I was on board Lego 2K drive The moment I found out we were getting an open world Lego racing game, complete with the ability to build your own vehicles. And after playing almost 12 hours so far, I still enjoy the game a lot. But it’s impossible to ignore the nagging feeling that I really want to spend money on the in-game shop.
announced in March Lego 2K drive is the first game to emerge from a deal 2K and Lego in 2022. The two companies have apparently decided to stick their names together and add “Drive” at the end to create what might be the most boring video game title of 2023. Thankfully, the video game itself is way, way more fun than its drab title sounds less like a crazy open-world racing game full of cool power-ups and more like a bad sports game with a sport I’ve never heard of but does is nevertheless popular.
Boring name but fun lego race
Overcome the boring name and Lego 2K drive comes full steam ahead with an exciting CG cutscene and a fairly short but entertaining tutorial right from the start. It makes a good first impression. And the moment the game gave me full control, I was amazed by what I saw. Lego 2K drive takes place in a building block world full of side missions, minigames, collectibles and so many lego vehicles. It’s very colorful and beautiful. And huge! The open world of 2K drive is divided into a few different biomes, each with its own theme, characters, missions, and vehicles. Playing this game is like playing in the basement of the rich kid you knew in elementary school who had every Lego set. Lucky bastard. But now I, Zack, have all the bricks and cool sets to play with!
The premise of the main story mode is that an evil racer hates you – for reasons the game jokingly doesn’t elaborate on – and you need to win the big trophy to prove you’re the better driver. To stand a chance at the big win, you’ll need to earn tons of flags by beating rivals, leveling up to unlock new races, climbing the ranks, and eventually gaining access to the grand finals tournament. The actual story doesn’t have much to offer, but the writing style is similar to recent Lego films, occasionally making me chuckle and rarely annoying. And I think kids will enjoy the crazier moments.
But to win the big trophy and prove yourself to your evil rival you need to do more than racing lego cars on different tracks, because driving boats and mastering off-road vehicles are also on your agenda. And like the cars, they are all made of bricks. However, they do not actively choose between the individual vehicle types. Instead, as you race, the game automatically switches between your choice of car, boat, or off-road vehicle. This streamlines what might have been an annoying part of it 2K driveand also means you can explore the entire Lego world of Bricklandia at your leisure.
Driving really fast and hitting a river? Keep going and you’ll turn into a boat! Take a sharp turn from a paved road onto a few dunes? Don’t worry, the game will swap your car for a jeep without any delay. It requires the open world driving of Forza Horizon and makes it even more arcade-like and exciting as you can go anytime, anywhere.
All the bricks and cool stuff in the world can’t save a racing game with bad driving physics or bad controls, and luckily Lego 2K driveIt avoids these pitfalls and is fun to play with. Once I mastered the drift and jump controls, I could masterfully zoom, swing and glide around the world like a Lego pro. And on the Xbox Series
Lego 2K driveThe disappointing microtransactions
The moment the bricks start falling off this creation is when you start poking around the menus where you come across a shop with a seasonal menu. While the game features an amazing, detailed, and easy-to-use vehicle builder that lets you build almost anything you can imagine, it also features some disappointing microtransactions.
Technically, you can just drive around, have fun, unlock some cars, build your own creations, and never really interact with the in-game shop. However, if you don’t want to (or can’t) build something like an ambulance or a giant hamburger car, the store has official Lego models that you can purchase and use in-game. However, all of these cars cost $10,000 for Lego Bux. And after playing for 12 hours I only made about $8,000.
At this point, 2K Games would probably say with a twirling mustache: Don’t worry, you can buy Bux if you want. While that’s true, it’s so out of place in this otherwise colorful playground of creativity and craziness.
And the way the economy is in balance, it really does feel like spending some cash if you want to buy more than one of these pre-built cars without spending hours grinding. Also sadly, there are Lego parts packs for sale in the in-game store. These are cheaper than the cars (thankfully) and while the in-game kit makes many parts available for free (and you earn more by completing missions), the fact that some bricks and parts are locked behind a paywall – even one that can be bypassed by looping – is frustrating.
The other big part of Lego 2K drive is a multiplayer mode that I hardly tried as not many other players were online when I played the game prior to release. The online races play out much like the single player races, with the added disadvantage that your opponents may have spent hours figuring out how to build the ideal, perfect race car. Or a giant cock. Or maybe they just spent real money and bought a car with Bux. Until the game launches it’s going to be hard to tell how multiplayer will pan out, but I have some concerns.
It really is a shame that such a beautiful and fun open-world sandbox is tied to things like a season pass, premium currencies, and expensive in-game purchases. Maybe 2K will adjust some levers to make it easier to earn and unlock new cars – which would be nice – but until then the specter of greed will always be there, tormenting me as I build, smash and race.
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