Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle

The Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle (Aka, the MNOG II); was Templar Studios' sequel to the original Mata Nui Online Game based on Lego's Bionicle franchise and was like the first released episodically, with a total of a six chapters published for free (at first, see below for details) between June of 2003 and January of 2004 on BIONICLE.com. Very similar to the first game, it once again has you explore the Bionicle island of Mata Nui using a P&C interface as you talk to people, play minigames and progress in the story.

While the first game is a cult classic and considered the quintessential Bionicle experience regarding the toyline's early plot, the sequel was heavily panned upon release and is now mostly forgotten. Representing the final partnership between Lego and Templar

Plot
Picking up where the original game left off following the Bohrok wars. The game stars the Ga-Matoran Hahli as she prepares for the great Kolhii (an in-universe Racquetball sport) Championship by traveling the island of Mata Nui, winning the local Kolhii matches, and helping people she meets along the way.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) The game was ridden with bugs throughout its release history.
 * 2) The plot itself is a huge letdown compared to the epic Rahi and Bohrok Wars covered by the previous game, feeling more like a prequel to the Mask of Light movie and Hahli's brief role in it than anything.
 * 3) Speaking of said movie, the abrupt and seemingly rushed ending was most likely put there so that the game wouldn't actually adapt it (A problem which the Bionicle comics of the time also had, as Lego wanted people to actually watch it).
 * 4) The minigames are boring and repetitive. Lots of level grinding through them is also required in order to progress, which amplifies the problem.
 * 5) Hahli herself is one-note and not very interesting, which makes the fact that the entire game is about her a problem.
 * 6) The name makes no sense as there is nothing "final" about the game. Maybe if you had once again played as Takua and this being his "final" journey as a chronicler prior to becoming Takanuva, but that would require actually adapting Mask of Light which as stated, the game explicitly doesn't.
 * 7) In terms of the overall Bionicle plot, the game is very much inconsequential. Practically nothing in it contributes to the storyline as a whole.
 * 8) The Toa are completely absent and you would believe a Bionicle game would feature their lead characters in at least some capacity.
 * 9) Once all chapters were released, the game was taken down from BIONICLE.com before later reappearing as a Kanoka Club exclusive (i.e. people would have to scan "Kanoka" codes that you got when buying the sets in order to play it), except something clearly went wrong in the transition. This release was missing files, making it somehow even more buggy than before and there was actually no way to complete it as said files were also missing.
 * 10) To add insult to injury, Lego didn't even bother to fix it as the game remained in such a state until it and the other Kanoka Club games were removed in 2008/2009.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Nice soundtrack and sound design.
 * 2) Initially released for free.
 * 3) Might be worth checking out for fans of Hahli's later appearances.
 * 4) An offline version of the game was later released by fans that also fixed all the problems introduced with the Kanoka Club release. This version can be found (alongside an offline version of the first game) for free on the Biomedia project.

Trivia

 * 1) Lego (or more accurately, the head writer of Bionicle Greg Farshtey) later declared the game to be non-canon outside of everything directly related to Hahli herself. Even the way Kohlii is represented in the game was rewritten.

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