I used to be on board with Lego 2K Drive the second I realized we have been getting an open-world Lego racing sport, full with the power to construct your personal automobiles. And having performed almost 12 hours to this point, I’m nonetheless having a variety of enjoyable with the sport. Nevertheless it’s not possible to disregard a nagging feeling that it actually desires me to spend cash in its in-game retailer.
Introduced in March, Lego 2K Drive is the primary sport to return from a deal struck between 2K and Lego again in 2022. The 2 firms apparently determined to attach their names collectively and add “drive” to the tip to create what is likely to be probably the most boring online game title of 2023. Fortunately, the online game itself is far, rather more enjoyable than its drab title, which sounds much less like a wacky open-world racer stuffed with cool power-ups and extra like a nasty sports activities sport that includes a sport I’ve by no means heard of however which is nonetheless widespread.
Bland identify, however enjoyable Lego racing
Get previous the tasteless identify and Lego 2K Drive comes proper out of the gate firing on all cylinders with an thrilling CG cutscene and a reasonably brief however enjoyable tutorial. It makes a great first impression. And the second the sport gave me full management, I used to be in awe of what I noticed. Lego 2K Drive is ready in a brick-built world stuffed with aspect missions, mini-games, collectibles, and so, so many Lego automobiles. It’s very colourful and lovely. And large! The open world of 2K Drive is break up into just a few totally different biomes, every with its personal theme, characters, missions, and automobiles. Enjoying this sport is like attending to play within the basement of the wealthy child you knew in elementary faculty who had each Lego set. Fortunate bastard. However now I, Zack, have all of the bricks and funky units to play with!
The fundamental setup behind the principle story mode is that an evil racer hates you—for causes the sport jokingly doesn’t elaborate on—and you need to win the large trophy to show your self the higher driver. To get an opportunity at that large win you’ll must earn a bunch of flags by beating rivals, leveling as much as unlock new races, rank up, and finally achieve entry to the large closing match. There’s not a lot to the precise story, however the writing is much like the latest Lego films, often making me smile and infrequently annoying. And I feel children will benefit from the zanier moments.
However to win the large trophy and show your self to your evil rival, you’ll have to do greater than race Lego-built vehicles round varied tracks, as piloting boats and mastering off-road automobiles are in your agenda, too. And just like the vehicles, all of those are brick-built. Nonetheless, you don’t actively select between every kind of auto. As an alternative, as you race round, the sport auto-swaps between both your automotive, boat, or off-road trip of selection. This streamlines what may have been an annoying a part of 2K Drive, and in addition means which you could discover your entire Lego-filled world of Bricklandia as you please.
Driving actual quick and attain a river? Maintain driving and also you’ll simply flip into a ship! Take a pointy flip off a paved street and onto some dunes? Don’t fear, the sport will swap your automotive out for a jeep with out lacking a beat. It takes the open-world driving of Forza Horizon and makes it much more arcadey and thrilling as you possibly can actually go wherever at any time.
All of the bricks and funky stuff on this planet can’t save a racing sport with unhealthy driving physics or poor controls, and by chance, Lego 2K Drive avoids these pitfalls and is a blast to play. As soon as I mastered the drifting and leaping controls, I used to be masterfully swooping, swinging, and gliding world wide like a Lego professional. And on Xbox Collection X efficiency was clean as butter, making it simple to take pleasure in all of the high-speed motion.
Lego 2K Drive’s disappointing microtransactions
The second bricks begin to fall off this creation is whenever you begin to dig across the menus, the place you’ll encounter a retailer full with a season go. Whereas the sport does function an incredible, in-depth, and easy-to-use automobile builder—letting you make almost something you possibly can think about—it additionally options some disappointing microtransactions.
Technically, you possibly can simply drive round, have some enjoyable, unlock some vehicles, construct your personal creations, and by no means actually work together with the in-game retailer. However, in the event you don’t need to (or can’t) construct one thing like an ambulance or a large hamburger automotive, the shop affords official Lego builds which you could purchase and use in-game. Nonetheless, all of those vehicles price $10,000 Lego Bux. And after taking part in for 12 hours I’ve solely reached round $8,000.
That is the half the place 2K Video games would, whereas twirling its mustache, possible say: Don’t fear, you should buy some Bux if you wish to. That is true, positive, but it surely’s so misplaced on this in any other case colourful romp of creativity and wackiness.
And the way in which the economic system is balanced, it actually feels such as you’ll have to fork over some money if you wish to purchase a couple of of those pre-made vehicles with out grinding for hours. It’s additionally unhappy that the in-game retailer incorporates Lego half packs on the market. These are cheaper than the vehicles (fortunately) and the builder in-game does include a variety of elements accessible totally free (and also you earn extra by finishing missions), however the truth that some bricks and bits are locked behind a paywall—even one which you could bypass by way of grinding—is irritating.
The opposite large a part of Lego 2K Drive is multiplayer, which I’ve solely barely poked as there weren’t many different gamers on-line whereas I performed the sport earlier than launch. The net races play equally to the single-player races, however with the added wrinkle that your opponents might need spent hours determining learn how to construct the perfect, excellent race automotive. Or a large dick. Or perhaps they simply spent some actual money and acquired a automotive utilizing Bux. Till the sport is out within the wild, it is going to be arduous to say how multiplayer will shake out, however I’ve some issues.
It’s actually a disgrace that such a stunning and enjoyable open-world sandbox is tied to stuff like a season go, premium currencies, and costly in-game purchases. Maybe 2K will tweak some levers to make it simpler to earn and unlock new vehicles—which might be good—however till then the specter of greed will at all times be there, nagging at me as I construct, smash, and race.
