LEGO 2K Drive review

LEGO 2K Drive review: LEGO has been in the game industry for a very long time. In particular, Traveller’s Tales, in short, licensed LEGO games such as Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman and Marvel, released by TT Games, have been played by millions of players all over the world and continue to be played.

During the pandemic that changed our lives, LEGO started to make very important changes. First, they started to make sets for adults by changing the structure of LEGO sets, which they knew best. Because they saw during the pandemic period that adults became addicted to LEGO very quickly after they started building LEGO with their children.

LEGO 2K Drive review / PS5

LEGO 2K Drive review

The part that interests us in this article is the changes made on the video games side. As I said before, LEGO was previously known for the games produced by TT Games. But thanks to the irrepressible rise of the digital side, the company has decided to make the gaming industry one of its main focuses. For this, he actually took two important steps. One of them has decided to give the LEGO license to other game companies, and we will talk about one of them in this article.

Another started to invest heavily in the digital game industry. The LEGO company, in partnership with Sony, invested $2 billion in the Epic Games company. We may see the fruits of this partnership in different ways in the future, but let’s return to our game today, which is one of the results of the first.

LEGO 2K Drive is actually one of the games that is of great importance for the 2K company. Because we know 2K company for making big games like BioShock, Borderlands, Mafia, NBA 2K. 2K studios is a company that makes small but essential games. Although they are games that are criticized from time to time, these games that I have mentioned always have a certain quality line. For this reason, I was very curious about the partnership that would emerge when the name 2K and LEGO came together.

LEGO 2K Drive review

Although LEGO 2K Drive is a racing game, don’t think of games like Forza or Gran Turismo. If I say a game like Mario Kart or Crash Team Racing, 80 percent of the gameplay will actually come to life in your mind. For those who are wondering what the game is like, yes, I actually told you 80 percent of the game with these two game names. Now let’s see what the remaining 20 percent brings to this gameplay style.

Game Modes

First of all, let me talk about the structure of the game. There are modes in the game where you can play as a single person, a mode where you can actually turn it into a party game as a co-op with your friends, and a section where you can spend fun moments with people online. I will not go into detail about the parts you play with your friends and online because there is nothing new to these features, but two fun modes that give more than what is expected from them. I will give information about the dynamics of the race already in the single-player section.

Single player mode has 4 modes consisting of scenario, fast race, trophy editing and mini-games. Except for the scenario, all of them were created for those who are looking for something fast and fun, because the scenario mode contains all of the things I just mentioned.

LEGO 2K Drive review

The scenario mode consists of 4 open world maps and has a story that progresses in a way that I frankly did not expect from a racing game. You start as a rookie driver and you buy their vehicles by beating the best drivers of the place by visiting different maps. While doing these, there are plenty of side characters and side stories for you to level up. Of course, if I said story, there are not such deep stories, there are small side quests.

For example, a farmer’s pigs are running away, we go and collect the pigs in our vehicle. Or the aliens are attacking the power plant, we are protecting the power plants by crushing the aliens with our vehicle. But doing them is, in a sense, mandatory. So you have a choice, but you have to do these missions to level up.

The main story mode of the game is heavy as I said before, comparing you to master drivers across maps. But between each character race, you are asked to level up and you are told to wander around the map and complete the mission, then come. So I can actually say that it is impossible to skip these tiny side missions.

LEGO 2K Drive review

Let me also talk about the racing and gameplay dynamics of the game. There are parts of the races that I both like and dislike. First of all, let me say that there is no racing system for those who want heavy and seated racing. The races are chaotic because the aim is to have fun. The maps are full of power-up boxes.

When you buy these boxes, a random power comes to you and you try to prevent the racers around you by using it. It’s different powers like throwing a spider at them, rocketing in front of you, throwing dodgeballs on touch, or dodging everything by being completely invisible. Although they are all fun and have different strategies, I can say that I find the variety a little weak.

I said the racing parts are chaos because actually the vehicle and gameplay are set to be very fast. There is also a boost system that will accelerate the car for a while, like a nitro, but I’m not talking about it. Vehicles like the Mario Kart era don’t go at medium speed, they go pretty fast, so the whole race map seems a bit of a fait accompli. Especially when I think that these races are the most enjoyable part of the game, I have never been able to do a race that lasts long and satisfies me in terms of pleasure.

LEGO 2K Drive review

It all ends very quickly, I just saw that we have already finished 2-3 laps and we are in the last lap. Maybe my perception goes there because I’ve been playing more serious racing games like Forza a lot lately, so I don’t want to mislead you directly.

You are the main axis of the single-player races in the campaign mode. In other words, if you do everything perfectly and go fast, your competitors are actually keeping up with you. But if you slow down a bit, don’t use shortcuts and don’t use power-ups well, other opponents keep up with you and drive slowly in a sense. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re set to always put you first. You still have to work hard to be the first, but it seems unlikely that they will give you a tour unless you hear them completely.

Even if you get stuck in one or two places, you can only catch the first one in a short time. Of course, this situation changes in online races or races with your friends, so don’t think of it as a bad feature by looking at the single player part. The greatest pleasure in chaotic races with power-ups like this comes when you play with others. In this sense, I can say that it is a great game for those who love LEGO and are looking for a party game.

LEGO 2K Drive review

Maps do not consist of flat tracks. There are generally 3 stages; asphalt roads, land and water. You actually have 3 vehicles for these three different floors and they change instantly. In other words, when you go on the asphalt road with your racing car, when you enter the gravel road or when you leave the road and enter the field, your vehicle suddenly turns into an ATV-type vehicle.

Or when you enter the water, which is enough for a short time, the LEGO parts of the vehicle below you turn into a boat. In all races, you actually use all three of your vehicles. Since it is designed with an open world theme, the map already contains these three conditions in abundance.

You can make your own LEGO design

LEGO 2K Drive review

Let’s come to the part of making these tools, which I can call the trademark of the game. The game gives you two important options here; If you want, you can buy and use ready-made vehicles, or you can make your own vehicle. These tools are not just cosmetic; features such as speed, weight, driving control and the life of the vehicle vary. In the scenario mode, you can buy the vehicles of the opponents you defeated, and as I said, you can buy vehicles or make them yourself.

The purchase includes vehicles from LEGO’s original themes. During the time I played the game, there were not many kinds of vehicles because there is already a season structure that is planned to last 4 seasons in total. This shows that there will be plenty of LEGO vehicles coming every season. In other words, the 2K team did not put all the tools in their hands into the game at once.

LEGO 2K Drive review

The part where you make your own vehicle is both beautiful and challenging. The good part is, in theory, you can design beautiful vehicles for yourself with all the LEGO pieces and colors. At the beginning of the article, I mentioned LEGO’s investment in games. Two LEGO games released last year also had LEGO construction modes, and we could design whatever we wanted with all the pieces. LEGO has also placed this structure in the 2K Drive game. As I said, we can make the vehicles we want in theory.

Sometimes we have to buy decorative pieces at Unkie’s Emporium, but many of the essential pieces come open from the start. You can create amazing designs by combining many basic LEGO bricks and Technic bricks. If you like the experience of building LEGO digitally, you will spend more time in this part of the game than in the race, let me tell you from the beginning. Especially after you get used to the dynamics of part selection and attachment, your hand will accelerate.

Let me tell you that you are in a hybrid world where the game is designed jointly with LEGO. So roads, fields, mountains and hills are not LEGO, but many of the decorated items or trees are from LEGO. You can break everything that is LEGO with your vehicle. I won’t comment too much on the quality of the graphics, after all, although the style is different, I can say that the graphics are very good for the game and the animations are fluent. The PlayStation 5 version I tested does not have any graphics settings, but it works comfortably at 60 fps with the game fluency.

LEGO 2K Drive review

In the final stage, we can evaluate LEGO 2K Drive in two main categories. If you like games like Mario Kart, Crash Team Racing, which I have mentioned before, and are looking for a new version of them, LEGO 2K Drive will meet your needs. If you both like fun racing games and are interested in digital LEGO construction, this game will meet your needs again. Despite the deficiencies in the game or the boringness of the missions from time to time, the game offers a fun gameplay.

Issues such as the instability of the money economy and making you spend much more real money are the biggest minuses of the game. Considering that the game itself has the full price, the game asks you to spend some money. But this situation, of course, will not seem foreign when we look at the producer company.

Producer Visual Concepts was also criticized for constantly spending real money with the NBA 2K game he developed. Here, unfortunately, I can say that that part is somewhat preserved. However, after purchasing the game with less items and a little bit of creativity, you can play comfortably without spending any extra money.