Following Trombone Champ’s viral success on flat screens last year, it’s now come for the virtual reality crown too, and if anything, the format elevates the silliness even more. Trombone Champ: Unflattened successfully brings this ludicrous rhythm game to PSVR2, building on the unwieldy hilarity already present by having you mime the instrument with the Sense controllers.
You hold the trombone with one hand, physically move the slide in and out to adjust the pitch, and push a face button to toot. Once you get to grips with it, this motion control method is very intuitive. All you need to do then is match the slide’s position against the encroaching notes heading towards you on a pair of vertical planes. As you can imagine, this is easier said than done.
The genius of Trombone Champ is that it’s highly entertaining no matter how you perform. It’s satisfying to get a song (approximately) right — hitting notes, building your multiplier, and hearing the crowd cheer — but more often than not you’ll be missing the mark. While you won’t get a high score for playing badly, it does sound hilarious to hear tunes absolutely butchered by your own hand.
Speaking of which, the songs are mainly public domain ditties; well-known classical music, folk songs, national anthems, with a few original tracks thrown in for good measure. It’s smart to lean on familiar tracks, as you know what they should sound like, and so it’s even funnier when they don’t.
There’s a vague campaign to blast through, with the wildly bonkers story interjecting every once in a while, and a free play mode if you just want to play your favourite songs. An improv mode strips everything away and allows you to play whatever you like, which is fine for getting in some practice but not much else.
As you play you’ll earn Toots, a currency you can use to purchase cards featuring famous musicians, composers, and related factoids. These can then be traded in for numerous different trombones — fun new instruments to torture, some with custom sounds replacing the usual parp.
It’s all presented neatly with clean menus and UI and a colourful, cartoonish art style that fits the tone perfectly. The game can also be played perfectly fine either sitting or standing — always appreciated.
While many of the songs are great to toot along to, some of them do feel much too complex. We suppose the tougher tracks are difficult in order to generate yet more laughs, but some feel nigh impossible to keep up with.
Even so, Trombone Champ: Unflattened is a great conversion to VR, and a natural fit for the tech, adding yet another strong rhythm game in PSVR2’s collection.