Taiko Drum Master for the PS2 lets you revisit those childhood memories. It is a rhythm game that comes with a special drum controller. You beat the drum as directed on the screen. Dots flow from right to left and when they enter the dot at the side of the screen, you have to hit the drum at the right time to score points. This is very typical for rhythm games like this.

There are two types of drum strikes: in the middle and on the rim. Red dots require a middle strike, and blue dots require a rim strike. Big dots mean you have to hit both the left and the right side at the same time. Your goal is to play along with the indicated pattern in time to the music.

Gameplay is simple, but not very easy overall. On easy difficulty, the songs weren't too bad, but as you get to the higher difficulties you start having to strike more and more notes. Some songs have higher tempo, meaning you'll have to strike the drum very fast -- even on easy difficulty. Songs are rated on a scale of one to ten stars to show the relative difficulty. So an easy song with two stars is easier to play than an easy song with five stars.

There is a good variety of songs to play. You can play songs such as "ABC" or "Walking on Sunshine" or even the constant "Tubthumping" that seems to be in many rhythm games, to the more recent "Toxic" or classical selections like "Hungarian Dances No. 5". However, the number of songs seemed limited even with 31 songs (after unlocking all the bonuses). You played the same song over and over again on different difficulties, making the game seem repetitive. It would have been nice to have a wider selection of songs to play with. You can unlock some songs as you clear stages, but that doesn't add much variety to the game, unfortunately.

There are also some video game songs you can play along with. However, someone needs to tell the game developers that video game songs don't work with rhythm games. The drumming patterns on the screen didn't really seem to mesh well with the songs themselves. It got confusing when you had to drum out a pattern you just didn't recognize in the video game song. The exception is the music from Katamari Damacy, which has cool music that was part of a cool game.

Multiplayer is a blast. A second player can play along with you using the game controller or you can buy a second Taiko drum controller. I played with my fiancй and had a lot of fun. Each player has a different drum pattern to play, so the two players were able to really make great songs together.

There are also some minigames you can play using the Taiko drum. These games were interesting, but they got boring quickly. The songs were a lot more fun to play so we ignored the minigames quickly.

Overall, I like the game and wish it had a bit more gameplay and song selection. Multiplayer was a really fun part of the game.

Graphics: Good. Graphics really didn't matter in this game except to see when you should hit the drum. The graphics were clean and easy to see. The strange Japanese feeling of the graphics were nice. The animations in the second area when playing with just one player were cute and not too distracting.

Music: Good sound, but with a limited selection. The music was not bad, and there was a good variety of music, but it still seemed limited. Many of the songs were top 40 tunes, meaning this game will seem dated in the near future. Finally, video game music just doesn't work in a Rhythm game.

Control: Fun to play with! The drum controller was neat to play with. It reminded me of banging on pots as a kid! It worked well with the game, although sometimes the drum wasn't as responsive as I would have liked. You often had to really strike the drum hard to make it count sometimes. I hope the controllers are sturdy so that the can take the abuse over the long term. Pounding on the drum also sometimes drowned out the music, which wasn't much fun. Using a game controller instead of the drum controller was more precise and quieter, but much less fun.

Multiplayer: This was fun! It was a lot of fun to play with other people. Both players didn't do the same beats, so it was nice to hear both people playing different parts at the same time. It's nice to have someone that enjoys the game play along with you!

Overall: A good rhythm game that tends on the simple side. This doesn't mean the game is easy, though! The drum controller is fun to bang on, making the game fun for your inner child. It would have been nice to have something more in the game, like specific challenges to test your skills. If you play it, get a second drum controller and play with a friend! See my separate review for the RedOctane Taiko drum controller.