Ethan: Meteor Hunter
is a 2014 physics Puzzle Platformer by Seaven Studio, available on Steam and on PS3.
It features the story of a rat named Ethan who is in the middle of a fight against his jackass neighbor when a meteor happens to fall right on his house. Realizing that exposure to the meteor has granted him the power to stop time and move nearby objects with telekinesis, Ethan goes on a perilous journey to collect the pieces of the meteor and to settle the score with his neighbor, who keeps attacking Ethan with strange contraptions at every turn.
Tropes featured in this game include:
- Big Bad: Ethan's neighbor.
- Blackout Basement: A couple of levels are set in complete darkness. The latter ones feature a block that shines light around it.
- Block Puzzle: Ethan can both push and pull blocks with his hands and move them with his mind over pre-determined areas.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy: When you fight the neighbor for the first time, you use mousetraps intended to kill Ethan to launch a block at the crane holding him. That's not so bad compared to the next two fights: the neighbor has turrets pointed right at himself.
- Character Title
- Cranky Neighbor: He already begins the story dumping trash at Ethan's home for whatever reason.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Dying just sets you back to the last checkpoint.
- Evil Laugh: The neighbor laughs for a half-dozen seconds whenever you meet him for a boss battle.
- Gotta Catch Them All: Meteorite shards aside, there are piles of French cheese hidden in difficult-to-reach locations of certain levels. It is all optional, though.
- Indy Escape: On occasion.
- Level Goal: A sign with a green arrow pointing towards a exit pipe.
- The Many Deaths of You: Ethan can be torn to shreds in a variety of ways. It actually gets kind of disturbing.
- Marathon Level: Most of the levels can be finished quickly once you know them, but they will feel very long for a first time player since it is common to die over and over.
- Mind over Matter: Ethan can use telekinesis on blocks and other objects if they're not marked with a X. However, this can only be done on frozen time and over marked areas.
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Nintendo Hard: The platforming can be merciless and the puzzles, taxing. Be thankful for the infinite lives. - No Name Given: The villainous neighbor isn't named.
- Press X to Die: One button causes Ethan to fade away, resetting the level to the last checkpoint.
- Puzzle Platformer
- Rise to the Challenge: One level has Ethan climbing away from a rising pool of acid.
- Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom
- Spikes of Doom: Buzz-saws are everywhere. They can be found on surfaces and on midair, standing still, moving on set paths or chasing you around. They also come in multiple sizes.
- Time Stands Still: Ethan can stop time to move objects if he collects a certain powerup.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: There's one pogo level and one shmup level on each chapter.
- Wall Jump: You can hold to and jump from walls with sticky surfaces.
