Lego 2K Drive is as close as open-world Mario Kart

i had a great time Lego 2K Driver, a hilarious take on the open-world racing genre, happens to have one of the most boring names ever. So boring in fact that my son watched the trailer and laughed and asked me if it was serious. Yes, but games definitely aren’t. This is also, you might think I’m stretching here, making me think about how open world Mario Kart is going to work. If it does happen, it might not be far from the Lego 2K Drive.

everything yes Great, that’s not really an exaggeration..

Before delving into the real strengths of the Lego 2K Drive, it’s worth understanding the ways in which this game tries to squeeze (or, more politely, bait) money out of you. There’s a currency you can earn by playing the game (Brickbux), but there’s also a premium currency (Coins) that costs you real money. There are plenty of cool cars and kits to buy from the shop, but using earned currency feels like a chore. In general, after playing through the story mode for five to six hours, you should be able to afford to buy a new car, but it’s worth noting that replaying a race will earn you less Bricks than winning the first time , while the revenue of online games is small by the amount of bux.

So it’s easy to see how you might want to add more Brickbux to your wallet by exchanging coins, bypassing the effort at the expense of your actual bank balance. I hope the season event rewards you with some money too… Speaking of.

LEGO 2K Drive will also feature multiple seasons, each of which works in the same way you’d normally see it in money-making games like Fortnite. These seasons will have a premium version and a free version, with the premium version offering better rewards. It’s too early to say how these will work in the game, but they won’t be time-limited, allowing players to complete them in their own levels without worrying about running out of time to get all the rewards.

whatever you want. I think a lot of it will come down to whether you play this as an adult or play it for your kids. As an adult, you hope not to pester yourself to the point of rage over a cool car. Children do not have this ability to control their demands.

Well, it’s great that you’re playing games instead of shopping. There’s a story that guides you through several open, explorable maps, and it’s actually more fun than games like Forza or even Need for Speed. It helps that this isn’t wearing funky spoilers or gritty bumpers—it’s just Lego characters doing Lego, which just happens to be silly, silly, fun things to do. Sometimes it has a Wacky Racers vibe, other times it’s a clichéd but amusing genre trope, but it’s never just entertainment.

At the heart of the progression are the flags, awarded for winning key races, but the bulk of the game is how you earn the XP needed to access those race events. There are tons of side events to find and participate in, rewarding you with tons of rewards and XP. Complete enough of these fun side quests and challenges and you’ll unlock new races – complete them and you’ll regain more XP to move the game forward. Some of these campaigns are roaming, others are more signposted and closed, but overall the game makes good use of its open environment.

How is this similar to Mario Kart, you ask? Well, feeling is more important than anything. Car drifting is satisfying and doesn’t require a lot of skill from the player. The power boost litters the track and has a big impact on the result, and the whole thing just has an air of joy hanging over it. The multiplayer option even includes Mario Kart-style cup racing, doing away with the open-world element and focusing on race events.

Even the way the cars transform into vehicles for different terrains is a bit like what happened in Mario Kart. Get in the water and you’ll turn into a boat of your choice, go off-road and you’ll be whatever vehicle you choose with big wheels, then head to the street and you’ll suddenly be behind the wheel of a sports car (of sorts) . Speaking of vehicles, 2K Drive includes some great creation tools that allow you to build new vehicles from scratch based on presets. You have some restrictions on using bricks, and you need to send approval to use the creations online, but there are already some great creations out in the wild.

I don’t know if Mario Kart will deviate significantly from its historical success, but the LEGO 2K drive has me more enthusiastic than ever to try new things. The LEGO characters deliver quests, and the wildly designed world relies heavily on the license’s sense of fantasy, adventure, and discovery, all with driving physics that feel just right for an arcade-like experience. This would translate perfectly to the Nintendo world. Even if that didn’t happen, at least we now know – just beware of pestering.