Platforms: Xbox One (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, Microsoft Windows
Rhythm games have always been a genre of games that I’ve enjoyed when I’ve had the chance to play them. Unfortunately, outside of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, my knowledge is rather limited. So, a series like Taiko no Tatsujin has gone largely under my radar, even though it’s been around for more than 20 years at this point. I’ve been aware of the series for a while, but never expected it to be something for me. With Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! recently coming to Xbox’s Game Pass, I decided it was time to jump in and see what this beloved franchise was all about. Boy, am I glad I did, because I’ve been pleasantly surprised with my time with it.
This is where I’d normally discuss the story of a game, but The Drum Master! doesn’t have anything even slightly resembling a story or even a mode that offers any kind of progression. This game is all about the gameplay and the music. You’ll be thrown right into a menu with a little over 50 songs and be able to tackle each song in what’s known as Taiko Mode. In Taiko Mode, you’ll have a track of notes that you have to hit in rhythm to the music. There are two ways to do this: either with a Taiko drum controller or a traditional controller. As I didn’t have access to a Taiko drum, this review will cover how my experience went solely with an Xbox One controller.
There are two types of notes in the Taiko series: red notes known as Don and blue notes called Ka. With the Taiko drum, you’ll need to hit the center of the drum for red notes and the edge of the drum for blue notes. If you’re using a controller you have to hit specific buttons depending on your preferred control scheme. I found that I preferred using the A button for red notes and the left trigger for blue notes, but there are a variety of options.
As each note passes, you’ll have to hit them in time with the music, and you’ll be graded based on how well you do. Hitting a note on beat will award you with “Good,” if you’re a little late or a little early, you get “OK”, and if you miss completely, you’ll receive “Bad.” The more “Good” notes you hit, the higher your score will be. There are also sections that allow you to perform a drumroll where you can freely hit the drum, and the more hits you accomplish the more points you earn.
As you hit notes, you’ll fill up what’s called the “Soul Gauge.” While you’ll never outright be kicked out of a song for playing bad, if you don’t get the Soul Gauge to a specific percentage, you won’t pass the song. Passing a song will then award you with one of three types of crowns. Just getting a passing rating will net you a silver crown, hitting every note for a “Full Combo” will reward you with a gold crown, and if you manage to hit every note with a “Good” rating, you’ll get the rainbow crown.
This probably comes off as a bit complicated, but The Drum Master! is really easy to pick up and play. Where the challenge will come in is with the four different difficulty settings. You can choose from Easy, Normal, Hard, and Extreme. I found the differences between difficulties to be executed well as each step up felt significant.
Unfortunately, I found playing harder difficulties with the Xbox controller to be rather difficult. Of course, this could be a case of me just not being good, but it felt like I couldn’t get the precision I needed for tougher sections. I’d imagine using the Taiko drum would make things a little more manageable once you become familiar with using it.
As I mentioned earlier, The Drum Master! doesn’t have a story mode or the like, but that’s not to say there isn’t plenty to work towards. After you complete each song, you’ll be awarded with a number of coins based on your chosen difficulty and how well you performed. These coins can be spent in the shop to unlock a variety of cosmetic items including instrument sounds, outfits for your character to wear, titles, nameplates, and greetings. There are even 20 bonus songs you can unlock.
This is a nice way to keep you playing, but my biggest gripe is how stingy the game is with doling out coins. After the initial wave of coins you get for completing each song for the first time on each difficulty, the number of coins you get for replaying songs slows to a trickle. With the hundreds of cosmetics costing anywhere from 300 to 1000 coins each and songs being a whopping 3000 coins a pop, we’re talking dozens, if not hundreds of hours, of grinding to unlock everything.
If you think you’re up for the challenge, your best bet for getting coins is probably in the ranked multiplayer. Here, you’ll be matched up with another player and battle it out to see who can score the most points on a random song. You can pick your starting rank (A, B, or C) to determine what difficulty you’ll play during battles. As you win, you’ll increase your rank, all the way up to S++, so you can’t just sit back and win on easy difficulty. It’s a fun mode if you’re into being competitive and adds a little more variety. There’s even an option to invite a friend and practice songs together in this mode.
While gameplay is certainly important, the music is arguably the most important part of any rhythm game. Right out of the gate, The Drum Master! offers up 55 songs for you to play through (with another 20 available to unlock with in-game currency in the store). The song selection is broken down into seven different categories: Anime, VOCALOID Music, Variety, Classical, Game Music, NAMCO Original, and Pop. These songs are from popular franchises that range from things like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z to Undertale and Street Fighter.
I’d say the selection is aimed at a very specific audience, but I wouldn’t let that deter you too much from trying the game out. I’m personally not normally a fan of most of these types of music (at least I didn’t think so), but I found more than a few new songs that are now favorites of mine. It’s all personal preference though, so a glance at the track list before you jump in would certainly be recommended.
After spending the last few weeks playing Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! every night, I’m a little bummed that I slept on this series for so long. I’m just glad I finally decided to give it a try, because it really is a ton of fun. Its tracks won’t be for everyone, but if you’re looking for a solid rhythm game with a nice difficulty curve, I’d highly recommend checking The Drum Master! out. I’d especially recommend giving it a try if you have Game Pass.
