Game Cover

I'm a Drum!

Platform played on: Xbox Series X, PC

# Review

Taiko no Tatsujin is a Japanese rhythm game franchise where the player plays a taiko drum in time with music. The core gameplay is very simple and it involves hitting two types of notes (Ka and Don) on time with the beat of the music; there are some variations such as drumrolls where you have to spam as many notes as you can during a long note.

Simple Gameplay

The latest installment of the game is exclusive for Xbox and Windows; it features 75 songs ranging in genres from anime to classical music. The game is extremely easy to pick up due to its simplicity and is designed for multiplayer where two players play against each other, either locally or online. I had a great time playing with my girlfriend, as well as with my friends when they came over. Multiplayer is limited to 2 players, though. The song selection is very broad and while the vast majority of it is Japanese, there is something for everyone. The songs are also condensed versions, so a match is quick to finish.

The game has a very colourful artstyle and features many cheerful animations. There are also many customization options for the game’s mascot: the cute DON-chan. It does suck that there is no peripheral for this release of the game, so players have to either use a controller or a keyboard instead of the drum accessory that came with some of the other releases. Navigation with a mouse and keyboard can also be clunky due to the UI; for instance to navigate on the menu with the mouse, you’ll have to click once to highlight a menu item, then click again to select it. There were also some latency issues with playing on my Xbox, although there is a fairly good calibration menu to account for that.

This game is easy to pick up but difficult to master; if Namco put more effort into the multiplayer, I can totally see this game becoming huge in esports.

# Conclusion

A polished and simple rhythm game.

# Overall rating: 8.0

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