LEGO 2K Drive review - A thrilling, but bumpy ride

As an avid racing game enthusiast, I was really looking forward to Visual Concepts' newly released acrade racing game, LEGO 2K Drive. While I'm not a particularly avid enjoyer of LEGO building blocks or the titles themed around these real-life toys, I sure am a fan of good and competent arcade racing. And I am happy to report that LEGO 2K Drive does end up delivering on that front — well, for the most parts at least.

The opening hours of LEGO 2K Drive felt like a weird, but fun mashup of Xbox Studios' Forza Horizon games as well as Ubisoft's The Crew series. However, as I kept playing and unlocking new zones, activities, and even racing events, it started feeling much more akin to Nintendo's Mario Kart titles, albeit in an open-world setting with LEGO themed racecars.

What also surprised me was the rather well voice-acted and properly paced single-player story that LEGO 2K Drive offers. I had a blast playing through the single-player campaign mode, completing races, open-world challenges, and more. However, I do have my gripes with the game, some, well mostly minor, but also a few major ones, that did hamper the overall experience of racing through the LEGO-themed adventure park.

LEGO 2K Drive delivers a superb arcade-racing experience

On the surface, LEGO 2K Drive feels like any other themed arcade racing game. However, once you spend a few good hours, you'll eventually realize its more than just a racer, and is something much, much more.

The very first thing that really impressed me was the charming visual direction and art style, which was fairly reminiscent of the LEGO movies. As someone who really adores the LEGO Batman films, I was genuinely pumped to see a similar art direction in LEGO 2K Drive.

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Another best feature of the game (apart from the immaculate visuals), is its single-player narrative-driven progression system, something that is rarely done well in modern racing games. Even titles like Need for Speed fail to deliver a good story-driven single-player experience. While the story in LEGO 2K Drive isn't anything to write home about, the characters and the really impressive voice acting sells the narrative really well.

The pit chief was the standout character in the story for me. He was constantly boasting about his past winnings and how fast he used to drive, only to lose to my rookie racer in every racing event he hopped into. I also really liked the antagonist of the story. He never failed to get a laugh out of me every time he showed up on the screen, due to how ridiculously over-the-top he tried to act, despite constantly failing to defeat my rookie racer.

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I shoud also mention that LEGO 2K Drive is more than just a racing game, as it also doubles as a "LEGO car-building simulator," which is something I really liked. Customization is one aspect of any arcade-racing game that really entices me. It's exactly why I keep revisiting Forza Horizon 5 after every seasonal update, just to get my hands on the newly added vehicle and customize it to my liking.

LEGO 2K Drive's innovative gameplay systems

LEGO 2K Drive's arcade-racing experience is very reminiscent of Playground Games' Forza Horizon games. After a short, and I mean a really short prologue, you're thrust right into the open world, where you're free to explore the very first section of the map.

Much like in Forza Horizon titles, especially the newer entries in the series, the open world in LEGO 2K Drive is chock-full of small optional activities.

Races in LEGO 2K Drive can be chaotic, but they are really fun, especially the street racing events (Image via Visual Concepts)

These activities range from short jumps across elevated structures in the open world (akin to "PR Stunts" in the Forza games) to regular old collecible hunting. These usually take less than a minute to complete and are a great way to earn some extra cash apart from the campaign events.

The cash you earn in the game is used to buy and unlock new parts for your transforming vehicle, including new cubes and special cosmetics.

The customization system is truly extensive here, as you don't buy new cars in LEGO 2K Drive, but make them yourself. However, being a newcomer to the whole LEGO thing, I personally did not spend much time in the car building system. Instead, I just automated the process to create something that looked really cool and also performed exceptionally well during the race events.

The over-the-top antagonist is easily one of the highlights of the game (Image via Visual Concepts)

However, I can totally see someone who really loves building LEGOs and is patient and creative enough, sinking hours upon hours in the car builder mode. Most of my time was spent either exploring the open world or partaking in the plethora of races, as that's more up my league. The racing in LEGO 2K Drive is mix between Need for Speed and Mario Kart, with a little bit of The Crew 2 thrown in for good measure.

The driving physics are quite akin to the modern NFS games, where drifting is prioritized over proper turning. However, it works a tad different here than in any other arcade racer, as you have to hold both the gas and the brake at the same time to pull off a perfect drift.

The structure of the races are designed pretty similar to that of the kart racing games. There are a host of power-ups for you to pick up on the track, which give you active and passive perks to get an upper hand over other racers.

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A big feature that was heavily advertized by 2K and Visual Concepts is the on-the-fly vehicle transformation system, which is basically the automated version of The Crew 2's vehicle-swap ability. As you drive around in LEGO 2K Drive, your car will automatically switch between three different types - street racing, offroad buggy, and a boat. The switch is automated and depends on the type of terrain you're driving.

This system does take a bit of time adjusting to. But once you do get the hang of things, auto-switching and making use of all three transformations' strengths during events becomes second nature. However, there is a slight issue that I have with the auto-switching system - its hyper-sensitivity. Even if you just graze a different terrain while racing, it can immediately switch to a different vehicle, which can often end with breaking up the flow of races.

LEGO 2K Drive's progression system and my gripes with it

As you progress through the various different racing events in the title, you're rewarded with cash bonus and new event and activity unlocks, akin to how it works in the Forza Horizon games.

Every open-world region comes packed with its own set of races and once you complete all of them with a podium finish, you will take on the boss racer of that area. Beating them unlocks the next open-world section, as well as an entirely new set of races and activities.

Despite the simplistic art style, LEGO 2K Drive can often be mesmerizing to look at (Image via Visual Concepts)

I really enjoyed every single second of my playthrough for the first few hours, as I completed races, modified my car, and made my way towards becoming the most skilled racer in the LEGO town. However, it was apparent to me that the payout I was getting for completing races and optional events was quite low, especially when compared to the prices of the some of the most unique items in the garage.

Unfotunately, LEGO 2K Drive features a dedicated in-game storefront, complete with microtransactions. Not only does this feel unecessary in an otherwise robust single-player game, but it is also the reason for the rather poor progression rewards. The microtransactions here are mostly bundles of in-game cash and set of LEGO blocks that you can use to customize your car.

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Although it does not give you any gameplay advantage, it affects the vehicular customization system and hampers the progression as well. The game also features multiplayer modes, along with an online co-op mode akin to the Convoy system from Forza Horizon. There's also a dedicated split-screen mode, which was a nice surprise, as we rarely get offline split-screen games nowadays.

While I did not spend too much time in the multiplayer modes or split-screen, I do appreciate these additions, especially for players that might want a simple co-op arcade-racing experience. It should also be mentioned that the LEGO 2K Drive performs quite well on PC, which is a breath of fresh air cosidering the dreadful state of most AAA releases when it comes to PC ports. I tested it out on two wildly different PC configurations.

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The first PC I tested on has AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Super, and 16 gigabytes of RAM, with the game being installed on an M.2 SSD. On this PC, I basically cranked every setting to its max on 1080p resolution and was able to get a locked 60fps gameplay experience without any issues.

The second PC I tested it on was a laptop with Intel Core i5 7200U CPU, Nivida GeForce GTX 1050ti GPU, and 16 GB of RAM, with the game being installed on a SATA SSD.

On this PC, I kept the settings on medium at 1080p, and the game ran pretty well, albeit with a few minor frame drops during the most hectic sequences, especially during races. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with LEGO 2K Drive's PC performance.

In conclusion

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LEGO 2K Drive is a fantastic arcade-racing game that also doubles as an equally robust LEGO car-building simulator. It is set in a LEGO-themed open world that's as good to look at as it is to play around in. Although there are a few issues with the economy and progression, those are very minor gripes against an otherwise flawless and fun open-world arcade racer.