PixlBit

I've gotten in the habit of checking the new releases on Game Pass every week. When Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master (also known as Taiko Drum Master) appeared, I had to try it. 

Years ago I had the drum periferal for the PS2 but never played it. There isn't a periferal for Xbox unless you use the Xbox Adaptive Controler, which has two large drum-like pads, (something I'd love to get) so I just used the standard controller. You can use a variety of buttons, bumpers or triggers on the controller for the four drum sounds - make up your own combinations to suit yourself. 

There are something like 50 songs [wiki says 70 and more to come in DLC] in the game and another 10 or so that can be bought for coins earned by playing. You can also purchase clothing for your sentient drum, a pet, sound pallets for your drum and other cosmetics for online play. I was keen to get as many of the songs as possible but they are expensive and so I also got other stuff for fun.

Most useful were the sound pallets for your drum. I first got the cat and dog sounds just to annoy my friend while playing the game (it worked!). Then I got more serious and bought the Pac-Man sounds. 

I played every song through on Easy and cleared them. I got gold trophies on some but mostly silver. Then I went after Normal difficulty. I cleared a lot but not all. The songs range in core difficulty from 3 stars to 6. A 6-star song on Normal is no joke. It goes blazing fast making it clear that I needed to know the song's rhythm by ear and not by watching the screen because the promps go by too fast. I'm still working on the last 5 I need to clear on Normal. 

The songs come from a variety of sources: anime, Namco video games, j-pop, classical, and American R&B. They are all really appealing. 

You can play against online people too in real-time. I played a lot of rounds and couldn't get myself beyond C level because, well, people are darn good at this game. I still don't know how people rack up so many drum fills. There must be a trick to it 'cause I can mash with the best of them. 

Howlongtobeat.com claims 3 hours to "beat" the game. I have easily logged that much time and more without touching the Hard and Extreme difficulty modes. You'll want to replay these songs as they are so fun to listen to and match their rhythms.