After Traveller's Tales controlled the LEGO license for years, 2K was finally able to release its own LEGO adventure last month. LEGO 2K Drive brought the LEGO formula to the world of racing, and it mostly delivered on the concept. It gave players fun tracks to race down, an exciting car-building feature that let them create whatever they wanted, and had everything players should expect from the genre. However, it was lacking a crucial piece of the puzzle that other LEGO games had mastered over the years.
LEGO 2K Drive was an original LEGO game that brought players to a brand-new locale. There were no pre-established IPs present, and there are no future crossovers in sight. While original adventures are good, the LEGO brand has thrived on crossovers with iconic IPs for years. If games like Microsoft Flight Simulator can feature crossovers with massive IPs, then there is no reason that LEGO 2K Drive could not do the same. It is a core part of the LEGO brand, and not doing it feels like a missed opportunity.
LEGO 2K Drive Needed Crossover Content
LEGO 2K Drive whisks players away to the brand-new world of Bricklandia and lets them explore it to their hearts' content. It is filled with interesting characters and fun activities and can be explored in single-player or multiplayer. While the world is not perfect, there is still a lot of fun to be had here. However, once players finish the story, they may quickly realize that LEGO 2K Drive is missing something crucial. There may be a ton of races to compete in, but there are not a lot of reasons to keep coming back for more.
At launch, LEGO 2K Drive featured no pre-established IPs. This is pretty jarring after years of LEGO games adapting popular franchises and seems like an odd choice for this open-world racer. Games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have shown that the racing genre is the perfect place for crossovers to shine, but 2K chose to leave these franchises out of the racing fun. It could have been like LEGO Dimensions with cars, but instead, it felt like every other racer out there.
The closest that LEGO 2K Drive gets to crossover content is with its car-building feature. Players can customize cars in LEGO 2K Drive and turn whatever vehicle they want using an assortment of bricks. While there are some limitations, they are able to build a wide variety of vehicles. They can construct a car from Transformers, James Bond's famous Aston Martin, a Star Wars vehicle, or even the Ghostbusters Ecto-1. There are a ton of options here, but it makes the lack of crossover content even more apparent.
Crossover content in LEGO 2K Drive could have livened up the world and the races immensely. Players should have been able to race against iconic characters and construct more iconic cars throughout their Bricklandia adventure. 2K could have even followed Microsoft Flight Simulator's lead with crossovers and gave players an entirely new world to explore. Harry Potter could have raced against Iron Man, Gollum could have gone up against Luke Skywalker, and Indiana Jones could have gone head-to-head with the likes of Homer Simpson across tracks from every franchise imaginable.
With the number of IPs LEGO has access to, LEGO 2K Drive could have been the crossover racer to end all crossover racers. It could have rivaled Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but the studio does have plans for post-launch DLC, so maybe crossover content will appear there, even though it should have been there from the start. The next 2K LEGO game should try not to repeat the same mistakes, but fans will just have to wait and see.
LEGO 2K Drive is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
