90 or 100 clips and never saw the same one twice. The developers have stated that there are over 300 clips in the game, so it’s nice to know that you can go that far into it without seeing the same clip over and over again.

The reality of this kind of game is you are only limited by your imagination. It also becomes obvious very quickly who the more immature members of your group are. But one thing I did notice as the game went on longer and longer was that people almost universally got sick of offensive or sexual answers and eventually tried to be more witty or lean more into popular culture. I can’t say I’ve seen anything like that before, especially given how childish my friends and I are. 

One of the very few negatives I will say about the game is that the music is incredibly repetitive. I played with two separate groups of people, and every single person at separate points noted that they were starting to get a little sick of the music that was constantly playing. It’s not a big gripe, since for the most part you can stomach it for the minute or so while you type in your answers or sit at menus.

The game runs smoothly on the Nintendo Switch, which is always nice. Too often games have frame rate drops or some other kind of glaring issue, but What the Dub?! had no issues that I would consider overly annoying or frustrating. We did, however, experience three separate crashes, but it was always between games when trying to start a new one and always after sitting on the menu asking if you want to play again or not for quite a while. Given how quickly you can get from the Nintendo Switch menu to having a game setup, though, it really was no more than a minor setback. 

Overall, I’d say that What the Dub?! is an absolutely brilliant party game that you can get a lot of mileage out of. It could be turned into a drinking game easily, it could be a great way to bond with someone you barely know, and since it’s on the Switch, you could even play it on long train rides! There’s no real major downside to this game.

Whether you want to liven up the party with a game that everyone can play or if you are a fan of b-movies who’s looking for a fun time, I’d recommend this game for you and your friends. Especially when it costs less than $10!

What the Dub?! review provided by Nintendo Link
Developer: Wide Right Interactive
Release Date: April 8, 2021
Price: $7.99, £5.99, 6,99€
Game Size: 1.2GB