Great game, but more fun with the gamepad than the drum.

User Rating: 8.4 | Taiko Drum Master (w/Taiko Controller) PS2
Initially I tried playing this game with the drum and found it frustrating. It overwhelms the sound of the music coming from the game. It roves around the floor while I whomp on it. The rims, which are supposed to deliver clicks sound a lot like the booming pad in the center.

Then I switched to the PS2 controller and started having fun. It makes booms and clicks emit from the game itself, scaled to the volume of the music, and the combination of sounds is very well-placed in the tracks. The music is well chosen in a lot of cases, and the variation in the style of drumming (from marches to back-beat ska rhythms to pop beats).

Oddly enough, the best music of all in the game are the five or so classical tracks. You wouldn't expect it, but it really works. You almost begin to feel like you're conducting the orchestra, not just playing some drumbeats.

The hard difficulty is kinda ridiculous though. The 5-star difficulty tracks turn out to be easy, whereas the easiest ones (like the very first song) trade booms and clicks almost randomly -- tough to keep up. But that's hard for ya.

Overall, I can't recommend this game highly enough.