LEGO 2K Drive Review: Building a Better Racer

After more than three decades, the Mario Kart franchise has become the gold standard for all-ages racing games, leaving so many other options in the dust. At first glance, it might be easy for some to mistake LEGO 2K Drive as yet another Nintendo clone, but there's a lot more to be found under the hood. 2K Games has pulled from multiple successful racing games, while also maintaining the same heart and humor that the LEGO games have always been known for. With open-world mechanics reminiscent of Forza Horizon 5, and car transformations that bring to mind Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, LEGO 2K Drive feels like a really good LEGO set; sure, it's made up of a bunch of familiar pieces, but the finished product looks like something all its own.

In LEGO 2K Drive, players are on a quest to compete in the Sky Cup Grand Prix and become the greatest racer in Bricklandia. To do so, they'll first have to race in three Grand Brick Arenas, and to get to that point they first have to win a whole bunch of checkered flags by racing against rivals. Bricklandia is made up of multiple separate open-world locations, such as the mining town of Prospecto Valley, and the creepy Hauntsborough. Each area encourages a lot of exploration as players look for races to compete in, and other tasks to complete. Before players can even compete for checkered flags, they have to reach certain levels, which can be accomplished by completing different challenges. These challenges can include everything from delivering flowers to help a couple, to rescuing townsfolk from a robot cowboy invasion.

Every good racing game boils down to the actual racing mechanics, and LEGO 2K Drive excels in that department. The races themselves are fast and intense, and there's a great sense of satisfaction to be had when coming up with a win. The power-ups and short-cuts in each track make first place feel like it's never too far out of reach, and even if the player screws up early, there's a lot of room to recover. However, that can be a double-edged sword, as I never found myself feeling too comfortable in first, and losses can feel a little cheap at times. In one of the campaign's races, I found myself coming in second or third place multiple times in a row at the split last second as an opponent would use boost to zip right past me, even as I was also boosting. Cheap losses have always been a staple of racers like Mario Kart, but usually I could attribute that to an unlucky Blue Shell. In LEGO 2K Drive, it just feels like the boost can be conveniently overpowered, and that made some losses a little bit harder to swallow.

While exploring and racing through Bricklandia, players actually use three different builds at a time: a standard car, an off-road vehicle, and a boat. Vehicles seamlessly shift between these three options in the game, automatically turning into a boat when they hit water, or into an off-road vehicle when the terrain gets rough. As players complete races in the game, they'll unlock different builds, and players can choose any combination of three builds that they choose. There's even an option to save different loadouts, in case players find that certain combinations work best in certain locations.

While players can choose from several different pre-made cars, LEGO 2K Drive takes advantage of the LEGO brand by allowing players to come up with their own vehicles. Players can edit existing builds, or create their own brick-by-brick. As players complete races and challenges, they'll even unlock new decorative items that can be used. Personally, I found the build mechanics a little bit daunting, and preferred to stick with the pre-made options. That said, I'm very much looking forward to seeing some of the designs that players come up with.

A benchmark of the LEGO games from has always been the groan-inducing humor, and I'm happy to report that 2K Games has kept that tradition alive. The game's story features the same over-the-top humor players have come to expect from the LEGO franchise, and while the all-ages jokes might be cheesy, they contribute to the game's charm. Even the racer names are delightfully punny, like Hauntsborough's Fossil Fueler, who happens to be a skeleton. The game's gags are always worth a chuckle, even if that's often accompanied by an eyeroll. 

LEGO is all about taking pieces and connecting them together to build something new, so it's only fitting that LEGO 2K Drive combines parts from so many other great games; combining pieces of Mario Kart 8, Forza Horizon 5, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed and the LEGO games of Traveler's Tales has resulted in a surprisingly high-quality racer. Sometimes last millisecond losses can feel a little bit cheap, and the building mechanics can feel a little bit daunting. Despite these minor issues, LEGO 2K Drive proves that there's still a lot of gas left in the tank for the LEGO brand, and brick fans of all-ages should drive away satisfied.

Rating: 4 out of 5

LEGO 2K Drive is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review, and it was reviewed on an Xbox Series X.