We talked about creativity, blocks and pigs.
For some, LEGO is a symbol of childhood, while for another (and still growing) group of people, the colorful bricks remain part of their adult lives. The Titanic, the Millennium Falcon, and the Talnek from the Horizon series are all buildable. When people think of LEGO, the first thing that comes to mind is creativity. The same goes for the new arcade racing game LEGO 2K Drive, which launches next week.
“First of all, we wanted to make sure that this would be a real LEGO game. It’s not just a racing game, but a game that would represent LEGO in every way,” Emmanuel Valdez, art director at Visual Concepts, the studio behind the title, told Zing.cz.
The player’s main objective in this case is simple: win races, defeat opponents and move up the leaderboard to a shiny cup for the winner. The game has been in development for five years and is now out. May 19 in versions for PC and consoles Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, as well as Xbox One and Series X/S. “We started with about twenty people, but then we grew to over a hundred. Obviously, it’s a big game,” admits Valdez.
Lots of noise and crowds of fans
Not only the open world, but also the vehicles of LEGO 2K Drive are built from familiar bricks. Then the player is constantly motivated to bump into everything. “Destruction affects the game,” explains the developer. The more you destroy, the more booster you will have. “It allows you to speed up for a short time, which you want to do very often, especially during races. Your goal is to crash into things, smash them… And also build boosters by drifting,” Valdez describes the “arcade” features of his game.
It offers a story-driven experience as well as co-op racing or split-screen competitions. It’s aimed at both adults and kids, who Valdez says particularly enjoy bumping into things.
There will also be side activities, usually spiced up with a certain humor that is typical even for The LEGO Movie. For example, when you successfully complete one of the early races, a herd of chanting pigs will gather around you. “As you improve, characters in different worlds will notice and recognize you. You’ll have more fans,” the developer describes. “I’m not sure if the pigs are talking to you yet,” he adds with a laugh. “But the human characters are. They’ll say things like, ‘That was a good race,’ or, ‘That was close.’ And as you do, you’ll notice the crowd is getting bigger and bigger.”
Car madness
The second part of the game where the creativity associated with LEGO sets comes into play are the garages. The game allows you to drive on the road, on rough terrain, and on water — the vehicle changes depending on the surface. And all three can be built from scratch. “You start with a chassis, depending on whether you want to build a regular car or an SUV. Then you get a proposal of all possible bricks,” explains Valdez.
As the game progresses, the player collects rewards in the form of more and more new types of dice. “You can paint it any color we give you. Any cube can be made to glow or glow in the dark,” the creative director lists. The newly built racing plane can also have various special components, such as a lift destroyer for the plane. But you don’t necessarily have to understand their function; they’re usually just cosmetic items.
“You can put regular lights in there, or a police beacon. But there are some crazy things that I know a lot about because I’ve built most of them,” Valdez says, letting himself get carried away for a moment. “Like flower pots. You want to put flowers on your car? We have big ones and small ones. I also made a cupcake tray that lights up. Or a DJ set that you can sit the driver in. It has speakers, a turntable,” he explains, adding that each of these objects can then be “programmed” to behave in a specific way. “So you hit the brakes and your wings flap. You hit the boost button and all the lights come on or a DJ starts playing. There are endless possibilities in what you can do, and it’s very creative, like LEGO.”
“We have people here who always go to the garage,” he admits, even about other developers. “Team members who don’t even play the game and go straight to the garage and build.”
Source :Indian TV
