Lego thrives on versatility and selection. The model has change into related to every part from mannequin cities to outer area to licensed franchises like Star Wars to unique IP like Bionicle and Ninjago. Lego 2K Drive is comparatively slim in comparison with the big selection of Lego iconography, however that laser-like focus works in its favor. The group at 2K and Visible Ideas has made a terrific racing sport first, permitting the Lego components to organically add each an astounding quantity of customization and flavorful visible thrives to make a full of life and pleasant open-world driving expertise.
Beneath the hood, Lego 2K Drive is a mix of open-world racing video games like Burnout Paradise or Forza Horizon and kart racers like Mario Kart or Sonic All-Stars. The principle marketing campaign has you exploring three massive biomes, every with their very own large number of actions and occasions, punctuated by kart races towards rival drivers who run these areas. However a part of what makes each exploring and racing so enjoyable is how toy-like it feels, due to some sensible programs that take away any potential friction from exploration.
When driving round in a typical open-world racer, you will have to set a waypoint to your subsequent goal and spend a couple of minutes making your means over by following the roads. In Lego 2K Drive, your automobile auto-switches from roadster to off-road automobile to boat primarily based on no matter you want at a given time. The clicking-clack of your automobile immediately reconstituting itself into one thing new if you hop from a highway to a river simply feels nice each time. A beneficiant nitro increase and a devoted soar button imply you may jump over obstacles and scale hills with ease. Different automobiles or small buildings in the best way? No downside, simply smash proper by means of them and so they’ll explode right into a thousand Lego bricks, constructing your increase meter within the course of. This successfully makes the entire world your playground, letting you carve paths by means of it. There’s nearly by no means a tough barrier between you and the enjoyable.
Naturally, the races are extra tightly managed. To maintain them aggressive, there are checkpoints and laborious partitions. However the races add one other layer that is not current within the open world, within the type of power-ups. This can be a staple of kart racers, and those current listed below are, for probably the most half, enjoyable and numerous methods to mess together with your opponents. You may immediately inform the rocket icon will allow you to fireplace a homing missile in your subsequent opponent, for instance, or that the ghost icon makes you invulnerable to obstacles for a short while. Energy-ups with much less universally recognizable icons, like a rolling mine, change into clear sufficient after the primary time you utilize them.
The one main miss among the many power-ups is the spider net, which falls into the kart racer weapon class of obstructing your opponent’s view and slowing them down. That impact could be wonderful by itself, however it additionally forces you to jam on a button to clear the net, which simply feels too distracting and unfair in the course of a race. On high of that, the button is mapped to the identical one as soar, so after clearing the net you are nearly assured to unintentionally soar if you did not imply to. (A late-game race towards a spider-themed rival was particularly irritating because of this).
The marketing campaign’s three biomes are bursting with issues to do along with conventional kart races. There are additionally On-The-Go occasions that set off mechanically if you drive by means of a gate, minigames like Rescue (assist townspeople from rampaging skeletons, clowns, and so forth) or Defend (defend a set of towers), World Challenges to set time data, and Quests the place you assist a townsperson with some odd job. Two of the three biomes–Huge Butte County and Prospecto Valley–can really feel related because of their sheer cliffs and rural landscapes, however the third is a radical departure each thematically and visually. And generally your actions can have everlasting results on the world, like mowing down weeds to switch them with speed-boosting crystals or unlocking jump-jets that can populate all through the biomes.
With all kinds of automobiles which have their very own stats, Lego 2K Drive additionally neatly helps you to set a handful of loadouts that may be swapped anytime you are not actively in an occasion. Certainly one of your loadouts could also be extra targeted on maxing out your acceleration whereas one other may deal with hairpin turns. I had one loadout put aside for after I needed to mow down weeds with out having to manually swap my off-road automobile to a lawnmower. As you progress by means of the marketing campaign, you may additionally unlock the flexibility to equip an growing quantity and extra highly effective perks, which may have a big impact in your racing type and technique. The presentation is completely kid-friendly, however the racing hooks are deep sufficient to attract in arcade racing followers of any age.
Whereas a lot of the marketing campaign is a clean experience, I did hit a pacing difficulty as soon as when nearing the top, after I wanted to grind some ranges to qualify for the subsequent part within the story. I discovered that a lot of the minigames and Quests awarded little or no XP, so my greatest guess was to replay races I had already accomplished on tougher and even simpler difficulties. It was a small roadbump, however notable regardless because it added an hour or so of additional playtime to what’s already an 8-10-hour core marketing campaign. The size would have been completely satisfying with out the additional padding. The ultimate race within the Sky Cup Grand Prix is an particularly thrilling excessive level, pun supposed, and even after ending the marketing campaign, the open world nonetheless feels inviting and contemporary with tons of challenges I have never even touched but.
Whereas not precisely affiliated with The Lego Film, Lego 2K Drive clearly took tonal cues from that hit animated film. The setting is usually city-based units, and the writing carries that very same sense of tongue-in-cheek all-ages humor that often breaks the fourth wall. The interaction between the 2 race announcers (Vikki Wheeler and Parker Carr) is a spotlight, with hilarious commentary earlier than main races. Your final objective is to assemble sufficient flags to qualify for the Sky Cup Grand Prix, the last word racing competitors held in a floating race course within the clouds, which is presently dominated by an obnoxious cheater named Shadow Z. A veteran racer named Clutch Racington sees potential in you and turns into your clueless comedian mentor, ushering you thru the steps of your journey to change into the last word driver and unseat Shadow Z.
With all that emphasis on plucking your racer from obscurity to change into the brand new champion, you would possibly count on there to be heavy character customization, however sadly no. You may choose from a handful of premade fashions, however you may’t craft your personal Lego minifig character from scratch, and even mix-and-match the elements from the fashions you’ve gotten accessible. Extra fashions unlock all through the marketing campaign and there are extra accessible within the store, nevertheless.
That is an odd oversight given how remarkably strong Lego 2K Drive is with its vehicle-crafting options. The constructing interface is extremely versatile and evocative of an precise Lego constructing set, with the identical snap-on satisfaction of placing every particular person brick into place. The menus are so full-featured that it may be just a little overwhelming at first, however it would not take lengthy to get a really feel for all of your choices and begin tinkering away. And when you begin, it is laborious to cease. There’s nearly no restrict to what you are able to do with the instruments. You would begin a construct from scratch, modify an current mannequin with new elements, and even simply give your favourite automobile a customized paint job.
In the end the constructing choices are beauty, and no quantity of flaps will make your automobile airborne. The way it truly handles comes down to statistics, which is its personal sub-menu. Whereas the pre-built automobiles you receive within the marketing campaign can have their very own values assigned to statistics like high pace and well being, in construct mode you may choose from a number of stat packages that steadiness their values with names like “Wholesome Possibility” (excessive well being) or “Edging Out” (good high pace and maneuverability on the expense of well being). You should buy higher-tier stat packages together with your earned money, however they’re all comparatively cheap and the presets hold any of them from feeling unbalanced. It is also properly versatile in that there would not appear to be a restrict on which stats you may connect to automobiles. Autos are given weight lessons primarily based on their variety of items, however I had no downside attaching the identical stat package deal to each a Gentle and Very Heavy automobile.
For a extra meditative expertise, the construct store additionally contains an Directions mode, made to mimic the sensation of really constructing a Lego set from a bag stuffed with elements. It breaks down one of many pre-built fashions, providing you with particular person steps with a number of elements to assemble, and then you definitely merely seize them one after the other to rotate after which click on them into place. I’ve all the time loved the relaxed, therapeutic expertise of placing collectively a Lego set, and this captures that feeling nearly exactly.
Increasing your assortment of automobiles to have extra to construct and modify is the place Lego 2K Drive seems to intention to have longevity. A season move known as the Drive Go guarantees extra racers and automobiles, however it is not lively on the time of this evaluation. Other than a wide selection of automobiles, you additionally earn cash by means of the marketing campaign. However having accomplished it, I’ve barely sufficient to purchase a number of automobiles, so it appears clear that the objective is to maintain gamers coming again long-term. I am glad with my present assortment and I am going to see what the Drive Go has to supply, however completionists will certainly must decide to earn a full assortment of automobiles and racers. You can too purchase a premium foreign money after which flip it into the in-game foreign money, which may definitely be a priority for a kid-friendly sport with gradual in-game development. However since any aggressive benefit comes from the cheap stat packages themselves, there would not appear to be a aggressive benefit for the DLC automobiles.
Regardless of the future holds, Lego 2K Drive is already a whole package–a raucous arcade racer that marries components of open-world racing and kart racing and wraps all of it in a vivid, playful Lego package deal. It has sufficient actual racing bona fides to fulfill adults, however probably the most nice shock is how its mixture of humor, explosive motion, and strong constructing instruments will make you’re feeling like a child once more.