Who doesn’t like Legos? Not many people, that’s for sure. People even like them mixed in with their video games. Just ask George Lucas. Lego themed games made it big with the likes of Lego Star Wars, and later with Lego Star Wars II. When you take two nostalgic and era defining concepts, and unite them into a game…well that is a defining moment in itself. Lego and Star Wars went together like bread and butter. Who would have thought? So what else could Lego bring to the video game realm to keep the populace happy? Lego, Eidos, and TT (Traveler’s Tales) Games went the distance and turned some cyborgs (robotic humanoids) into Lego cyborgs. What they got was: Bionicle Heroes.
Bionicle Heroes is a 3rd person shooter, simply put. The only thing that makes it different is the Lego themed friends and foes. You can play as the good guys, the Toa, or the bad guys, the Piraka. You must battle to gain and keep control of the all-powerful Mask of Life. Not much in the way of story and presentation, and it’s apparent even at start up. The best part of the presentation was the developers intro…I won’t spoil that, though.
What you do know is that you’re a cyborg and you can wear different masks that give you different powers. The masks will basically change what type of cyborg you are. For instance, when you put on the earth mask, you gain earthy powers, like building things and destroying them with a missile launcher. Each mask that you gain has special properties that you will need in the game, even if that means you have to come back to the level once you have acquired the needed mask (much like the back-tracking required in the Lego Star Wars games). This sounds like it would make replay that much more significant, but it is tedious and relatively unrewarding when you consider how long the linear levels are – which are a bit too long if you ask me.
If you have played the Lego Star Wars games (either one), then you remember that everything that you destroy – from environmental objects to enemies – leaves behind Lego pieces that act as your currency in the game. Also, you were required to “build” Lego pieces to create a number of different things. That hasn’t changed with the title or theme. In fact, the game seems to envelope you more with collecting money and building objects (there is much more money collecting than building, though) than it actually does with gameplay. I spent an amazing amount of time shooting all the stray objects in the level so I could get some more cash...then I started shooting the enemy cyborgs. Aside from the repetitive task of picking up money, a feature was added to your collection that would have been great – in moderation. After a player picks up a certain amount of Lego money, your cyborg will go into “Hero Mode”. Simply put, Hero Mode is invincibility. Hero Mode lasts entirely too long, though, and doesn’t stop until you activate one of a few large golden statues. So you’re basically invulnerable for about ½ or more of the level. It’s definitely not as exciting as one would think.
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