Lego 2K Drive combines Mario Kart, Forza Horizon, and Lego bricks

“Yeah, the Mario Kart and Forza Horizon comparison, I’ll take it,” says Brian Silva, director of the upcoming Lego 2K Drive, during a preview for Visual Concepts’ new racing game. After playing with the game for three hours, this was my first thought. Lego 2K Drive’s open-world driving hijinx and races full of power-ups, boost pads, and a whole lot of drifting.

However, Lego officially licenses the game. Lego 2K DriveSeems to possess more than the influences to make it a building block.

Setup for Lego 2K Drive is fairly standard fare: You’re the new kid on the block and must raise your reputation by winning races and completing side quests, eventually gaining enough notoriety to challenge the big-name characters in the story and open up new areas of the map. It’s how the stage is set for these types of games, but the key lies in what only Lego can offer.

If you’ve played any of the Lego action-adventure games or seen the Lego movies, you’ll be familiar with the brand’s tongue-in-cheek humor. This same lighthearted fun is the basis for everything. Lego 2K DriveTo contextualize open-world driving adventures. The story’s in-universe broadcasters narrate game events with an irreverent self-awareness, poking fun at the absurdity of what’s happening. Nearly every character’s name appears to be a cheesy car-related pun, and side missions task you with running silly errands for NPCs — though I think I’ve done one too many quests helping cops do their damn job and now I’m part of the problem, but that’s on me.

Image by Visual Concepts/2K Games

It is integral to the gameplay that Lego blocks are used in the design of the open-world. “Everything you see made of Lego in the game can be built in the real world with Lego,” Silva said of the buildings, foliage, and other objects seen in game. This extends to the vehicles themselves, which are the most important piece of the game’s identity.

Blocklandia has many different terrains. Your vehicle will automatically and instantly transform into the proper one to match the topography — a race car for the open roads, an off-roader in the dirt, and a speedboat for sailing the waters. There’s an enjoyable seamlessness of navigating the world and being able to use the different types of vehicles on the fly, and this places more emphasis on the extensive vehicle customization features.

These vehicles can be decorated with stickers or flair. You also have the option to build nonsensical combinations with blocks that are stacked one on top of another. The best part is the ability to create vehicles brick-by-brick using official Lego blocks. There will be more than 1,000 pieces available. The customization garage has many moving parts. There are layers and smaller pieces that must be managed within a 3-D space. It was a slow process to master the controls. It’s not quite as easy as snapping any brick you want into place when you’re coming up with off-the-wall designs, so I imagine it’ll take considerable effort and wrestling with the systems to get the most of the game’s customization options. However, after about 30 minutes, I was able to slap together a modest car of my own, so with more time and creativity, I’m sure folks could create some wild whips. And although he wasn’t able to confirm specific details, Silva mentioned that players will be able to share designs online (and there will be a vetting process for inappropriate content).

Image by Visual Concepts/2K Games

Regardless of whatever monstrosity or fine piece of Lego craftwork you come up with for your vehicles, you’re going to be taking them into races. And I think what’s most striking from a gameplay perspective is that Lego 2K DriveThis game is predominantly a kart racer. There’s a vast open world to explore and wreck, but most of the meat of the game is found in its competitive races, and it has all the trappings you’d expect. Power-ups are items and power-ups that you can grab throughout the course, such as speed boosts or shields, homing missiles, bombs or bombs. These will help turn the tide in each race. In true kart-racing fashion, you’re never really safe in first place, even on the final straightaway — a well-timed missile can stop you in your tracks just before crossing the finish line.

Many courses have big jumps, boost pads and varied terrain that may require you to use each vehicle during the race. Racers also have their NOS-like speed booster gauge. It increases in speed the more you damage a course. This encourages controlled recklessness and allows for cautious driving. Drifting is key to making tight turns at high speeds — it’s made simple by just pulling the right trigger to let your car break traction and start sliding. It’s quite easy to control even through a hairpin. The courses themselves change based on the three difficulties available; they don’t just make the AI tougher, they throw additional twists, turns, and obstacles on the track for more chaotic races.

It’s cool to see someone else give the kart-racing genre a shot, especially with a collaboration like Lego to help it stand out, but also integrate it into a larger setting with other activities in between. That’s where I’d want to see more from the game, though. Side quests were essentially timed sprints from A to B, or chase downs. Some missions offer a lot of XP. One mission required me to defend three towers against aliens descending via UFOs. It played into the silly tone, but it wasn’t necessarily playing into its strengths gameplay-wise. It’s one aspect that felt weaker based on the hands-on demo.

Image by Visual Concepts/2K Games

There’s a good gameplay foundation, though. The map makes it easy to drive around. Having a dedicated jump button also makes exploration easier, so you don’t always have to be held to the ground. Silva mentioned wanting to create a sense of exploration, saying, “It’s not called [Lego 2K] RacingWe have a reason. It wasn’t meant to be a racing game in which you just choose your car, track and drive. We wanted it to feel like a driving adventure.” With so many more parts of the map to unlock, my hope is that the adventurous spirit of Lego 2K Drive It will be more evident as you play the game.

Overall, Lego 2K DriveBoth as a kart-racer and as an open-world driver, has great potential. I’m curious if the kart-racing aspect offers enough to sustain long-term interest, because it seems like the potential is there, especially with emphasis on multiplayer racing and open-world activities. With a roughly 15-hour campaign, it’ll come down to the things outside of the kart racing to support the rest of the game, whether it be the goofy vibe, deeper vehicle customization, or the side content within Blocklandia.

It won’t be long until you can start moving bricks yourself. Lego 2K DriveIt will launch for Nintendo Switch (PS4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC), Xbox One and Xbox Series X on May 19.