Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival – Review

I’d like to start by saying that I’m fundamentally connected to music, it’s the backbone of my life and I wouldn’t be able to perform at my best without it, simple as that. I have to listen to it a little every day, and especially I have to play a little every day, either on one of the guitars or on the MIDI pads in Logic and just making sounds. I think this is probably the closest thing I will ever get to meditation in my life. That said, I’ve never been a fan of games that play music. This is difficult for some of me, mostly because the guitarist in me would go crazy standing there pushing buttons on a bunch of little plastic guitars. For this reason, I’ve never been a fan of Guitar Hero; put a real guitar in my lap or sit down in front of a drum kit and I realize that music is in my blood. In game form, however, I had to struggle a lot more, and it didn’t feel right somehow. But where the likes of Guitar Hero and Rock Band left off, Taiko has been playing drums for the past 20 years, which is certainly admirable, perhaps because they chose to take advantage by playing drums on traditional Japanese and Taiwanese drums, Gee. But the more I learn about taiko, the more I understand how it has continued over the years because it is so much more than just drumming.

I dropped myself into the fictional town of Okimo and was immediately welcomed into the many game modes. In Taikoland, there are three different modes to choose from, Great Drum Toy War, which is basically a duel against the computer or someone online, Run! Ninja Dojo where you have to compete with three others and finish first, crushing as many notes and tones as quickly as possible, while Don-cha Band, where you playing a song with four other players, can be done if you have a lot of friends Play with four friends, or offline with AI players. This is by far the most fun game mode and you don’t want to be the one ruining the rest of the band with your bad play, which gives it that little extra edge. In Taiko mode you play as yourself and you can choose from 76 songs in the order and difficulty level you want. Finally, there is Dondoko Town, an online mode where you can actually be with players from around the world. However, it is worth pointing out here that you can play against others in all modes, not just Dondoko Town, even though it is the most authentic online mode.

Here’s a hint:

Before each game mode you have the option to play with a regular controller or a specially designed drum controller, however, I couldn’t use the latter so it has to be a regular controller even although the feeling of playing with the second option is guaranteed. it will be better. However, it should be said that it works well with the stock controls. However, I don’t think such controls are even available on Xbox, but maybe the option will be included when the game is ported from Nintendo Switch.

At first glance this seems simple, and it really only requires the use of two buttons, as there are only two notes to play. At first, it was also very easy, and after I warmed up on the easiest difficulty level, I felt ready to ramp up a bit. Then of course it becomes more difficult immediately, there are still only two buttons to control but the speed has increased a lot and then it is a real challenge to keep up and maintain finger control and I feel I need sharper reflexes.

For starters, 76 different songs are included to play, and you can also buy the songs individually, or if you feel that’s not enough, you can also buy the Taiko Music Pass to buy, which contains more than 700 songs. Out of the 76 songs available we have some songs that are not necessarily on the top charts in the western world but from Namco sources and I guess Japanese pop or a little K-pop, yes I’m very new to that genre so don’t do it. Take my word for it. When “Bad Guy” came on, I thought I recognized a song for a second, but I quickly realized it wasn’t a Billie Eilish song. Where I recognized that the music was from the classical section, which included Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and many other classics. There is also a lot of game-related music, especially nostalgic music from the Japanese gaming world, such as the Super Mario Bros. theme. and Mega Man, which is nice, but unfortunately there are very few songs that I recognize.

Here’s a hint:

It’s definitely important in a game of this nature to have game controls that are tighter than a sumo wrestler’s bike pants, and thankfully I can only complain about my own incompetence and unresponsiveness while ‘ while I’m playing the game. When I play easy and normal, it usually goes well, but if I increase the difficulty level, as mentioned before, it becomes very difficult to hit all the notes. However, this is not unfair. However, it might be easier if there were songs that I recognized and knew, but with a little effort I think I could get a good handle on this at the the end Like many other things, a simple arrangement is easy to pick up and start playing, but difficult to master. It doesn’t need tutorials either, just learn which buttons to use and start playing.

Sure, there’s a story, but it’s definitely nothing great or deep, but it’s not what I expected either. It’s a very simple scenario, with Don-chan in the role, you travel to the fictional city of Omiko, where you simply become the best taiko master. There isn’t much more to it than that and sometimes it’s just enough to make it a bit scattered and disjointed, although there isn’t a clear story mode I feel like it would flow a bit more if you chose to go on that way. But it was so engaging and fun that it didn’t matter, it wasn’t something I particularly focused on at all.

Taiko no Tatsujin Rhythm Festival has the potential to provide you with endless hours of entertainment. Not only are there 700 songs available for purchase at your pleasure, but also because there are so many game modes to choose from, everyone can be entertained in their own way. I’m obsessed with it, it’s fun in every mode and just as much fun to play alone as it is on the couch or with friends online. I’ve never played Taiko games before, and even though the series has been around for over 20 years, it feels like this sets the bar pretty high. I was pleasantly surprised, but it’s entirely possible that fans of the series won’t have much new to learn here.