I frequently went from loving this game to hating it. The thing is, A Hat in Time is a fantastic 3D platformer… when it’s actually trying to be a 3D platformer. But more often than not, you get caught up in the game trying to be different and zany. And so we end up with really frustrating boss battles, annoying stealth missions, and one-off scenarios that attempt “cleverness” by putting you in a murder mystery or parade. These genre departures simply don’t work, though, and those were the moments where I was really not enjoying myself.
On the other hand, there are plenty of other sections where A Hat in Time is pure platforming gold that sees you scaling beautiful cliffs, effortlessly swinging across lava pits, and using newfound hat skills to discover rewarding secrets. World 4 in particular was a delight, because it was very open-ended and took place in a gorgeous setting reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda. Had the game been more of that instead of, say, World 2 (where you alternate between movie sets), this would have ranked as one of my all-time favorite platformers.
I get why the developers pushed so many new ideas into their project, though. Had they not, they would have risked A Hat in Time being labeled as yet another generic Mario or Banjo-Kazooie clone. It’s not like classic 3D platformers are a rarity anymore, with solid games like Poi and Yooka-Laylee already out in the wild. I’d rank A Hat in Time just below those two, but if you’re a long-time platformer fan, you’re still gonna find a lot to like about this one. Unfortunately, you’re also gonna find a lot to hat. I mean hate…
Reviewer
- I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.
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