LEGO 2K Drive review – That’s Gaming

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Lego games have always had a special place in my heart. As a kid, I often enough played Lego Racers, the Star Wars games and many more. With the arrival of Lego 2K drive, my Lego heart started beating a bit again. After all, Lego games have been around for a while, not special anymore. All franchises already have a Lego game attached to their name, all concepts in Lego have already appeared in games at one time, so what else can be done? 2K, in fact, has an answer to that. For 2K has made a deal with Lego to develop games related to a number of sports. So their first game is 2K Drive, a Lego racing game that might just revive the old feelings of yesteryear of Lego Racer.

LEGO 2K Drive is an open world kart game. You have to think of it as a Forza Horizon, compounded with Mario Kart. The childishness and power ups of Mario Kart and the open world of Forza. A combination that really should have been implemented years ago. However, there are some things to note about the combination. So it is an open world kart game, but also not quite. There are four areas you can unlock and you have to race in those as well. So the world is not directly in front of your feet. For each area, you will have to do races, quests and minigames to unlock the next area. The races and power ups are literally taken from Mario Kart, but in the Lego way and slightly less well developed. The power ups sometimes feel a little weak and don’t feel like such an integral part of the game like in Mario Kart, which is a shame. Still, the combination that 2K offers here is one that I thoroughly enjoyed as an adult.

The four environment unlocks are accompanied by a story, which is not the best story ever. The enemy of the story is Shadow Z who you also recognize as “Nieman who is suddenly a threat out of nowhere.” The story is simple but still entertaining, especially for children, which is obviously what the game is meant for. The game has the LEGO humor you can expect from a LEGO game, with dry jokes here and there, with references to real life and other games. It’s a fun way to go through the game, despite the story not being very strong. Still, I enjoyed playing through it because the environments just look beautiful in this LEGO world. Because that is indeed incredibly strong about this game, how the game looks and how the environments can be destroyed and that can only be done in the real Lego way. Almost the entire world is built with LEGO pieces, making the game look like you put it together yourself.

When you finish the game, which takes about 5 hours, you still have the opportunity to do a wide range of side missions and the challenges here and there. This ensures that you can get hours of enjoyment out of the game, especially kids. After all, kids will always want to break their high scores. However, many challenges and side missions are copy/paste, so you notice that for an older audience the game can get boring quickly.

In LEGO Racers you already had the ability to create your own kart, now you have the same, but much more extensive. This expanded kart maker has its pros and cons. Namely, it is incredibly impressive how you can shape the car, whether you make a car, boat or an off-road car. During all kinds of missions you get new parts, so your imagination can really go wild with making a car. The cool thing about it is that the cars you make can actually be made in real life. If it fits in the game, it also fits in your bedroom. Still, I hear you say, what’s the downside? And the downside, unfortunately, is micro transactions. To buy the best parts you will really have to pull out your wallet, normally this is not really a problem, but LEGO 2K drive is a game made for kids. This game is full of microtransactions to unlock cars, dolls and parts and it is prominent too. 2K games (WWE 2K, NBA 2K) are known for their microtransactions, but the fact that a LEGO game for kids is also presented with this is really a downside. In fact, it is so prominent that sometimes you forget all the positives. Keep in mind that this game costs about 70 euros and then children most likely want the best parts for their go-karts….

I end above with a very negative point, but that should not take away that LEGO 2K Drive is really a fun game for kids and also for adults. The karting on water, roads and off-road feels great, despite the power-ups not being great. The graphics are wonderful and the world is wonderfully constructed. The racing feels like a real karting game and if you want to get really good you will have to practice. Still, the somewhat simple and short story and the intense use of microtransactions leaves a nasty aftertaste in my mouth. Microtransactions are something you give to adults, not children.