Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun!

[DisturbedSwan]

Started this earlier, wasn't quite sure what to expect as its been quite some time since I've played a peripheral based rhythm action game but everything I saw from this gave me Donky Konga GCN vibes rather than Guitar Hero/Rock Band vibes so I decided it was different enough and been enough time since my foray into those band-based titles that I'd give this a shot.

 

At £90 it isn't cheap for the drum & game bundle, and then there's lots of DLC to buy on the eShop if you so choose. For your money you get 74 songs which are a mix of Anime soundtracks, storied Bandi-Namco franchises like Ridge Racer, Pac-Man etc. and then there's a few Anime theme tracks along with some K-Pop, some classical music and some Nintendo medleys (my personal favourite being Jump Up Super Star which is just a delight every single time), there's even the theme from Moana on there too - but sung in Japanese. 

 

There's two main modes in the game - Taiko Mode and Party mode. Taiko mode just has you playing through the songs on offer in the soundtrack with up to 4 players, you can choose 4 different difficulties in Easy, Normal, Hard and Master and play through the song using the Drum controller. The two main notes are 'Don' and 'Ka' the former uses the face of the drum whereas the latter uses the edge, sometimes you're required to hit both sticks onto the drum at the same time in these big notes (can't remember the name of them now) and when a mallet icon, balloon icon or long yellow bar appears on screen you drum roll as hard as you can for the number of beats required or as long as the yellow bar lasts.

 

Party mode is much stranger. It features a variety of party games like Fireworks, Baseball, Tower Climb, Jump Rope etc. That all have you and 3 others (CPU controlled if you don't have many real life friends interested in playing something like this like myself) competing and racking up some kind of score. I have been pleasantly surprised by how zany some of the mini-games are already but a little disappointed at the same time that you can basically game the system by just drumming repeatedly and pretty much get through most mini-games with a decent score. Still quite a bit of fun and a good workout at times though and it'll be an absolute blast after a few drinks with a bunch of mates I'm sure.

 

The Drum itself is very good quality wise. It's made by HORI and although it's all plastic it feels well put together, my only real complaint with it is that despite the rubber feet it does tend to slip around a bit when you're deep in the middle of a song - the instruction booklet recommends you remedy this with two small water bottles placed in a convenient holder underneath, I've also had a few hits not register early on but that doesn't seem to be so much of an issue now I've broke it in so to speak. The drumsticks as well are made from plastic but have a nice weighty feel and heft to them that makes them feel like they're sturdy and not going to snap or break on you when you're drumming away hard.

 

As this only has a local multiplayer mode and no online this may put some folks off (I believe the PS4 version has an online Ghost Mode) but with all the various difficulty modes in Taiko mode to experiment with, an extensive track list and some bonkers - albeit flawed - minigames to have fun with its a decent package overall.

 

If you're into rhythm games (particularly peripheral based ones) and are looking for one with a lot of charm and depth to its play then I can definitely recommend this wholeheartedly, I do think the drum is essential though as the motion controls are less than ideal from what I've heard.

 

 

Spoiler

 

[spatular]

this has just come out on xbox and it's on gamepass so i gave it a go. i think all 3 versions (switch/ps4/xbox) are a bit different/have different songs. the xbox one has the katamari theme, which is cool. i've got it on switch too with the drum controller, and while it is better with the drum controller, i think its still a pretty fun rhythm game using the pad. and the drum controller makes a lot of noise. the problem i have with taiko is the note chart, it could be a lot easier to read imo, like the drum charts from rock band show you a lot more info and are much easier to read for me. you can unlock more songs with in-game money, these take ages to unlock.