Lego Bionicle is at the core, a platformer, although it may not appear so at first glance because of the isometric camera angle. The goal of the game is to move your player through a series of levels while collecting items and defeating enemies. While this basic gameplay mold has been used through and through, and it usually works, there are technical problems that make it feel muddled in
Lego Bionicle. All of the gameplay hindrances are little in their own right, but there are enough of them to hamper the game. The most noticeable problem is that when you jump on, say a rock or plant, your character falls backward instead of staying on top of the object. This means you often roll back into enemies or into the water. The problem gets even worse when you consider how far you can jump and how many objects there are in the terrain. Another problem: trying to hit the enemies. Your main attack is throwing different sorts of colored berry type projectiles that have different effects. While it is possible to hit the enemies, it can be very difficult to line up the shots because they jump around way too much. The problem is three fold: you have to line up the horizontal and the vertical, and be facing the correct direction all at the same time. Compound this with the fact that you often get pinned in the corner and die;
Lego Bionicle can be very frustrating.
While the technical aspects of Lego Bionicle falter, the modes of gameplay tend to be a little better. Much to my disdain though, I only found two options when I fired up the cart for the first time - Single Player and Training. Naturally, I tried the Training mode first, then the main game. I was completely outraged when I realized the tutorial was exactly the same as the first level of the main game. To me, that is just a completely lazy move on the developers’ part. After the first few levels, however, I found the mini-games that I had unlocked were available at the start up menu, and I could play against another person with a link cable. Also, another little bonus is that you can play the game in French, in addition to English.
It won’t matter what language you play the game in, though, when you realize how weak the storyline is. At the root level, you are a tribesman who has to recover six masks and stones to restore order to the lands of your people. Take that storyline and add some words like Matu Nui and Toa and you have Lego Bionicle. Along the way, you encounter many non-player characters, but they often tell you some nonsense babble or tell you to do something that you have already done. There are no turns in the plot and it doesn’t really inspire you to keep going.
