Rhythm games are a really big deal in virtual reality. After Beat Saber hit it big time and showed just what was possible within the medium, the genre just completely took off. The virtual environment negates the need for any bulky plastic peripherals, and surprisingly it’s actually a hell of a lot easier to gauge when you need to hit the notes when immersed inside the world.

Whilst drumming games themselves aren’t particularly new to the world of VR, we haven’t yet seen one that makes use of the Taiko drum – and considering the popularity of the Taiko no Tatsujin, I find that to be quite a surprise.

Thankfully we have Taiko Frenzy to help fill in that gap!

Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

JUST BEAT IT
With just a single Taiko drum to play, you’d be fooled into thinking that Taiko Frenzy would be a relatively straightforward rhythm game. However, there’s actually quite a surprising level of depth to the gameplay. There are standard notes, that are played by hitting the appropriate side of the drum, but there are also special notes that require you to either tap the side of the drum, bash with force, or do an extended drumroll. The difficulty lies in there being only two lines of notes coming down towards you, so you’ll need to look out for and quickly interpret how you need to hit it. It can be pretty overwhelming at first, but once you get to grips with things it ends up being quite satisfying- especially the notes that you have to which with tremendous force!

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Of course, the real deciding factor with any rhythm game is the soundtrack, and this is where I think Taiko Frenzy has an advantage over its competition. Unlike the excellent Smash Drums, which also has you beating to the… well… beat, it instead focuses on more traditional Japanese music. Sure, there are certainly tracks that have a bit more of a contemporary twist, but I can guarantee that you won’t recognise any of them. And for me, that’s a big plus. Sure, a licensed soundtrack is fantastic when playing along to one of your favourite tracks, but I also find that the game can feel like a real chore when playing a song that you don’t particularly care for. Here, there’s just a range of twenty solid songs for you to bash along to, and every single one is enjoyable. Some of them may be better than others, but I honestly didn’t dislike playing a single one. There’s even support for custom tracks too, although unfortunately I wasn’t able to try any out during my time with the game.

Whilst the number of tracks is a lot lower than you may have hoped for, each song has four different difficulty levels, each with their own note patterns. Doing well will unlock medals and provide experience points, the latter of which will earn you in-game skins for your sticks and drum. It’s a nice touch, and the game’s difficulty means that you probably will find it hard to unlock the best medal even on the easiest difficulty. Not only do you need to play well, but you also need to ensure that you take full advantage of the special meter that boosts your multiplier temporarily.

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Overall though, despite the low number of tracks, the game is really well put together and features some pleasing cartoon visuals. Some may find it disappointing that the environment doesn’t change at all, but that’s something that can be easily overlooked due to the implementation of mixed reality. Want a different surrounding? Just move to a different room!

I’m also pleased to say that I didn’t encounter any bugs or hit detection issues during my playthrough, which is a pretty big deal for a rhythm game. There were some issues initially due to me manually setting my drum too high, meaning that that the sticks clipped through, but after I lowered it to a more sensible position I ceased to have any problems.

VERDICT
Anyone looking for some Taiko rhythm action can’t go far wrong with Taiko Frenzy. The tracklist may be on the short side, but hopefully this will be bulked up a little bit either by future content updates or through the game’s custom song functionality. Being one of the cheaper rhythm games on the platform also makes this game a bit of a no brainer for anyone looking for a great affordable title to add to their musical VR game collection!