A HAT IN TIME MOVIE
A HAT IN TIME SERIES

This isnвЂ™t just because of the excitement of discovering new hats and badges, but also because the levels themselves increase in creativity, size, and rewarding challenge. Badges add to the sense of discovery, too, which grant Hat Girl perks such as automatic loot pickups or a last-second parachute that lets our hero correct herself after a bad jump.A Hat in Time, oddly, is a game that grows more enjoyable as the levels progress. By the end I had so many I could have opened a hat shop, and I liked that the associated abilities encouraged returning to previous zones so I could find extra hourglasses and вЂ“ more importantly вЂ“ more hats. One might be a visor that lets her race across landscapes another might be a witchвЂ™s hat that lets here concoct a brew she can throw like a grenade. вЂњThe main goal of A Hat in Time may technically be collecting all those lost hourglasses, but thatвЂ™s never so much fun or as rewarding as finding all the bits of yarn that let our hero craft new hats. On their own, these ingredients would have made have made for an enjoyable but unsurprising 3D platformer.

It only suffers on account of the occasionally wonky camera that seems to be the curse of just about every 3D platformer ever made. Repetition barely exists as a result, save for the enjoyable and tight platforming dance of running, jumping, collecting baubles, and belly-flopping over chasms. But I found the constant shifts in setting were what kept me interested, as well as the frequent opportunities for A Hat in TimesвЂ™ adorably goofball and occasionally dark humor. Deep forests populated by creepy spirits come later, as well as soaring alpine peaks and beautiful, abstract hidden bonus zones that exist mainly to challenge your platforming skills without the need to conform to setting, much in the way of Super Mario Sunshine.In a weaker game this extreme variety might be disconcerting because of a perceived lack of focus.

A HAT IN TIME MOVIE

(It does much to make up for this, though, with an exhilarating 2D boss fight demanding perfectly timed leaps before a crowded stage.) But Hat GirlвЂ™s adventures grow more focused when she ventures into a movie studio where an owl and an Elvis-like penguin compete for awards while our hero stealthily avoids the gaze of crows on a sepia-toned Orient Express. вЂњThereвЂ™s the sunny, cluttered alleys of Mafia Town, where loveable louts brag about their degrees in вЂњmafiaвЂќ amid a colorful but largely aimless landscape that initially feels like a by-the-numbers 3D platformer. At times, the segments varied so greatly in theme and setting I felt as though I were playing entirely different games. A Hat in Time encourages this association, as it kicks off each new zone with a hand-drawn title card as though a cartoon were to follow instead of a platformer.

A HAT IN TIME SERIES

ItвЂ™s a bit like watching a series of Silly Symphonies вЂ“ the early, wacky Disney shorts that often had little in common with each other besides a few recurring characters. For instance, an utterly adorable adversary called Mustache Girl swears herself as an enemy early on but is basically forgotten for hours while Hat Girl busies herself chatting with trenchcoated crows and bartering her soul to maniacal forest spirits. Oddly, thatвЂ™s not the case, and A Hat in Time seems barely interested in maintaining any kind of storytelling momentum, much less staying on topic. вЂњYou might be thinking from the title and all those hourglasses that A Hat in Time has as much time travel stuffed into it as an entire season of Doctor Who.

A hat in time