Trombone Champ: Unflattened!

Trombone Champ took the world by storm. When I first heard about it, it was via a social media video. Someone was playing it, and they couldn't not stop laughing. See, in Trombone Champ, if you miss a note, the note still comes out, and being a Trombonist, I know exactly what those notes sound like. Fortunately, so did the game, and it takes those notes to the extreme. It is hilarious to try to get through a song. As you're playing, and losing your cool, you mess the songs up even more, leading to snorting, and a very sore stomach. Streaming this is even more fun, because then the chat is also losing it. The reaction videos to this game are hilarious. You can imagine my excitement when I heard that a VR version was being released. Trombone Champ: Unflattened is here, brought to us by Holy Wow Studios and Flat2VR Studios. But is the initial thrill of discovery (and failure) gone? 

Let's discuss the lore first and get it out the way. The story is not going to be upset if you just skip it. Really. The game just wants you to become the best Trombonist you could possibly be. You are here to do one thing, and one thing only. Play that slide trombone, unlock songs, play more, unlock trombones, play it more. There is still this weird underlying obsession with Baboons, but I'd be lying if I said I wanted to dig deeper into it. It may give the game some charm, but I just find it odd, and completely skippable. The game is charming all in itself, in that regard, and I'm a trombonist. Win-win. 

Trombone Champ: Unflattened starts you off with a few songs unlocked. It lets you get a warm up in first, and that warm up is your typical Do-Re-Mi/Scales warm up, until a beat kicks in. This is simply for you to get your bearings. You will need this, because the default controls want you to play this game like a trombonist would. Hold the instrument up to your mouth, press a button to grip it, and then push a button to blow into it. This is a little more complex than moving your mouse up and down, and clicking a key or a mouse button. Then, while doing all this, and fully concentrating on that, you have to move your hand away and toward you, like a slide trombone, to hit the notes correctly. So do the tutorial. As a many times as it takes. Then change your settings. 

The audio settings are self explanatory here. Master, backing track, trombone volume, and the airhorn volume, which blares when you're doing a great job. You can also change the volume of the audience, who cheer for you or boo you as they see fit. They will boo you. You can't avoid it. The game also lets you toggle Trombone grip, and trombone to mouth. If you're a sadistic left handed trombonist, then it lets you change that too. It also lets you toggle holding the slide.

So you would think that adjusting all of these settings might make the game easier. It does not. Which is why I'm putting this here. If you don't feel right bringing the VR trombone to your mouth, holding a button to grip your trombone, holding a button to hold the slide, and pushing another button to blow into the thing, turn all of it off.

Whew. Ok, so you're playing through, and you're getting better at the songs. You're learning that if you blow into the trombone for too long, you run out of breath and cannot hit the next note. You're learning to move the slide back and forth to move the cursor up and down, and...wait...moving the slide back and forth moves the cursor up and down? The notes come in from both sides? The crowd noise, and the conductor, and all of this is happening at once? You get through the song, and you get a grade. Then you see what challenges you have completed, and you wonder if you'll even be good. You will be. You keep going, you silly little VR trombone player with your octopus fingers.

Now you're stuck on the same songs, because you can't do well enough to unlock more songs. The game wants you to get good at tooting, so you are stuck with those songs until you do. You don't unlock more songs unless you meet some of the challenges. There are 58 songs in total. You will be stuck with the first 16 for a while. The good news is, you can change the difficulty, and whether you want the notes to come from one side, and the challenges unlock all the same. There are three levels, unflattened, original, and double. I will say that double speed makes this game the absolute most fun, but do what you like. There's a leaderboard, but I don't think you think you'll be on it. You only have 10 fingers. 

As you do progress, you do get toots, which is in-game currency that you can take to the shop, and buy card packs. These card packs contain composers, funny facts about Trombones, and even your random baboons. You can trade these in for more trombones, and some trombones come with different sound filters. This is for when you want to change it up for yourself after playing Ode to Joy for the 11th time. The game is packed with these, and there are more coming with every update. So as challenging as the game is, at least you're rewarded for your "tromboning". You can customize your own trombone too, with paint and markers. That whole suite is pretty cool. 

Since release, the game has been updated with more perks, such as uploading and making your own track, complete with tutorials, and even letting you try out any song you want in free play. Pitch assist lets you hit all the notes without penalty, but no one wants that. Bad tooting, all the time, I say! There are more trombones to unlock, and more theaters you can play in, like a New Year's themed one. You can play the game in mixed reality too. I do think it's very fun, but you are going to need some patience for that first hour or so. Once you're past that, you can toot your own horn for as long as the game is supported, which seems to be a long while from now. And no, you cannot play it with a real trombone. I tried, and I can't play AND hold the controllers. I'll find a way, I suppose. 

Honestly, that's pretty much the entire game. I found that I had trouble holding my arms to the side, and the slide mechanism takes a LOT of getting used to. The amount of content being added keeps the challenge going. But getting 72 perfects is going to take a while. This whole review is basically me telling you that if you want to master this game, you're going to need patience and practice. But if you want to watch your friends carry on like crazy people, this will not disappoint. You can't go wrong with this one.