A Chaotic and Nostalgic drive down memory lane.
Lego 2K Drive is a chaotic Lego-based racing game in which you take control of different Lego vehicles and freely explore the world of Bricklandia. The game follows a main story where you participate in races to gain enough checkered flags to get to the Sky Cup Grand Prix. Alongside the main story, there are separate things to do like mini games or general racing. Like most Lego titles, the world and its environment are mostly destructible, allowing the player to speed through anything that may be considered an obstacle if this wasn’t a Lego game. However, unlike most Lego games, rather than collecting studs when destroying your surroundings, you gain both additional speed boosts and repairs to your car if damaged. I enjoyed this feature as it is a really unique way to display the Lego themes in this racing game.
When I was growing up, I was obsessed with both Lego and the Lego video games like Batman, Star Wars, Marvel, Jurassic Park, whatever it was if it was Lego, I played it. One thing that never felt special or improved on at any point during any of those games was the driving. Driving in Lego games always felt extremely slow and janky and it never seemed to get any better with future instalments which is why when I heard they were making a new Lego game which is based on driving and driving only, I started to get a bit nervous. However, I can safely say that the driving has greatly improved, and the controls were a lot smoother. Quick turns and drifting were also a nice addition which helped the game really stand out as a real racing game and all this helped me into genuinely having a lot of fun with this game.
My favourite part to Lego 2K Drive would have to be the vehicle transformations. When traversing different terrain, your Lego vehicle will transform itself into a new vehicle that fits the terrain you are driving on. For example, if you’re driving your Lego formula one car on the roads but you drift onto the dirt pathways, your car will transform into an offroad vehicle to help you keep up the pace no matter what you’re driving on. Your car can even turn into a boat so you can keep going even in the water. Rather than having one big map, the game has numerous different maps with different terrains which I think is cools and allows the player to have multiple options on where to race but I feel like some of the maps could be a little bigger to allow more exploration. However, even though the maps are somewhat small and easy to traverse, they do manage to fit lots of mini games and challenges for you to find and complete around the map. Even though they aren’t apart of the main story, the mini games and challenges do help you achieve the main story goals as they help you level yourself up which allows you to participate in better races and unlock more vehicles and perks. I may be wrong, but this is also the first time I’ve seen perks in Lego games. Perks in this game include things like acceleration boosts, melee boosts and additional health for your vehicle. Alongside perks, vehicle customisation is a huge part of this game. Due to it being a Lego game, you can change and customise pretty much any part of your vehicle so you can make yourself look fly while you zoom down the track.
Racing in this game is extremely chaotic. It felt like a mix between Forza racing in the sense that you’re racing and Mario Kart racing in the sense that there is so much going on at all times as power ups are flying past you, and you have no idea how you’re still in first place. The power ups include things like turning your car into a ghost in order to avoid obstacles and other players and huge rockets that destroy any racer that dare stand in your way. There are also different race styles and obstacles depending on the map you are racing on like having to dodge incoming tornadoes when racing on the desert map. One problem I did have with the racing was the competition and the racing itself. It felt very easy to win races as it was only taking me one or maybe two attempts at most to win races but then again, I have to take into considerations that this is a kids game. It was the absolute chaos of the power ups and the constant car transformations that kept me invested throughout the game.
