BIONICLE Heroes

BIONICLE Heroes was 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 telescopic vision) and gain better and deadlier weapons. BIONICLE Heroes has 28 levels where 3 of which are buyable and in the Piraka Playground, 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 (and only) LEGO game to be rated T for Teen.

Console Version
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.

By collecting a mask worn by an Inika, you will instantly change characters, playing as the Toa whose mask you just collected. Players can switch between any of the Toa Inika at will, but if they run out of health the current mask is lost and a new one must be found before you can play as 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. Three kinds that must be activated to proceed are normal constructions 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) 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 such as mask, disk, Kraata, etc. Each regular level includes five silver or four canisters which unlock new characters to read about and four gold canisters which unlock new masks to read about. Boss levels include four gold canisters only. Boss enemies are also unlocked for viewing after they have been defeated (except for Vezon and Fenrakk).

Levels
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. After all the Piraka have been defeated, a seventh underground level unlocks. In this level you are inside a lava chamber and must defeat both Vezon and Fenrakk.

The first level of each zone is a level with a Rahkshi (of that Piraka's color) at the end. In the second, the player goes through the level and at the end, finds a green sphere, or a Zamor sphere. In the third, the player faces a Titan from 2004, 2005, or 2006. The fourth is a whole level boss battle with a Piraka and, after you defeat them, Vezon and Fenrakk show up, and the player must defeat them too.

The 3 bonus levels are a small, circular arena in which the player fights swarms of Bohrok in the first, Visorak in the second, and Vahki in the third. In those levels, you will fight a swarm of enemies until the time runs out.

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 Fire blast 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 Disk 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 after upgrading he can dig up treasures wherever there is a certain kind of drill. His Earthshock weapons fire grenade-like energy balls with a large blast radius that reload only when you have detonated the last energy ball you shot, but can be launched around corners, bounce off walls, 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 after upgrading she can manipulate blue water-based constractions and doors. She has medium speed, but is stronger and faster when in water. Her long-range Water burst 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 Water 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 after upgrading he can collapse certain walls. Like Nuparu, he is slow but very strong. His Stone smash weapons act like rocket launchers, and are slow to reload but have a large blast radius. Fully upgraded, they are the only weapons that can take down a 2 stage Vahki in 1 hit. Hewkii's weapons include the "Po-Koro", 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 after upgrading he can 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 and more spread out over long distances. Best used in short-range. Kongu'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 and after upgrading he can 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 Ice crack 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). Once the game is completed, the individual Piraka are replaced by Vezon, who can activate not only Piraka's constractions but black constractions found in each level. Vezok, Thok have a beam weapon, Zaktan, Reidak, and Avak have rapid fire weapons, Hakann's weapon fires single shots, and Vezon has a rapid fire weapon that has explosive blasts. All Piraka have silver hearts.

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.

In the DS version the player starts out as a silver Toa with a Zamor Gun. As the game goes on the player unlocks the Toa Mata, Toa Metru, and eventually the Toa Inika.

Enemies
The common enemies faced include Bohrok, Vahki, and Visorak. The following characters also appear as bosses alongside the Piraka:

The Bohrok can shoot their power out of their shields. They can fly and can do the ball roll (while doing this move, they have a shield, and are invincible) to quickly close in. Visorak shoot their spinners from their back mounted launchers. They can jump to quickly close in. The Vahki are much tougher. They shoot Kanoka from their mouth launchers. They slash with their staffs for melee attacks. 3 must defeated 1 time before they die. But the other 3 pop back up once defeated, but only at half health.

These are the non-Piraka bosses in the game:
 * The six Rahkshi: Guurahk, Turahk, Kurahk, Lerahk, Vorahk, and Panrahk
 * Nidhiki (Thok's zone)
 * Krekka (Avak's zone)
 * Sidorak (Zaktan's zone)
 * Roodaka (Vezok's zone)
 * Axonn (Reidak's zone)
 * Brutaka (Hakann's zone)
 * Vezon and Fenrakk

In the DS version, all of the above are fought along with others (Giant Bohrok, Nui-Rama, Nui-Jaga, Muaka, Kane-Ra, Large sized Beetles). Not to mention Makuta Teridax has a major role in the story.

It should be noted that the game is non-canon, as in the official storyline only the Toa, Vezon, Fenrakk, 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, the Vahki, and Bohrok are nowhere near Voya Nui, and Sidorak, the six Rahkshi (Which were rebuilt into Ussanui), and Krekka and Nidhiki are in fact dead by the time the events on Voya Nui take place. In the introduction, it is stated that the Piraka have gotten the Mask of Life and used it to create the enemies seen in the game, though this never happens in the canon storyline. Also, Fenrakk was never destroyed, like he was in the game's final level, and Vezon didn't die after falling in lava.

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%.

The DS version received a fair amount of praise however. IGN gave it an 8.0 (out of ten) stated that "fans of Metroid Prime: Hunters should be ready for more, and they'll find it in BIONICLE Heroes." Where as GameSpot gave it a score of 7.7 (out of ten) calling it "another solid first-person shooter for the DS." Criticism was aimed at the fact that it didn't try to break the normal FPS mold, multi-player didn't use Wi-fi, and that the game required every player to have a cartridge.

Differences From Sets

 * Weapons, armor, and masks of the Toa and Piraka are different from their buyable pieces, if only slightly.
 * All of the Piraka have finned feet, while the actual sets only three have finned, the other three, Vezon, and Nektann have clawed. Interestingly, Vezon has the correct feet, cape, and coloration when riding atop Fenrakk, yet the playable model is entirely grey/silver, has the same body type as the other Piraka, lacks the cape, and even has an entirely different design for his Spear of Fusion.
 * All Toa Inika have the same feet, arms and body armor, while in the actual sets, three are different from the other three.
 * At the end of the Piraka boss battles and in the final boss fight, Fenrakk is about three times bigger than its original set released in 2006, and his 'tail' is much longer and more symmetrical.
 * 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.
 * The part that joins onto the Rahkshi's legs are their Element colour instead of grey. Furthermore, the Rahkshi's arms have Toa Metru lower leg pieces serving as their forearms.
 * The tip of Roodaka's lower jaw is missing, with her sideburns serving instead as the lower jaw. Her left arm has claws instead of a Rhotuka launcher.

Incorrect Names

 * 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. To further complicate matters, the in-game models are quite clearly regular Bohrok, but the trophy room lists their names and bios as those of the Bohrok Kal.
 * In the advertisements and game manual, Hewkii is incorrectly called a Toa of Earth and Nuparu a Toa of Stone, but in the actual game they are called by their correct Elements.
 * The creators also made an error in the Kanohi section. If you get the Kanohi Rau, the Mask of Wisdom, it is supposed to look like a Silver Miru but instead is a Silver Hau and it is called the Mask of Valor, the same mask as the Kanohi Aki.
 * In the trophy room, the Ta-Metru, Ga-Metru, and Le-Metru Great Disks have their names and descriptions swapped for some reason.
 * On the game's official website, it incorrectly calls Hewkii's first weapon Po-Koro.

Misc.

 * Silver canisters are represented as Toa Hordika containers, while gold canisters are Visorak containers.
 * Also the enemies on the last door on the right when in the main area are also in Visorak containers.
 * 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 sigh or groan and say "ow" and "uh-oh" in some cut scenes and Brutaka seems to say "Come on!" at one point in a cut scene, and the Toa laugh when completing a level.
 * 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.
 * When Reidak puts in Vorahk's Kraata, one might notice that he puts it in backwards.
 * Nuparu, Hewkii, and Matoro always carry their weapons in 1 hand. Kongu carries it in 2, then 1, then 2 again. Jaller and Hahli both carry their weapons in 2 hands, then 2, then 1.
 * Roodaka and Hahli have maleish voices.
 * The loading screen for Secret Chamber 1 portrays a Tahnok model with a Gahlok skin. The loading screen for Secret Chamber 3 features a Nuurakh model with a Rorzakh skin.
 * There are several rumors about random events in the game, such as facing a horde of flowers instead of normal enemies in the Mountain Path level, though none have been confirmed yet.
 * In the intro especially, and through the game, the Piraka are shown to be very weak, stupid, and clumsy yet, the Matoran are still afraid of them.
 * Turahk the red Rahkshi has a voice and is able to yell unlike the others that have a serpent sound.
 * When the gaming system for the Gamecube version gets overheated, it glitches, and the three light-hitting Toa (Jaller, Hahli, and Kongu) become headless, while the heavy-hitters (Matoro, Hewkii, and Nuparu) become headless and box shaped, the only features remaining are their arms and legs.
 * If the Toa remain idle for a while, they will begin to do an idle animation. Some include the Toa dozing off, scratching their backs, removing and playing with their heads, or tapping on the screen. Piraka will shake the camera and spin it around.
 * There are only three rahi within the game. Visorak, Fikou, and a dragonfly like creature. All of these rahi can be destroyed and leave currency.
 * The currency is made up of blue, gold, and silver TECHNIC pieces like 12 tooth gears.
 * When in the portal room, if you point your camera upwards, it will lock onto one of the Bohrok that are above you in the enemy trophy room. If you shoot the Bohrok you will gain currency and lose the Bohrok. You will have to restart the game of play a level to gain it back.