Hard Hat III

Editors' ReviewDownload.com staffOctober 17, 2013The hardest thing about Hard Hat III is getting used to the controls. Faithful to a fault to its SNES console predecessor, this port of the game lets you configure your gamepad, if you have one--which of course you don't. But you can't configure the keyboard, and the default key assignments are just strange. Your task is to move a hard-hatted robot through 2D levels, jumping over obstacles and shooting at monsters. But we never could adjust to the idea of jumping with the A key and selecting items with the space bar. Compounding the problem, your character's reactions are sometimes painfully slow, especially when you're trying to crouch down beneath your protective helmet. Your long life bar compensates somewhat for the unfriendliness of controls: if you get hit many times (and you surely will), you still have a chance. The graphics are nowhere near state of the art, but they're acceptable for a retro freeware game. The same goes for the music. All in all, die-hard platformer fans will enjoy Hard Hat III, but it won't win over skeptics.