Bionicle: The Game

Bionicle: The Game
Do you know what is a "Krana?" It is not explained in game. Uh, this is the first Bionicle game, you need to explain terms that are used in the universe properly!
Genre(s): Action-platformer Platform(s): PlayStation 2 Nintendo GameCube Xbox PC Release Date: 2003 Developer(s): Argonaut Games Publisher(s): Electronic Arts and Lego Interactive Series: Bionicle Successor: Bionicle Heroes

Bionicle: The Game, also known simply as Bionicle, is a third-person action-platformer game developed by Argonaut Games and published by Electronic Arts and Lego Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2, based on the LEGO franchise, particularly the 2003 direct-to-video movie Mask of Light. It holds the distinction of being the first Bionicle game to be released on non-portable home consoles. It was also the last game released by Lego Interactive, before the company folded in 2004.

There is a game of the same name for the Game Boy Advance which is not the same game as the home console and PC version, and the GBA version was developed by Möbius Entertainment and published by THQ. See this page for the GBA version of the game.

Plot

The Great Spirit Mata Nui has fallen into deep slumber for over a thousand years. The Matoran people, who live in an island named in honor of the Great Spirit, along with their Toa protectors, struggle to wake Mata Nui from his slumber and defeat the evil Makuta.

Why It Sucks

NOTE: As explained above this is only relevant to the PC and console versions of the game.

1. Leaves newcomers to the Bionicle franchise completely lost as it doesn’t explain anything about the series’ lore. Characters use terms such as "Krana", "Kini", and "Suva" that aren't defined in the game properly at the point they are first used in the game, some not at all, so players who don't know what the terms mean must learn the meaning by research.
2. Instead of simply adapting the Mask Of Light movie as you might expect from the cover, the developers instead decided to cram the the entire Mata Nui saga into a single game. Aka, three years worth of storyline. The movie itself is compressed into only two lines of dialogue late in the game mostly just to build a climax.
3. The story of the game is also disjointed. Lots of levels are not connected to the main story of the game and the events of most levels are not mentioned after the levels are completed.
4. The Toa suddenly change from their original Toa Mata into their Toa Nuva forms in the third level without any explanation for why.
5. The Bohrok-Kal are palette swaps of regular Bohrok rather than having their actual models. They are also all defeated singlehandedly by Gali Nuva which makes no sense as one could take out the entire team in the actual story.
6. Awkward camera placement that can be nauseating at times.
7. Terrible cutscenes.
8. Ugly, blurry, low detail graphics, even for 2003 standards.
9. Poor sound effects.
10. The level as Pohatu starts out with an empty field with nothing to do and using an attack causes him to have his left arm be in a weird position. Then, you suddenly are thrust into a minecart section with the same animation suggesting that the game was a low budget title.
11. In the level with Onua, the controls when pushing the rocks onto the switches are very awkward and easy to slip off.
12. There is a level as Lewa where there are large gaps in the terrain which you are supposed to glide over, and it is not clear where you are supposed to go.
13. Later in that level you have to glide in the updraft created by a bird. This part is very frustrating because it is difficult to stay in the updraft. The bird also takes sudden sharp turns during this sequence.
14. When you glide in the game the camera is angled so that where you will land is likely to be off-screen.
15. You cannot manually stop gliding while in mid-air which means you have to awkwardly circle around where you want to land or set up your glide so that you are above where you want to land, and both are made difficult by the camera not keeping the platform on the screen.
16. There is a glitch with the glide action that causes it to sometimes not activate properly, causing you to die.
17. Several audio glitches, such as music not playing at all in a level.
18. Atrociously emotionless voice acting. It becomes immediately obvious that none of the movie’s cast reprise their respective roles.
19. Lewa's name is not pronounced correctly in the game ("lew-ah" instead of "lay-wah").
20. Boring combat- you don't even get to use melee weapons at all.
21. The Toa don't have unique weapons and the varied powers they are supposed to have, instead using a generic laser cannon to fire enemies at a distance.
22. Extremely short. The game can be beaten in one to three hours.
23. Along with the short length of the game, two of the Toa don't have full action-platforming levels to fight enemies like the rest of the Toa, instead the levels you play them in are only minigame levels.
24. Lots of things suggest that this game was actually rushed by EA or Lego, as some models in the gallery are in incomplete T-poses, and the race with Tahu Nuva starts off for a split second with normal gameplay and a unique animation before you are suddenly forced into the surfing minigame (The developers later confirming that yes, roughly half the game is missing.)
25. The end credits uses the same background used for the loading screens.

Redeeming Qualities

1. At the end of the instruction manual of the PS2 version, you will see all Bionicle action figures.
2. The music is passable.

Reception

The game is received negative reviews by critics.

MobyGames user Qlberts says that there is nothing good about the game, deeming it as a quick cash-in.

The Bargain Boy felt that despite having the imagination that was present in the series, the game falters on anything else.

On Metacritic, the PC version received a score of 52, a score of 51 for the PS2 version, a score of 49 for the Xbox version and a score of 47 for the GameCube version.

Trivia

A sequel based on the Metru Nui storyline called Bionicle 2: City of Legends was cancelled early in development. Nothing was really known about it until an early tech demo was released in 2012

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