In the GBA version of Bionicle Heroes, based on the LEGO Bionicle franchise, players take on the guise of the Toa Inika team. Set on the island of Voya Nui, they need to retrieve the Mask of Life, stolen by the Piraka gang who also enslaved the Matoran, the native inhabitants, in the process. Unlike the console and the DS versions, a top-down perspective is used.
The game takes place on six zones of the island, followed by a final showdown. The player starts as a Toa of Fire, but by completing zones and killing the level boss, additional masks can be collected: Air, Stone, Ice, Earth and Water. Each Toa has a primary and secondary weapon based on the mask's elemental nature, with specific features. During the levels, there are also weapon upgrades to be found. The second weapon is limited by an energy meter which needs some time to recharge. Each zone requires a specific Toa guise, but in the Free Play mode completed levels can be revisited and players can then switch between the forms at any time to use different abilities. Toa can strafe while fighting - there is an option to face enemies automatically or to control this manually.
