A Hat in Time (2017)

Just swinging by again to say what an absolute blast this game is. I've obtained most of the hat abilities and badges, and now I can freely move about all of the levels. Hunting for yarn and relics is SO MUCH FUN - I haven't enjoyed hunting for collectibles this much since, no joke, Banjo-Kazooie. When I was 11 years old. I'm 32 now. (double checks calendar) yeah, I'm 32.

I feel confident that I've mastered the movement at this point from playing enough, and now flying around the levels like Super Mario Odyssey is very satisfying.

If I could lodge a complaint, however, I'd say that there isn't much of an explanation of how Time Rifts work. In short, when you go to enter a level, it's very similar to Super Mario 64, in that you select which "mission" you want to attempt, which alters the level in some cases, places NPCs, etc. The Time Rifts don't let you "enter" a mission, but they appear as little floating orbs somewhere in the level that you have to search out. Once you find one, you get teleported into a new instance, where you must traverse an obstacle course in order to get a timepiece (the main collectible in the game).

I only wish it told you which "mission" has access to each time rift, because I spent a lot of time wandering around Mafia Town looking for a time rift, and later learned that it was never there to begin with.

Not a lot of explaining is given to the player about how these time rifts work. For once in my life, I could have used more cutscenes.

Everything else though is perfection. Game isn't too long either. Very high up in my Games of 2019 list!

So far, A Hat in Time has been everything I had hoped for after hearing about it since release. After the whole Yookah-Laylee disaster (although I do admit I never played it), I was super hesitant to take on a 3D platformer, thinking, "looks like Banjo-Kazooie and Rayman 2 were the peak of it" and wrote off the whole genre, sadly enough. Well, I couldn't be happier with this game so far. The worlds are creative (only been to three of them so far) and super interesting, the gameplay is varied, it's just a very fun and pleasant experience.

Now in the same week we on the Switch are treated to not one but two excellent feeling 3D platformers. A Hat in Time and New Super Lucky's Tale. Sure they're both ports, but they're in the form of portable greatness and proof that the 3D platformer lives on!

Easiest way to summarize A Hat in Time is by looking at the acronym, because this baby is A HIT!

Good game, but I'm not getting the amazing experience everyone else is having. The graphics are meh, the camera is horrible at times, there is no backstory to the game, the game itself has a very thin plot, and it's a tad short. I'm not trying to criticize it but I came in expecting something as amazing as sex (based on Steam reviews). I know that it's unrealistic but everyone said it was the best thing ever. I merely enjoyed it.

However, the soundtrack for this game is 5 stars. Absolutely love it. It made the game much better than it could have been. Definitely buy the soundtrack. A lot of fans I know have done it already.