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. (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 Girl’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. “There’s the sunny, cluttered alleys of Mafia Town, where loveable louts brag about their degrees in “mafia” 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. It’s a bit like watching a series of Silly Symphonies – 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, that’s not the case, and A Hat in Time seems barely interested in maintaining any kind of storytelling momentum, much less staying on topic.
“You 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.
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