After two years of absence, the craziest music game Taiko no Tatsujin finally returns with the release of Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival. It’s time to connect your little drum to your Nintendo Switch again!
Become the very best
When you boot up Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival for the first time and don’t have any experience with any of the previous entries, you’ll be surprised by how crazy the interface actually is. This is a Japanese game pur sang, meaning you’ll see a lot of anime characters bouncing up and down in flashy colors supported with an over-the-top soundtrack filled with high-pitched voices and crazy rhythms. Personally, I love this atmosphere, as it immediately transports you to those crazy Japanese gaming arcades. That being said, I do understand that this hyper-energy atmosphere won’t be for everyone, so if you’re looking for a relaxing music game, this isn’t it.
If you’re still reading this, that means you’re into those crazy Japanese games and want to learn more about Rhythm Festival. The game takes place in Omiko City where an important Rhythm Festival is taking place. The Festival wants to crown the best Taiko master and we hope it will be you! In the introduction of the game, you’ll be greeted by some dialogue screens explaining the story and although it’s a rather flimsy story, the developers added a lot of actual dialogue to set the scene. A bit of an overkill if you ask me but if you’re a fan of the franchise, it’s always fun to see some returning characters explaining the plot of this entry. The city also serves as your general HUB, where you’ll go to different game modes based on different locations on your map. The most popular one will probably be the Thunderclap Shrine.
Drum the night away
The game comes packed with a total of over 70 tracks with a couple of extra unlockable ones. The tracks range from unknown Japanese music to the classic Super Mario theme or crowd-pleasing He’s a Pirate. The tracks are listed and divided based on the genre so it’s really easy to navigate and find the song of your liking. Once you selected a song, you’re up for the real challenge, drumming on the beat! I played the game with the Taiko drum but you can also play it with the Joy-Con controllers of course. On the drum, you’re using the center and outer ridge to hit different types of ‘notes’. Some of those demands a single hit, while others are only correctly executed when you hit the note with both of your drumming sticks at once. It’s a throwback to the Guitar Hero era and in all honesty, since we started streaming all our games on Twitch, this music peripheral genre has been on a major decline. Having a game like Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival is great to quench that thirst for more peripheral rhythm games and when it comes to the actual mechanics, this game certainly checks a lot of boxes.
When it comes to playable songs, the game covers the basic need but more variation and more songs would have been a welcome change. Instead of offering more songs for free, the game comes with a subscription-based pass which adds over 500 extra songs to the base game. You’ll have to pay a monthly or three-months fee to activate it and in all honesty, the price of the subscription is too steep, even for the vast amount of extra songs. It’s a bit of a shame that they hide so many songs behind a paywall but even without the pass, you’re in for some fun gaming nights with the base tracklist.
Back to the basics
Unlike the previous installment, Rhythm Festival goes back to the roots of the franchise and drops all the added RPG elements. The main mode of the game is the Thunderclap Shrine but aside from that, there are a couple of other modes to mess around with. These extra modes give you a chance to play different instruments, although the gameplay never changes, or gives you a couple of missions where you need to defeat NPCs while using a couple of toys to make it harder to complete the songs. These added modes do offer the needed variation and it keeps things a bit more fresh but in the end, it’s clear that this entry really went for a more basic and thus traditional approach in the franchise. If you’re hoping for another RPG entry, you’ll be disappointed but if you’re looking for some classic rhythm gameplay, you’ll certainly have a blast playing this one. Especially when you use your Taiko drum kit.
Conclusion
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival doesn’t take any risks and stays true to the original concept which isn’t bad since it offers tons of fun. There are some downsides to it however and I’m not a fan of the monthly subscription pass but that being said, the base game offers plenty of content to keep you entertained during your gaming nights. A safe but fun entry.
