BIONICLE Heroes

BIONICLE Heroes is a 3D video game of the third-person shooter genre, based on Lego's popular BIONICLE franchise. It was released in November 2006 by TT Games. The game stars that year's feature characters, the Toa Inika and the Piraka. Players must destroy enemies, solve puzzles in order to progress further, and throughout the game, maximize their individual special powers (I.E. The ability to activate certain objects, construct vehicles and platforms, or even binocular vision) and gain better and deadlier weapons.

BIONICLE Heroes has 25 levels and 19 bosses in total. Players are able to upgrade weapons throughout the game, starting with ones resembling the Toa Mata's tools; armor and abilities can also be upgraded.

The Nintendo DS version of BIONICLE Heroes is in the perspective of first-person instead of third-person, and is the first LEGO game to be rated T for Teen.

Gameplay
Players control an anonymous hero out to stop the evil Piraka, who have used the power of the Mask of Life to transform the wildlife of the island of Voya Nui into aggressive, evil creatures. The character is able to wear the masks of the Toa Inika in order to take on their appearances and powers. Players can switch between any collected masks at will, but if they run out of health the current mask is lost and a new one must be found before the character can become that Toa again. Collecting a mask also restores health, even if it is one the character already has.

During gameplay, players collect Lego pieces with different point values. Collecting enough points fills a meter and activates "Hero Mode", turning the character golden and giving invincibility as well as an offensive boost. After completing a level, points collected can also be used to purchase items and upgrades from the in-game Matoran Enclave.

Throughout each level are several Lego "constractions" (a combination of the words "construction" and "action") that can be assembled. Fours kinds that must be activated to proceed are normal constractions activated by Toa Hewkii, golden constractions that can be activated by anyone in Hero Mode (Though doing so causes Hero Mode to end and more points must be collected before it can be entered again), special constractions that can only be activated by a Piraka, and black constractions, that can only be activated by Vezon.

Scattered throughout the levels are several canisters that give bonuses when collected: collecting all of the silver canisters in a level unlocks a common enemy for viewing between levels, while each gold canister found unlocks a collectible item for viewing. Each regular level includes five silver canisters and four gold canisters, and boss levels include four gold canisters apiece. Boss enemies are also unlocked for viewing after they have been defeated.

In the game, the island is divided into six regions, which are as follows: Vezok's Coastline, Reidak's Desert, Hakann's Volcano, Avak's Stronghold, Thok's Mountain, and Zaktan's Jungle. There are four separate levels in each zone, at the end of which you must battle the Piraka that resides in it. After each Piraka has been defeated, a seventh underground level unlocks. In this level you are inside a lava chamber and must kill both Vezon and Fenrakk.

Playable
The Toa Inika
 * Toa Jaller Toa Jaller is the fastest Toa, but also the weakest. He can walk over lava, and after upgrading he can burn down passage-blocking vines. His Fireblast weapons are rapid-fire and are good at short- to mid-range, but spread out and become inaccurate at long range. Jaller's weapons include Toa Mata Tahu's Fire Sword, Toa Vakama's Launcher, and his own Energized Flame Sword.
 * Toa Nuparu Toa Nuparu is the slowest Toa but is quite powerful. He can climb certain walls and cliff faces, and later in the game can dig up treasures. His Earthburst weapons fire grenade-like energy balls with a large blast radius that are slow to reload, but can be launched around corners and detonated manually. Nuparu's weapons include Toa Mata Onua's Claws, Toa Whenua's Earthshock Drills, and his own Laser Drill.
 * Toa Hahli Toa Hahli can cross streams and rivers, and later on can manipulate blue water-based constractions. She has medium speed, but is stronger and faster when in water. Her long-range Watershock weapons don't have as much power, but as long as they are firing they cause steady damage. Hahli's weapons include Toa Mata Gali's Hooks, Toa Nokama's Hydro Blades, and her own Laser Harpoon.
 * Toa Hewkii Toa Hewkii can assemble normal constractions from the various LEGO pieces found scattered in each level, and can upgrade this to the ability to collapse certain walls. Like Nuparu, he is slow but very strong. His Stonesmash weapons act like rocket launchers, and are slow to reload but have a large blast radius. Hewkii's weapons include the "Po-Koro", which are based on Toa Mata Pohatu's hands, Toa Onewa's Proto Pitons, and his own Laser Axe.
 * Toa Kongu: Toa Kongu can leap certain gaps marked by green landing pads, and can gain the ability to use green wind-based constractions. He is the second-fastest Toa behind Jaller and has medium strength. His Airshot weapons are of medium strength, but grow weaker over long distances. Kongo's weapons include Toa Mata Lewa's Air Axe, Toa Matau's Aero Slicers, and his own Laser Crossbow.
 * Toa Matoro: Toa Matoro has the ability to zoom in towards targets, and some faraway white targets require the closeup view; he can also upgrade his ability to freeze water in places to make pathways. He is one of the slowest among the Toa but is one of the strongest Toa available, able to kill some enemies in one hit. Toa Matoro's Icecrack weapons are similar to sniper rifles, with the ability to shoot lethal blasts at the expense of recharge time. Matoro's weapons include Toa Mata Kopaka's Ice Sword, Toa Nuju's Crystal Spikes, and his own Energized Ice Sword.

Each Piraka can also be played after they are defeated, though only in their own levels (I.E. Vezok can only be played in the "Vezok's Coastline" levels); they can activate special Piraka constractions. Once the game is completed, the individual Piraka are replaced by Vezon, who can activate not only Piraka constractions but black constractions found in each level.

In the Game Boy Advance version of the game, the six Toa Mata are playable instead of the Piraka, in both their original and transformed Toa Nuva incarnations. You can find the Toa Inika incarnations, by using the character of an element's special powers on the obstacles that have a arrow in front of them.

Enemies
The most common enemies faced include Bohrok, Vahki, and Visorak. The following characters also appear as bosses alongside the Piraka:
 * The six Rahkshi: Guurahk, Turahk, Kurahk, Lerahk, Vorahk, and Panrahk
 * Nidhiki
 * Krekka
 * Sidorak
 * Roodaka
 * Axonn
 * Brutaka
 * Vezon and Fenrakk

It should be noted that the game is non-canon, as in the official storyline only Axonn and Brutaka are present on the island (Except for possibly a few Visorak, but certainly not the numbers of them seen in the game), Axonn is a hero character, Roodaka and the others are nowhere near Voya Nui, and all except Roodaka are in fact dead by the time the events on Voya Nui take place.

Reception
At its release in November 2006, BIONICLE Heroes was mostly overshadowed by higher-profile releases; specifically the launches of the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii consoles later that week. Nearly all reviews noted the similarity to TT Games' previous Lego Star Wars games - several suggested that Heroes was perhaps too similar, and having two such games released within a couple months of each other was tiresome (Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy had been released the previous September).

Nintendo Power noted that the game "doesn't feel very LEGO-ish; block-building aspects seldom come into play, and the scenery is only rarely reminiscent of LEGO pieces." (However, this is entirely consistent with the BIONICLE universe as depicted in other media.) GameSpot blamed Hero Mode for making the game repetitive: "By being even remotely selective with how you pick up Lego pieces, you'll be invincible a good two-thirds to three-fourths of the game, which means that nearly every situation before a boss battle is utterly trivialized." Another common point in several reviews was that the game lacked a real story.

As of December 2006, the XBox 360 version of BIONICLE Heroes has been the subject of the most reviews according to GameRankings.com, and has an average rating of 60%.

Trivia

 * Balta, the game's Matoran shopkeeper, is shown in the introductory cut scene with the shredder claws of his companion Piruk. At the in-game shop, however, he has his own Twin Repellers.
 * Note how all of the canisters are Visorak containers, silver and gold. Also the enemies on the last door on the right when in the main area are also in Visorak containers.
 * The creators made an error when making the "Rahi Beasts" section. The regular Bohrok are spelled with the "Kal" on the end of their names.
 * When creating many of the 100 collectible bonus items in the game, producers turned to the BZPower fan community for help. A sample of suggested items can be found here.
 * Contrary to popular belief, Balta is not the only character that talks. The Piraka also say "ow" in some cut scenes and Brutaka seems to say "Come on!" at one point in a cut scene.
 * The DS version of BIONICLE Heroes is different than others because only the Piraka are bosses, the game is in first person, and you only get one weapon.
 * All of the Piraka have finned feet, while the actual sets only three have finned, the other four have clawed.