Lego 2K Drive combines Mario Kart, Forza Horizon, and Lego bricks

“Yeah, Mario Kart vs. Forza Horizon, I’ll take it,” says Brian Silva, director of upcoming lego 2k drive, in preview of Visual Concepts’ new racing game.After about 3 hours of hands-on, the first thing that came to mind was the comparison lego 2k driveOpen world driving hijinks and races full of power-ups, boost pads and drifts.

However, since it is an officially licensed Lego game, lego 2k drive Constituents, it seems, are not the only influences.

setup of lego 2k drive Pretty standard fare: you’re the new kid on the block, winning races, building your reputation by completing side quests, and eventually challenging famous characters from the story and exploring new areas of the map. It has to earn enough notoriety to open up.

If you’ve played Lego action-adventure games or seen Lego movies, you’re familiar with the brand’s wry humor. That same good-natured goof, lego 2k drive To contextualize the open-world driving adventure. The story space broadcaster narrates game events with irreverent self-awareness, teasing the absurdity of what is happening. Nearly every character’s name looks like a cheesy car-related pun, and side his missions ask him to run silly errands for NPCs. Problem is, it’s on me.

The LEGO bricks themselves are integral to gameplay and open world design. “Anything made of Lego in the game can be built in the real world with Lego,” Silva says of the buildings, foliage and other objects seen in the game. This extends to the vehicle itself, which is the most important part of the game’s identity.

Blocklandia’s open world consists of different terrain types. Your car automatically and instantly transforms into the right vehicle for the terrain. A race car on the open road, an off-roader on the dirt, and a speedboat on the water. There’s a delightful seamlessness of navigating the world and being able to use different types of vehicles on the fly, which further emphasizes the extensive vehicle customization capabilities.

These vehicles can be decorated with stickers, flares, or a nonsensical composition of stacked blocks. But the more engaging aspect is the ability to build vehicles block by block using official LEGO bricks, with over 1,000 blocks to play with.Movable parts, layers and small parts to manage in 3D space. It took me some time to get the hang of the controls in the Customization Garage because there are a few. It’s not as easy as snapping the necessary blocks into place when you come up with your off-the-wall design, so taking full advantage of the game’s customization options requires considerable effort and wrestling with the system. But after about 30 minutes, I was able to build my modest car, and I’m convinced that with more time and creativity, people could make wild whips. Also, although we weren’t able to confirm specific details, Silva said players will be able to share their designs online (there will be a review process for inappropriate content).

Image: Visual Concepts/2K Gaming

Whatever giant LEGO Kraftwerk you can think of, you’re going to bring them to the races. And the most impressive from a gameplay perspective is the lego 2k drive Mainly kart racers. There’s a vast open world to explore and destroy, but most of the essence of the game is in competitive racing, complete with all the traps you’d expect.Homing missiles, shields, bombs, speed boosts and more throughout the course. Earn power-ups and items to turn the tide of each race. In true kart racing fashion, you’re never really safe in first place, even on the final straight.

Courses often feature big jumps and boost pads to keep the momentum going, requiring different types of vehicles to be used while racing on different terrains. Every racer also has his own NOS-like speed his boost gauge, which builds up fast enough to cause destruction on the course, promoting reckless driving. Drifting is key to making fast, tight turns. It’s as easy as pulling the right trigger and the car breaks traction and starts sliding. It is easy to control even with a hairpin. The course itself varies based on his three difficulty levels available. Not only does it make the AI ​​tougher, it also throws additional twists, turns and obstacles onto the course for a chaotic race.

It’s great to see someone else venture into the kart racing genre. In particular, they can not only stand out in collaborations like Lego, but can also be integrated into larger environments with other activities in between. But that’s where I’d like to see more from the game. Other missions pop up for chunks of XP, such as one in which he had to defend three towers after crashing into aliens descending from a UFO. It played into the silly tone, but it didn’t always play to its strengths when it came to gameplay, hands-on is one aspect of him that felt weak based on his demos.

Image: Visual Concepts/2K Gaming

However, it has the foundation of great gameplay. Driving through the map is easy, and unlike some of its contemporaries, you don’t feel stuck or needing to reset. Lego vehicles morph to fit the situation and keep things moving. A dedicated jump button makes exploring easier so you don’t have to be pinned to the ground all the time. Silva said he wanted to create a sense of exploration, stating: [Lego 2K] racing And for good reason. We didn’t want this to be a traditional racing game where you pick a vehicle, chase it, and repeat. We wanted it to feel like a driving adventure. ” There are many parts of the map to unlock, so my hope is that lego 2k drive It becomes clearer as the game progresses.

whole, lego 2k drive It has a lot of potential, both as a kart racer and as a casual driving experience in an open world. I’m curious if the kart racing aspect is good enough to sustain long-term interest as it looks like it has potential, especially if you focus on multiplayer racing and open world activities . With a roughly 15-hour campaign, it comes down to non-kart racing elements supporting the rest of the game.

It won’t be long before you can move bricks yourself. lego 2k drive It will be available on May 19th for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.