Riffmaster Hands-On Preview: The Rock Resumes

It's hard to overstate how big the plastic instrument craze got in the mid-2000s. While games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band didn't start the trend, the Harmonix-developed games turned it into a worldwide phenomenon. Nearly two decades after the first Guitar Hero's release, the fad is mostly dead, though it's been somewhat kept alive by streamers still competing for records. However, the rhythm genre has gotten its best shot at a second chance thanks to Fortnite Festival, a new game developed by Harmonix. So far, it's missing the plastic instrument peripherals, but PDP's Riffmaster controller is set to change that. 

The Riffmaster isn't going to release until sometime in April, but PDP provided ComicBook.com a chance to check out the peripheral ahead of time to see how it stacks up with previous instrument releases. 

Out of the Box

Opening up the Riffmaster, users will find that putting it together is incredibly easy. Unlike some early guitar controllers, the Riffmaster has a design that allows it to be folded in half, and that's the way it comes inside the box. One thing I really appreciated about the controller's design is that it's a very intuitive to set up. Despite having a lot of familiarity with the Guitar Hero games on Wii, I had never used a guitar controller with an Xbox console. The Riffmaster came with digital instructions, but I tossed them aside, had the guitar snapped together in seconds, and was ready to rock. 

One of my biggest concerns about the Riffmaster prior to having it in hand was how it would actually feel; a lot of plastic items have seen a drop-off in quality over the last 5-10 years, and I was worried the Riffmaster would follow that trend. Fortunately, those fears have been assuaged. Out of all the PDP items I've used in the past, the Riffmaster feels like one of the most high-quality. The guitar has a nice heft to it, and I never once found that it felt cheap; if anything, it actually has a nicer feel and a sleeker design than guitar controllers I've used previously. Some Guitar Hero fans will be disappointed to hear that the strum bar does not click, but that's not something I've ever personally cared about. 

If there's one gripe I do have about the controller, though, it's the fact that its glossy finish smudges very easily. Seconds after set up, I found my fingerprints all over the controller, which really didn't happen with the ones I used with Guitar Hero. Almost any color other than black would have made it less noticeable, but it's definitely not a dealbreaker. 

@comicbookgaming

PDP’s new #Riffmaster guitar is nearly here and we’ve got an early look at what it features. #rockband #rockband4 #fortnite #fortnitefestival #gaming #gamingontiktok #epicgames #epic #rb4 #pdp

♬ original sound – ComicBook Gaming

How Does it Play?

The quality of the plastic and the heft of the guitar wouldn't matter at all if the Riffmaster didn't work well. Unfortunately, guitar support has not been added to Fortnite Festival as of this writing, so it could not be tested with Harmonix's current game. We know for a fact that it's in the works for Fortnite Festival, and that's the reason this controller exists in the first place. Luckily, the Riffmaster is also compatible with Rock Band 4, and it works about as well as you'd want it to. The guitar's button layout and design are directly inspired by the official releases from Harmonix, and a casual user probably wouldn't even know the difference. 

Most importantly, the Riffmaster is fun to use. I was a big fan of Guitar Hero back in the franchise's heyday, but I've largely been out of the scene for the last 15 years or so. Playing Rock Band 4 with the Riffmaster really brought the memories flooding back, and made me nostalgic for that era. I certainly can't promise that the Riffmaster will similarly make others fall back in love with plastic peripherals and rhythm games, but I quickly fell down a rabbit hole of buying songs and competing with my loved ones. Before I knew it, I'd dropped about $25 on music, just like old times. 

The Riffmaster's Lingering Questions

After spending some time with the Riffmaster, I can confidently say that this is one of the nicest items I've ever seen from PDP. At launch, it will be priced at $129.99, and it feels like buyers are going to get their money's worth. That said, I didn't get to try it with Fortnite Festival, and we don't even know if guitar compatibility will be ready in the game when the Riffmaster launches next month. If the controller works as well with Fortnite Festival as it does Rock Band 4, the Riffmaster will be a very easy recommendation from me. 

The Riffmaster Guitar is set to release for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. It was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this preview, and it was tested on an Xbox Series X.