Enjoyable However Flawed Open-World Racer

I used to be on board with Lego 2K Drive the second I realized we had been getting an open-world Lego racing recreation, full with the power to construct your individual autos. And having performed practically 12 hours up to now, I’m nonetheless having loads of enjoyable with the sport. Nevertheless it’s inconceivable to disregard a nagging feeling that it actually needs me to spend cash in its in-game retailer.

Introduced in March, Lego 2K Drive is the primary recreation to return from a deal struck between 2K and Lego again in 2022. The 2 corporations apparently determined to connect their names collectively and add “drive” to the top to create what may be probably the most boring online game title of 2023. Fortunately, the online game itself is way, way 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 recreation that includes a sport I’ve by no means heard of however which is nonetheless well-liked.

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 quick however enjoyable tutorial. It makes an excellent 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 facet missions, mini-games, collectibles, and so, so many Lego autos. It’s very colourful and beautiful. And big! The open world of 2K Drive is break up into a couple of totally different biomes, every with its personal theme, characters, missions, and autos. Taking part in this recreation is like attending to play within the basement of the wealthy child you knew in elementary college who had each Lego set. Fortunate bastard. However now I, Zack, have all of the bricks and funky units to play with!

The essential setup behind the primary story mode is that an evil racer hates you—for causes the sport jokingly doesn’t elaborate on—and you must win the large trophy to show your self the higher driver. To get an opportunity at that huge win you’ll must earn a bunch of flags by beating rivals, leveling as much as unlock new races, rank up, and finally acquire entry to the large remaining match. There’s not a lot to the precise story, however the writing is much like the latest Lego motion pictures, sometimes making me smile and barely annoying. And I believe children will benefit from the zanier moments.

However to win the large trophy and show your self to your evil rival, you’ll must do greater than race Lego-built vehicles round varied tracks, as piloting boats and mastering off-road autos are in your agenda, too. And just like the vehicles, all of those are brick-built. Nevertheless, you don’t actively select between every kind of car. As a substitute, as you race round, the sport auto-swaps between both your automotive, boat, or off-road experience of alternative. This streamlines what might have been an annoying a part of 2K Drive, and in addition means you could discover all the Lego-filled world of Bricklandia as you please.

Driving actual quick and attain a river? Preserve 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 may actually go anyplace at any time.

All of the bricks and funky stuff on this planet can’t save a racing recreation with dangerous driving physics or poor controls, and fortuitously, 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 Sequence X efficiency was clean as butter, making it straightforward 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 cross. Whereas the sport does characteristic a tremendous, in-depth, and easy-to-use automobile builder—letting you make practically something you may think about—it additionally options some disappointing microtransactions.

Technically, you may simply drive round, have some enjoyable, unlock some vehicles, construct your individual creations, and by no means actually work together with the in-game retailer. However, if you happen to don’t wish to (or can’t) construct one thing like an ambulance or an enormous hamburger automotive, the shop presents official Lego builds you could purchase and use in-game. Nevertheless, all of those vehicles value $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, seemingly say: Don’t fear, you should buy some Bux if you wish to. That is true, certain, nevertheless it’s so misplaced on this in any other case colourful romp of creativity and wackiness.

And the best way the financial system is balanced, it actually feels such as you’ll must fork over some money if you wish to purchase multiple of those pre-made vehicles with out grinding for hours. It’s additionally unhappy that the in-game retailer comprises Lego half packs on the market. These are cheaper than the vehicles (fortunately) and the builder in-game does include loads of components obtainable at no cost (and also you earn extra by finishing missions), however the truth that some bricks and bits are locked behind a paywall—even one you could bypass by way of grinding—is irritating.

The opposite huge 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 web races play equally to the single-player races, however with the added wrinkle that your opponents may need spent hours determining tips on how to construct the perfect, good race automotive. Or an enormous dick. Or perhaps they only spent some actual money and acquired a automotive utilizing Bux. Till the sport is out within the wild, will probably be laborious to say how multiplayer will shake out, however I’ve some considerations.

It’s actually a disgrace that such a stunning and enjoyable open-world sandbox is tied to stuff like a season cross, 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 all the time be there, nagging at me as I construct, smash, and race.