LEGO 2K Drive review

2K and Visual Concepts have stepped away from the thrills of the hardwood and the squared circle to deliver an open world kart racer crafted by the comforting bricks of mega toy company LEGO, and for the most part, LEGO 2K Drive provides a fair amount of thrills. Sure, it gets a bit repetitive, but the racing is tight with a surprising amount of depth, and the different areas are filled with colour and variety. While some of the humour has you rolling your eyes, there’s plenty here to keep both kids and adults playing regardless of where that enjoyment lies.

The premise of LEGO 2K Drive’s main campaign is pretty simple: take part in various competitions with the goal of conquering each area’s Grand Brick Arena tournament. You’ll participate in these races to earn a checkered flag, and when you’ve got enough, it’s time for the big one. Each race sees you try and defeat a rival with a somewhat humorous name and story, and while the act of racing is great thanks to the fine handling, your opponents tend to stay at your throats until the finish line.

Even when you’ve stuck to every corner with precision, made full use of your boosts, and blown opponents sky high with your power-ups, it sometimes feels like it’s for naught. You don’t feel rewarded for out-driving opponents as you would in other kart racers, and sometimes you can lose first position at the last hurdle through no fault of your own. Despite this issue, I loved the racing itself. While you can harness the ability to drift, there’s also a quick turn option that helps navigate some of the tighter corners.

Normal turning is sluggish, so making use of both drifting and sharp turning is vital. One of the coolest features of LEGO 2K Drive is the ability to seamlessly transition between off-road, open road, and boats. Whether exploring the world or in a race, your vehicle will automatically change depending on the terrain. Flying off a hillside and landing into the water below doesn’t mean you’ll crash and have to start over. Instead, you’ll transition to another vehicle and just keep on racing. You can also make use of a speed boost which is really handy, with the gauge built up faster by crashing into things.

While competitive racing is the main draw, there’s still lots to do while exploring. It feels as though Visual Concepts have taken a page out of Forza Horizon‘s book, as there are various challenges littered across the map. They’re quick to enter and provide a slew of challenges, such as beating a certain time or getting the most air following a jump, all rewarding you with XP to level up or cash. There are side quests that can be undertaken to unlock various customisable stuff, along with new cars and other rewards.

Tons of collectibles are scattered across the world as well, giving you plenty to do once the story is over. LEGO 2K Drive also has minigames to participate in, from saving villagers from zombie cowboys that eat up your vehicles to blowing up aliens, and there’s even a Squid Game-inspired red light green light challenge. There’s a lot of content here, and if you love how it feels to drive, then all this content will provide loads of optional stuff to do while trying to become the best racer around.

One of the best features of LEGO 2K Drive is the ability to fully build a car of your own from scratch. Brick-by-brick, you’re free to build cars you unlock or ones from your own imagination, and it’s a great feature that rewards you for creativity. Racing around in your own invention is pretty cool, and it’s one element that has been missing from a lot of TT Games’ LEGO entries. You can build various loadouts of cars and boats from unlocked vehicles or creations, and all have different stats, allowing you to select various loadouts depending on where your focus is.

LEGO 2K Drive is for everyone. While it definitely feels like it’s aimed more at kids, there’s a satisfying gameplay loop for older players as well. The creative side of it will definitely appeal to lifelong LEGO fans, especially when you get to read various manuals to help build pre-existing creations, and the wealth of side content is impressive. The handling is tight, but the more competitive aspects such as power-ups and one-upping the opposition could still do with a little work. It’s a solid starting point if it’s to be a franchise for the future, and even though the humour isn’t as witty as other LEGO games, I still raised a smile every now and again.