Rifftrax: The Game review: Insert Riff Here

Rifftrax has adequately filled a space once occupied by Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the mission to make fun of movies and TV as we watch. It’s not easy to be funny all the time, but the Rifftrax crew and Wide Right Interactive are willing to give players and fans a chance to try. Rifftrax: The Game both tests your comedic chops and lets you choose from thousands of riffs written by the pros to match to various scenes. The jokes may not always hit the right notes, but it's still a fun way for fans and newcomers alike to play around with the Rifftrax formula.

The game includes two different ways to play, Write a Riff and Pick a Riff. The first lets you write your own riffs to different scenes, and then the text-to-voice system will turn your writing into a line for the movie. This is a fun way to flex your own comedic muscles and then have players vote on the best jokes. However, the text-to-voice system doesn’t do inflection well and the delivery can sometimes cause a joke to fall flat.

Pick a Riff plays more to letting the experts handle things. In this mode, players get to watch a scene and then choose a riff they think best fits the moment or makes it the most funny. There are around 2,000 riffs that can appear, but they don’t always fit the scene. Sometimes, the randomness involved in the supplied riffs makes it hard to do anything fun with the scene given.

Nonetheless, Rifftrax: The Game still gives players a fun way to engage with the style that the Rifftrax crew has built. It doesn’t always hit in the way it should, but there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

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This review is based on a PC digital copy supplied by the publisher. Rifftrax: The Game is available as of May 5, 2022 on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC via Steam.

Greg Burke

Head of Video

Greg is the head of Video Production for Shacknews. If you've ever enjoyed a video on Gamerhub.tv, it was most likely edited by him. Follow him on Twitter @GregBurke85.