Enjoyable However Flawed Open-World Racer

I used to be on board with Lego 2K Drive the second I discovered we had been getting an open-world Lego racing sport, full with the flexibility to construct your individual autos. And having performed almost 12 hours to date, I’m nonetheless having lots of enjoyable with the sport. Nevertheless it’s unattainable 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 sport to return from a deal struck between 2K and Lego again in 2022. The 2 firms apparently determined to attach their names collectively and add “drive” to the top to create what may be essentially the most boring online game title of 2023. Fortunately, the online game itself is far, far more enjoyable than its drab title, which sounds much less like a wacky open-world racer full of cool power-ups and extra like a nasty sports activities sport that includes a sport I’ve by no means heard of however which is nonetheless common.

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 brief however enjoyable tutorial. It makes a superb 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 about in a brick-built world full of facet missions, mini-games, collectibles, and so, so many Lego autos. It’s very colourful and lovely. And big! The open world of 2K Drive is break up into just a few totally different biomes, every with its personal theme, characters, missions, and autos. Enjoying this sport is like attending to play within the basement of the wealthy child you knew in elementary faculty 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 principle story mode is that an evil racer hates you—for causes the sport jokingly doesn’t elaborate on—and it’s a must to win the massive trophy to show your self the higher driver. To get an opportunity at that massive win you’ll need to earn a bunch of flags by beating rivals, leveling as much as unlock new races, rank up, and ultimately acquire entry to the massive closing event. There’s not a lot to the precise story, however the writing is much like the latest Lego motion pictures, often making me smile and infrequently annoying. And I feel children will benefit from the zanier moments.

However to win the massive trophy and show your self to your evil rival, you’ll must do greater than race Lego-built vehicles round numerous 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 sort of auto. As an alternative, 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 that you would be able to discover the complete Lego-filled world of Bricklandia as you please.

Driving actual quick and attain a river? Maintain driving and also you’ll simply flip into a ship! Take a pointy flip off a paved highway 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 wherever at any time.

All of the bricks and funky stuff on the earth can’t save a racing sport with dangerous driving physics or poor controls, and fortunately, 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 all over the world like a Lego professional. And on Xbox Sequence X efficiency was clean as butter, making it simple 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 function an incredible, in-depth, and easy-to-use automobile builder—letting you make almost 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, for those who don’t need to (or can’t) construct one thing like an ambulance or an enormous hamburger automotive, the shop provides official Lego builds that you would be able to purchase and use in-game. Nevertheless, all of those vehicles price $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, probably say: Don’t fear, you should buy some Bux if you wish to. That is true, positive, however it’s so misplaced on this in any other case colourful romp of creativity and wackiness.

And the way in which the economic system is balanced, it actually feels such as you’ll must fork over some money if you wish to purchase a couple of of those pre-made vehicles with out grinding for hours. It’s additionally unhappy that the in-game retailer incorporates Lego half packs on the market. These are cheaper than the vehicles (fortunately) and the builder in-game does include lots of elements out there free of charge (and also you earn extra by finishing missions), however the truth that some bricks and bits are locked behind a paywall—even one that you would be able to bypass by way of grinding—is irritating.

The opposite massive 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 net races play equally to the single-player races, however with the added wrinkle that your opponents may need spent hours determining how one can construct the perfect, excellent race automotive. Or an enormous dick. Or perhaps they simply spent some actual money and acquired a automotive utilizing Bux. Till the sport is out within the wild, will probably be onerous to say how multiplayer will shake out, however I’ve some issues.

It’s actually a disgrace that such a beautiful 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.