Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! is the first game in the series available for PC and Xbox, and it is exclusive on those two platforms. It plays exactly the same as others in the series, just with a different song list. The thing that is always impressive with the Taiko no Tatsujin games are their song lists, and this game is no exception. The base game has 75 songs spanning a wide variety of genres from anime, games, vocaloid, classical and pop.
Despite the wide variety of songs though, it still tends to heavily favor anime, games and vocaloid (i.e. very Japanese centric). Understandably, a lot of the music from the games are from Bandai Namco’s own games. However, there are still plenty of surprises that you wouldn’t expect to have made the cut. There’s Castle in the Sky, Re;Zero and Puella Magi Madoka Magica from the anime side. There’s music from Tales of Arise, Street Fighter V and even Undertale of all things from the gaming side. And Last Christmas and Natsumatsuri on the pop side.
The song list can be overwhelming at first but the gameplay isn’t. This is a rhythm game, and it’s so basic as you only need two main buttons. You can use a controller or a keyboard but since the gameplay was originally (and continually) intended to be best played using the physical taiko drum accessory, it’s a bit off. When playing a song, there is a row where the button prompts will come. There are two colors, red and blue, each corresponding to a different button. Then there’s the usual gimmicky prompts like pressing both buttons together, or mashing the buttons.
Each song has at least four difficulties, Easy, Normal, Hard and Extreme. Easy and Normal and both really easy, but it steps up quite a lot in difficulty when you move to Hard and Extreme. These two difficulties are where it is most apparent that it’ll be easier and more fun to use the taiko drum accessory. It’s still doable, but you need to practice a bit to get a feel for the prompts and the best way to tackle them. Who knew that with only two button prompts and having them alternate quickly can actually be so tricky?
Depending on your timing, each prompt will given you a “Good”, “OK” or “Bad” rating and these affect the high score you get at the end of the song. Keep missing prompts and you will fail the song. During the gameplay, there are visual effects to add that extra flair. Completing the song will earn you coins that you can spend in the in-game shop, which can be new songs, new costumes or new themes. These items rotate every so often after a certain number of real-time hours. Of course, there are also DLC packs offering new content that you cannot buy with in-game currency.
Unfortunately, gaining coins can be a big grind. This is because the number of coins you earn from completing is quite low, even if you have a perfect result. You get bonus coins for the first time you play and get a certain result but after that, it can be painful given that there are so many items in the shop. Even if you just want to buy only the songs and a few costumes, expect to play through all the songs at least three times to get enough coins.
The licensed songs are the short versions, so they can feel too short at times. That being said, the non-licensed songs are longer, and they can feel too long, so something in the middle ground would be nice. As with all rhythm games, there will be tracks that you like and tracks that you don’t. The button prompts follow the instrumental parts of the songs most of the time, rather than the lyrics. With over 70 songs available in the base game though, there’s still a lot of content and you’re bound to find a couple of songs that you’ll like.
What can slowly get to you is how missing one button prompt in a good run always hurts, and you have to weigh up between finishing it to get the paltry amount of points or instantly restart to aim for the better score. In the faster songs, missing even one prompt and trying to get back into the rhythm is difficult. However, you will find yourself improving, and going back to the songs and replaying, easily getting a higher score, is satisfying.
Overall, Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! is a good rhythm game. If you like Japanese music, then the game has a good variety, as well as a good amount of content. It’s focused on the rhythm gameplay though, so don’t expect to find much more other than different costumes and effects. It’s a shame given that it can get repetitive and boring once you’ve played through most of the songs and realise there’s no other hook to keep you in apart from getting higher scores.
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