A hat in time truly captures the essence of the fun, simple, and nostalgic platforming games that came out back in 1996. Super Mario 64 is a definite inspiration for this game. However, it has made many improvements of the formula and added it’s own mechanics and charm to keep it from feeling like a clone. A Hat in Time absolutely stands on its own when it comes to being a platformer. - It’s absolutely fun! There are many different things to do in each planet/area of the game. Some being similar, others being vastly different. But I love that I see a representation of different genres. I never expected to see a bit of horror and stealth in this game. - The boss fights are genius. If there is one thing that A Hat in Time has over any of the 3D Mario games, it’s the boss fights. They are longer, takes more skill, and are fun and satisfying to complete. Don’t get me wrong, just be cause they take more skill doesn’t mean that the boss fights are difficult. You may die once or twice on some of them, but they are by no means hard. Each boss fight has different phases and it takes much more than 3 hits to beat them. - The music transports you to a simpler, fun, and more wondrous time in my childhood. The tones remind me of many N64 games that exemplified simple, fun, and memory making music. You will have some tunes of A Hat in Time stuck in your head for sure. - The character movement in this game is sooooo smooth and intuitive. You can double jump, run on walls, do a mid-air dash, and jump cancel after the dash. When you get used to it and add some of the hat powers and badges, you get some of the soothest fast movement in any game. - The hat powers keep the game fresh and new. You can switch hats at any time on the fly to experience different powers; each hat can give you new and distinct powers that will enable you to reach some previously impossible areas to reach. All in all, this is the platformer second coming, outside of Mario, that I have been looking for.
