Lego 2K Drive impressions — The joy of running over everything

It took me a few seconds to learn how to drive in Lego 2K Drive, the new game coming from Take-Two Interactive’s Visual Concepts studio. And it was a few more seconds before I started running over everything in sight — from Lego characters who were propelled into the air on contact to lampposts that blew apart into various Lego pieces.

So the developers had the right idea when they designed their first open-world driving game in the long-running Lego video game franchise. Take-Two’s 2K did a decent job of keeping a lid on this one, which was in the works for nearly five years at Visual Concepts in Novato, California. Interestingly, this game wasn’t made by longtime Lego partner TT Games.

The game debuts on May 19 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store. It costs $60 and up.

As noted, it’s a joyful game where you can just free roam and run over everything, or a competitive game where you can race against others in a kind of clickity-clack Mario Kart-style game. The fun is in building any vehicle, driving any where and then becoming a Lego racing legend. The open world is huge and it comes with different biomes like a desert world or a haunted ghost world.

Lego 2K Drive will be the first release in a multi-title partnership between 2K and the Lego Group to
develop triple-A Lego games. With 2K’s proven expertise in creating high-quality and engaging interactive entertainment properties and the Lego Group’s cultural impact, the partnership will evolve the iconic Lego games experience fans know and love in exciting new ways.

A team at Visual Concepts with deep experience in the genre will bring triple-A quality, depth of
gameplay and stunning visuals to a Lego driving game for the first time. I’m serious about the visuals. If you drive at high speed and run over a bunch of things on a sidewalk, the number of Lego pieces flying in the air is a lot, and that pushes the processing power of the PC or consoles to the limit, said creative director Brian Silva at Visual Concepts in an interview with GamesBeat.

“It seems like a great natural fit. Lego, racing, driving,” Silva said. “And not only that, but we have a number of developers on our team that are very experienced with racing and driving games, myself included. We felt confident we could deliver something in the driving genre and combine that with Lego. We were excited to do that. Lego was very receptive to the idea as well. They were excited about it too.”

I was able to visit the studio for a press preview and I was among the first outsiders to play the game recently.

In Lego 2K Drive, players choose how they want to play, with a wide open world to explore full of racing, minigames, challenges, collectibles, things to destroy, and well-known vehicles from Lego themes like City, Creator, Speed Champions and more.

Gameplay

As I said, I was driving within seconds using an Xbox controller. But the tutorial is helpful and it gives you pointers on the finer aspects of speeding around tracks. The game devs hold your hand tightly at first and then they let you go explore.

One of the joyful things I learned was that when you go off the track and fly into the dirt or the water, your vehicle converts itself into the next racing rig on the fly. If you fly off into the water, your car will automatically turn into a boat with jet motors and you can keep on driving. That made me laugh, as it meant I never had to stop. Actually, the only time I stopped was when I ran into a building with an angle and I had to back out of it to keep on driving.

Perhaps the hardest thing to learn was to drift so that you could gain boosts while making sharp turns. But there is a “quick turn” button that helps you cheat a bit and turn more sharply. That means even drivers with lesser skills can make sharp turns while racing.

Besides driving in the open world, you can do races on tracks and compete against rival humans. You can go on multi-race quests or do mini-quests that take a short time. Multiplayer racing gets your blood pumping.

It does take some skill to be competitive in the Mario Kart-like races. You have to run over bricks to get powerups and toss them at the cars ahead of you. You have to make sure you stay close enough to the winner to overtake them in the end.

For some reason, I had a hard time precisely aiming my car when I needed to do it. There is one mini-quest where you have to run over a bunch of mushrooms in a fixed time. I would drive toward one and my name would be off.

The sound was always awesome, whether it was from the clicking of objects that I ran over or the yelps of the characters that I ran over as they went flying into the air.

Vehicle customization

To customize your car, you can head to the garage. You can earn points from races and get things to add to your car’s custom gadgets.

In a collaboration with supercar company McLaren Automotive, you can get a McLaren Solus GT and McLaren F1 LM – just released in a Lego Speed Champions double-pack set to help celebrate 60 years since McLaren was founded by racer and engineer Bruce McLaren – to the world of Bricklandia.

The goal is to win a bunch of cups and eventually take the coveted Sky Cup Trophy.

Lego 2K Drive introduces a diverse customization system that allows players to build their own vehicles to suit their tastes, with over 1,000 unique Lego pieces available over the course of their adventure, in addition to a wealth of color designs, stickers, flairs, and more.

There is a story that you can unravel by racing enough times. But we’ll see how much that holds everyone’s attention.

I will enjoy this when it comes out, as will everybody from kids to adults. The biggest joy of the game is driving over all of the Lego pieces and destroying everything from giant mushrooms to lamposts — and doing so with almost never having to step on the brakes. I think a lot of people will enjoy this game.