BIONICLE HEROES

Earlier this fall, Traveller's Tales brought us the wonderful adventure game LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. Incorporating dozens of characters from A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Return of the Jedi, LEGO Star Wars II was hilarious and addictive. The lightsaber and blast weapon combat gave the game a light pick-up-and-play experience that was fully utilized with the option to drop in and out of co-op multiplayer at any time.

Every character came from a real Star Wars LEGO set, as did most of the spaceships and environments. The game was insanely detailed, allowing players to quickly and easily – yet still meticulously – piece together vehicles and other objects that could be driven and/or used in some cool and relevant way.

BIONICLE Heroes, the other LEGO game, comes from the same studio that brought us the LEGO Star Wars series. The third-person adventure format suited the George Lucas classic perfectly, but for BIONICLE, the developers wanted something different. First-person seemed like the appropriate direction to take, but they didn't want to abandon an effective formula. Thus, you get a game with build-able structures; a block collection and reward system; enemies that are made out of several LEGO pieces (that burst and scatter upon their destruction); and a world separated by missions that are accessed via portals.

Target and Shoot

BIONICLE Heroes makes first-person shooting easy: just press the X button. That's literally all you have to do. The game has a laser radar system that auto-targets on nearly every nearby object. It might not target the desired object, but you can adjust that by moving the character (who is a TOA Inika and is made entirely of individual LEGO pieces!). Change the camera view using the right analog stick. You'll probably expect it to adjust your crosshairs, but you don't have any. Weapon precision isn't necessary since the auto function allows you to wipe out enemies without any effort.

The exception is when you control Matoro, the TOA Inika of Ice. Matoro has a zoom function that lets you hone in on enemies who are too far away to reach with a standard blast. This weapon does require a hint of precision, but unless you've been living under a rock and have never touched a Dual-Shock 2 before, this menial task should not pose a problem.

Six TOA Inika represent the character you control. The character form is expanded every time you discover a TOA head. Ice, fire, water, air, earth, and stone are the elements represented. Each contains a specific ability that you'll need to complete specific tasks. Nuparu, the TOA Inika of Stone, has the power to climb straight up certain rock formations. You'll know which ones he's capable of climbing by the button icon that appears, and by the white climb symbols running up the rock's side.

Whenever you see a button icon appear – either triangle or circle – you'll know that a task needs to be completed. Triangle indicates that the current TOA Inika form you're using is not the one need for the task. Press triangle (or either shoulder buttons) to switch forms until the triangle symbol changes to circle. Once it changes, press the circle button and the task will complete itself automatically. You might have to build a new structure – a bridge, or maybe piece together a giant LEGO friend who will crush through a barricade. Large areas may have to be traversed, or you might have to walk across areas of ice or lava. You'll complete every one of these objects (and more) with that single, world-changing button.

Enemies are born from LEGO blocks, and blocks pour out of them immediately following their destruction. See an enemy or two? Tap the X button and watch 'em fall. Then run over, grab the blocks that were left behind, and repeat the process until you're blue in the face. Plants are commonplace – build 'em by pressing the circle button (sound familiar LEGO Star Wars fans?) and grab the block reward. Afterwards, destroy the plant to disperse and acquire additional blocks.

Blocks are obtained from everything you destroy. You'll find a lot of inanimate pieces lying around –- point your TOA Inika toward the piece and fire away for more blocks. Treasure chests contain a handful of pieces.

LEGO blocks do two things in the game: (1) they allow you to unlock goodies (a la LEGO Star Wars II), and (2) they turn Inikas into Hero Charge mode, which increases your enemy-crushing power.

While this might sound great on paper, most of you have probably noticed that my comments do not contain any notes of intrigue, excitement, or originality. The unfortunate truth is that, despite being a successful formula for Star Wars, this kind of game does not work in a first-person world. Missions are boring and, while I wouldn't say they are uninspired, they certainly don't do anything to inspire ambition in the player.

First-person shooters, or even the rarely seen first-person adventure, are meant to be more of an immersive and action-oriented game. The auto-target option removes any shot this game had at being challenging or exciting. Without it, I don't believe the game would have been much more fun. The rest of the content would've been the same – a series of repetitive scenarios involving the destruction and re-creation of LEGO environments. Gamers have seen and experienced this concept before and in a much better form.

Gameplay: 4.9
What's a first-person shooter without any action? BIONICLE Heroes, a game that wishes to be LEGO Star Wars from a different perspective. The sluggish controls and slow-as-molasses gameplay act as a virus that kills off any excitement this game could have had. Missions are boring and extremely repetitive. Kids will be bored senseless and go back to playing LEGO Star Wars – or a real FPS.

Graphics: 8.0
BIONICLE’s lively backgrounds, smooth textures, and impressive LEGO-based character designs are a wonderful treat for the eyes to feast on.

Sound: 7.9
An epic mix that sounds like it was inspired by Batman, Austin Powers, and Metal Gear Solid.

Difficulty: Easy
Just press X. If you can’t do that, you must not be old enough to hold a game controller (in which case you’re clearly not old enough to be reading this review).

Concept: 3.0
Unoriginal, BIONICLE Heroes is a LEGO Star Wars knock-off that doesn’t bring anything new to first-person shooters.

Overall: 4.9
Rather than just “pressing X,” just pass on BIONICLE Heroes and play something else.