LEGO 2K Drive Review (bloaty)
Possibly the best Lego game ever made, but held back by upper management meddling.
Let's make one thing clear: this, for all intents and purposes, is Lego Racers 3, and frankly should have been called such. I don't blame anybody put off by the name alone, as it serves just as much a warning sign as a title. 2K games are notorious for their microtransaction models, and unfortunately this game is not spared from this system. Playing through the main campaign will net you a decent chunk of money to use at the shop, but once you complete all the main races and missions, the amount of money you earn comes nearly to a halt. Likewise, the amount of money earned from online racing is abysmal. On top of that, the prices for coins means that you'll likely pay just as much for a real Lego set as you would for one in game, with each car costing about $10.
Despite all this, why am I recommending the game? Beneath the layers of greed and corporate meddling is a genuinely good game with easily the most robust building system ever utilized in a Lego game. When I say you can make just about anything, I mean it. The game has literally every piece you would ever need to build what you want, configured however you want. The story mode is undeniably Lego with its slapstick humor, jokes, and roster of unique rivals, which includes a crazy cat lady, a skeleton, a talking horse, and much much more. The gameplay, often compared to Mario Kart, is snappy, responsive, and fast paced. How you build your car will affect its handling. Outside of racing is plenty of challenges, minigames, and quests. My biggest complaint about the story mode is that it felt too short, as I was able to finish it in the 3-day early access time, much of which was spent tinkering around in the garage or cruising around and exploring. If you focus on the main story itself and ignore any other content, you could probably finish it in one sitting. By itself a short campaign wouldn't be too bad, but for a game that markets itself as a triple-a game meant to be on the same level as other major racing games like Forza and Need for Speed, I would've hoped for slightly more main story content.
Overall I greatly enjoyed this game and would genuinely consider it to be my favorite Lego game made. Most of its complaints come not from the gameplay itself, but its monetization which greatly hurts the game's reputation, and for good reason. Do I recommend buying the game? Yes. This is the Lego racing game that has been long overdue, bringing the classic Lego Racers into the modern era of gaming. With at least a year of content coming (and likely more), Lego 2k Drive has a good future ahead of it, but I pray the microtransactions get overhauled into something more reasonable so the game can truly shine for what it is.