The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
The home console version of Bionicle Heroes is a single-player third-person shooter. The game is split up into six different elementally-themed worlds as well as a central hub world where the player can purchase upgrades and bonus content. After defeating a Piraka at the end of a world, they move to the Piraka Playground in the hub world. The player can use their collected Lego pieces to purchase comical cutscenes of the villains engaging in "tomfoolery".
Three bonus levels are also unlockable, functioning as score challenges where the goal is to defeat as many enemies as possible. The game features 100 collectibles to collect, and each level also contains silver and gold canisters that unlock new items in the hub world's trophy cave. Completed levels can be revisited in a free play mode, where the player can find additional items and collectibles.
Story
Bionicle Heroes is set on the fictional island of Voya Nui. The story of the game is not canon to the official Bionicle story. Rather than focusing on adhering to the Bionicle story, TT Games decided to "ensure that there were as many characters from the Bionicle universe in the game as possible". As a result, creatures like Vahki, Visorak, Bohrok that are not native to the island in the official story appear in the game as enemies, and villains from previous stories appear as bosses. The story of the game is progressed through cutscenes, which appear before levels.
The story of Bionicle Heroes follows a Matoran who has appeared on the island of Voya Nui. Balta, a villager on the island, informs him that the six Piraka have taken control of the island and transformed its inhabitants into monsters. Balta gives the Matoran a mask and tasks the new Toa with defeating the Piraka and saving the island. As the game progresses, the player defeats all six Piraka.
Development
The development of Bionicle Heroes began in late 2005. The decision was made early on to not follow the official Bionicle story, as ignoring it would allow more flexibility in game development and enemy variety. According to director Jon Burton, the home console version of the game was initially planned to be a first-person shooter. This stage of development lasted into February 2006.
At the time, almost all first-person shooter games received "M" ratings from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), and preliminary submissions to the ESRB resulted in ratings that Lego found to be unacceptable despite the lack of blood, gore, or other characteristics typical of "M"-rated games. In order to bring Bionicle Heroes down to an acceptable "E" or "E10+" rating, the decision was made to convert the game into a third-person shooter. The Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions of the game were developed by parallel teams at Amaze Entertainment. The DS version marked the first first-person shooter game released on the platform since Metroid Prime Hunters earlier the same year.
Reception
According to review aggregator Metacritic, the home console version of Bionicle Heroes received "mixed or average" reviews from critics. The Xbox 360 version of the game received an average score of 59/100. While the game's humour and visual presentation received praise, critics felt the gameplay was too repetitive and simplistic. Critics regarded the Wii version as an inferior port, lambasting its poor implementation of motion controls.
Chris Shepperd of Nintendo Power praised the game's visuals, but felt that "pretty much everything else about the game has issues" and that the worst problem was that it didn't feel like a Lego game. com reviewer Tom Orry argued the game had no appeal outside of Bionicle fans, who might be willing to tolerate the "merely competent action game gameplay". GameSpot was sharply critical of the gameplay, deeming it a "truly mind-numbing, unsatisfying experience", although the site did offer praise for the game's humour. Kristan Reed of Eurogamer praised the humour and accessibility to younger gamers, but felt Bionicle Heroes was too easy and too similar on the whole to Lego Star Wars; he recommended it only to fans of Lego Star Wars and younger gamers.
