For those kids who like their Legos a bit more edgy, Lego came out with a line of toys a few years back called the Bionicle. In this line, the characters are all strange gangly warriors who possess different powers, usually based on some sort of element (fire, water) but then also derivatives of those elements (ice, rock). There are good guys (the Toa) and the badguys (Piraka) and the Piraka have this eternal burning hatred towards destroying the Toa, and anything else remotely good. In the toy line there are also all sorts of monsters that fight for good or bad and some monsters that fight anything that comes near them. It's a fairly involved storyline that has even produced a couple of straight-to-video movies. But where the complexities and excitement of the Star Wars franchise provided an engaging and entertaining gaming experience, the Bionicle license falls really flat.

When I first plugged Bionicle Heroes (BH) in, I had to kind of step back and look at the game and just sort of take everything in. For one thing, the game isn't sure if it wants to be a first-person shooter or a third-person action title. Your character is fixed on the bottom left part of the screen and you can see roughly 1/2 of his body is visible. The Toa are all apparently right handed since they all have a projectile weapon fixed on their right arm. Ok, that's not right, I am writing as if there are more than one character, and while there is, you play as the same nameless Toa who has been given the quest to recover the lost masks that are spread across the island. Finding and equipping the various masks turn our character into one of the six Iniki Toa heroes. Like I said above, each character has the innate ability to use some form of elemental power.  

As you adventure, you find the masks laying around all over the place, so the thought of any real challenge to find all of them was cast out the window in the first 10 minutes. Apparently, there are several of the same type of mask because the game has you running to parts unknown all over the island and even when you lose a mask of a certain character, it's not too long before you see another one. Good thing too, there are parts all over the island where symbols for any one of the characters hang indicating that you need to change into that specific Toa in order to continue. And on another note, just like Lego Star Wars, you pretty much have to blast any and every thing. Doing so sprays loose Lego pieces onto the ground, which you can pick up and use as currency. Plus, as if to say "copycat" the Toa use their powers at specific prompted points to build creatures and robots from heaps of Lego parts laying around on the ground, again to further their mission, which ultimately destroy the Piraka that have taken over the island, oh and then there something about a mask, blah, blah, blah.

Not a good example of the game's graphics

The point is, the game is painfully redundant and incredible unchallenging. Why? Well, for starters, the game has an auto-aim feature that is nothing short of practically shooting the bad guys for you, you literally only have to look in the direction of any of the bad guys and the auto aim locks on to them. Next, as you collect pieces and destroy baddies, you fill up your hero meter, if you fill your hero meter up, you become a golden Toa and therefore invincible. This invincibility only wears off when you complete a level or destroy the end boss (of which there is only a couple considering there are six realms to explore). Yes, the game has been painfully dumbed down to the point of insult. 

Graphically the game kind of hits and misses. The sprites and lighting effects are done fairly well, but then overdone on several occasions to the point that it becomes painful to look at. Many of the monsters although different, do not look so different until you get up real close. The levels kind of wash away in a hazy effect that sometimes can frustrate. I would like to see what this title looked like on some of the other systems to see if the hazing effect translated better or if it cause problems there too. 

I was interested in some of the sounds that were coming out of the game, it does not indicate any sort of DTS or Dolby Digital on the back of the case, but there was a distinct five channel sound coming through my speakers. Not that they were all that great, the game has a constant music loop that does become difficult to listen to after moderate length. The heavy electric guitar solos come at a time when you are happy to hear other music but then they too, cause you to want to put on any/something else.

Gameplay: 4.5
Yowch! The game auto aims for you, provides no sort of gaming challenge and in order to find all the hidden stuff, you must play through levels already completed with characters that have increased in power. 

Graphics: 5.4
I had a hard time with the character's perspective and the blurry graphics that were placed to cause a hazy look. The bright explosions become overly bright to a fault. 

Sound: 5.1
It's a shame, all speakers got a workout, but the sound effects and music that the game generated were all disappointing with the repetitiveness and heavy syntho-orchestration. 

Difficulty: Easy
Again, auto aim that does everything but fire the weapon is a bit much, and if you time it right you can be invincible an awful lot of the time. Too easy.

Concept: 5.7
It is borrowed heavily from the Star Wars game under the Lego banner, but fails to make anything new or exciting. I literally put Lego Star Wars in after playing this title for a couple hours. 

Overall: 5.1
This is not a good game, there are to many disappointing features to warrant purchase and I swear I got a headache at one point from the loud graphics (I had to turn down the brightness on my TV). You may have a big-time Bionicle fan in your house, but you won't be doing them any favors by getting them this title.