When I was growing up, games were marketed towards children more so then adults. Now that time has passed, my generation of gamers have reached adulthood and it's only natural that the majority of games being released are marketed towards this group of people. The thing is that the developers can’t neglect the children growing up in hopes that they will be hooked on gaming as my generation is, so there are still developers who create games catered more towards children. The latest release by Eidos is such a game and it is entitled Bionicle Heroes.

The story begins as you walk from the beach and meet an exhausted Matoran on the island of Voya Nui. You are told that the land has been invaded by the malicious Piraka and they have stolen the mask of life. While they have not figured out how to use its full power, they have taken control of many of the islands inhabitants. Pretty soon the Matoran reaches into a bag and pulls out a TOA Inika Mask that will allow you to use various powers and save the island of Voya Nui. He puts his trust in you that you are up to this challenge as the entire island’s fate is in your hands.

When you arrive on the island and start going through the various levels you will find masks scattered about. Each mask that you pick up gives you a different type of gun and various powers that are related to different elements. For instance the blue mask or Hahli allows you to go into water and gives you a nice beam weapon. The Jaller mask is the mask of fire and while using this mask your speed will be greatly increased and you will have a rapid fire gun. Another fun one to use is the Hewkii mask of earth, and with this mask you will be able to manipulate various contractions and assemble Lego pieces to operate certain machinery. This mask comes with lots of armor, a very powerful gun, but it is also the slowest of the masks you will use. There are even more masks for you to find and use that will help you on your journey to cleanse the island of the malicious Piraka.

The thing that really ruins this game is that there is a hero mode that is very easy to go into at any point in the game. All you have to do is collect a certain amount of Lego’s, and they can be easily gathered by opening any treasure chest, solving any puzzle, defeating enemies, and so on. This mode is more of an “indivisibility” mode that causes a lot more destruction. If that wasn’t bad enough, the game continuously prompts you on what to do and how to get past various objectives. I had to remind myself that this game is made for younger audiences, but even then it hand holds you too much.

The graphics for Bionicle Heroes are pretty good. The various levels that you will transverse have their own various elemental themes and the developers make sure that each level is really detailed and the effects look good. The Bionicles are really well animated and have a very “robot look” and feel to them while they are in motion. What I liked is that the framerate held up really well, especially when there is a lot of action and explosions going on, the only time I noticed any slowdown was in certain boss fights, but it was never an eyesore.

What I really grew a distain for was the musical score. Since it is very easy to go into “hero mode” you will get the exact same techno music all the time. In the first few levels it is tolerable but as you go on you will almost avoid going into hero mode or even finding that mute button to avoid hearing the same music. The music for the actual level that you will hear the few minutes when you are not in hero mode is decent but not very memorable.

Bionicle Heroes is rated Everyone 10+ and contains fantasy violence.

Gameplay: 6.0
The game is extremely easy to play. Just go into any level and shoot your gun at everything, construct various items to get past various traps, and then fight some more. The problem with this game is that it is too repetitive and doesn’t offer enough gameplay variety.

Graphics: 7.9
The graphics for this game are well done and get the job done. The special effects are also decent, but a few of them are overused.

Sound: 5.2
Mind-numbingly repetitive.

Difficulty: Easy
This game is never challenging and is beyond easy. Many games are called button mashers because you keep hitting the same buttons over and over again. In this game all you have to do is hold the fire button and you will never lose to an enemy, especially since it locks on to your enemies for you.

Concept: 5.0
This game feels and acts like a complete clone of the Lego Star Wars game, and if you have ever played them you will recognize this real soon. The problem is that this game is not as fun or offer as many options.

Overall: 5.9
It is obvious that Bionicle Heroes was made for the younger gaming audience, and that is by no means is a bad thing. The problem  is that it takes that factor into consideration and really doesn’t try too hard. This game is beyond easy to where anyone with any gaming knowledge will be able to beat it in no time with very little challenge. If you are looking for a game with more substance and be more fun, then look past this game on the shelf.