I appreciate how respectful you can be even toward a game you didn’t mesh with. Personally, I’m in my thirties and I loved 2K Drive! It’s the LEGO Racers I dreamed of as a kid! I would have and would still love some classic LEGO Racers content, but I bought a Johnny Thunder-alike with in-game money, built an awesome Adventurers/Pharaoh’s Quest inspired car, and played the whole game happy. Also, you CAN unlock a Rocket Racer skin for free in-game by collecting all the trophies in the Big Butte city area! After that I downloaded a reproduction of his car that someone else made, and BOOM, Rocket Racer cosmetic pack for free! Great video, my man!
Same. I'm 31, and this game made me think a lot of Racers 2. I unlocked Rocket Racer as soon as the trophies became available. And then I downloaded all the Racers cars I could find in the sharing center In the meantime I found a free remake of the Rock Raiders game, made with the Unreal Engine. I'm in full nostalgia mode
While I totally agree with the points made in Tim’s video that you referenced regarding the why the power-up system couldn’t be implemented in a multiplayer setup, I think there is still a way they could make it work. They could keep the 4 coloured bricks and their respective powers, however with the white bricks they could spawn more towards the back of the pack of racers, rather than in pre-determined places like in LR1. Keeps all the fun of the powers, while implementing rubber banding system allowing those in lower places to catch up. Think you said it best though that it’s not a formula developers want to mess with when Mario Kart have had so much success with the “lucky dip” way of approaching power-ups for decades.
I've noticed in some racing games that some power ups are added or removed depending on the game mode. The Lego Racers 1 formula could be changed for multiplayer simply by removing the warp and flying boosts from the roster.
18:59 Lego Racers’ Versus Mode wasn’t even playable right out of the box for PC, but that’s because it requires an extra game controller. You can’t play the game’s versus mode with just a keyboard, and it requires an extra game controller
3:57 Wasn't there a LEGO Racing/Racers Challenge game which was a browser bsaed game? I remember playing it as a teen. I think it was supposed to be a spiritual sucessor to the amazing LEGO Drome Racing Challenge browser game, but I don't think it ended being too popular so it didn't last as long as the original one, I remember one of the main complaints of the game was that you couldn't skip watching a race unlike Drome Racing Challenge. I can't find anything online about it so it's probably lost media and I'm not even sure if that was the one that was made by NetDevil, but I remember it was made around 2007-2010
From my understanding, that was supposed to be the one NetDevil was making, but you’re right that there is very little public information actually available for it. I loved Drome Racing Challenge though!
my god dude your videos are INCREDIBLE. Your scripts are beautifully constructed and detailed yet your personality shines through your words clearly, which is a hard balance to hit. thank you for creating awesome pieces like this for us to suck through our eyeballs!!
Cars aren’t as custom as if you were building them IRL, but the garage is still quite robust! If you’ve got a PC or Xbox and it’s still on Gamepass I’d recommend trying it out!
I managed to snag this one from a reseller with all 4 passes for less than 5 euro. The gameplay is pretty good but I'm finding currency and XP really grindy. It's a shame for the chassis part, it's hard to create some of the Racers sets I had as a kid.
Great game for the most part. I really REALLY DO think all parts in the garage should be available to everyone right from the get-go. Imagine trying to faithfully recreate your favorite IRL Lego car and have all the parts actually exist in game but are denied access to them. Many are locked behind both a paywall AND then also needing to be earned via grind just so I can make my car the way I want, IN A LEGO GAME?? Stupid af.
It’s unfathomable to me that a limitless garage was not the KEY selling point for this game - and more unfathomable to me that 2K would lock so much of the usable bricks behind a paywall.
Making your game have Multiplayer, Guarantees it will live forever. A sole Single Player game has a shelf life, and once its done, its done. Adding Multiplayer to that, means players will come back time and time again to play.
Multiplayer games live and die by their servers, outside of the very rare local multiplayer experience. The moment they decide to pull the plug on online support is when you lose access to your game.
@LeveretTranslations I was talking about Peer to Peer MP, which is much easier to add and doesn't require a server to run. It does depend on the game type whether or not it works for p2p or not.
Ngl, all i want it’s Formula 1 or Assetto Corsa but with official lego speed champions cars, it would be so sick having a semi-realistic racing game but made up with lego bricks.
Since I loved Lego Racers 2 as a kid I was kinda interested in the game but seeing how it has those idiotic "games as a service" season/battle passes in them (they're just another form of pre-ordering and that's something one should never do) I decided against getting it. I have nothing against good quality DLC/ extension packs that are always available once released and you can make an informed decision on if you want to purchase them or not, but I absolutely HATE the stupid time limited FOMO bait that are season passes these days and refuse to buy any game that includes them, too bad this game could have been fun to play.
About why something like LEGO Racers cannot be made anymore: You said that it's not possible because of current gaming trends on the market. Suuure.... but I don't believe that these gaming trends are natural. I feel like every game being something that has to be online multiplayer is something that is forced upon me. It's forced upon everyone. Yes, there will be a demand for games that you can play with friends online. It has always been that way. But now everything is saturated with it. The fun is literally balanced out of every major game due to the multiplayer element taking priority, and I strongly doubt this high demand is from the market side. It's from the publisher/executive side. Why? Because a bunch of years ago the idea of a game being a "live service", and thus an infinite money printing machine, set into the gaming industry, and now games just can't be a thing that a publisher releases and people have fun with for a while, it must be a continuous revenue stream where the cost of buying the game is simply the initial piece of income. Games are literally considered failures by the investors if players don't spend money on all the game's microtransactions, even when launch day is so successful the game makes returns several orders of magnitude higher than the development cost. Just look at 2K Drive and how it's saturated with "micro"-transactions. LEGO Racers, with its style of track design and intuitive powerup system can absolutely be created and designed today, and it might even sell really well. But then that would require investors and executives to be convinced that milking the cow dry isn't a good idea.
The micro transactions are a huge deal breaker for me. I would've loved to try out this game if they weren't included, as I've been wanting to see a new proper LEGO racing game since I was a teen growing up with these games. I hate it when practices like this ruin what could've been an otherwise decent game!
These video essays are super in-depth and well produced. Interesting how it doesn't have more views.
I appreciate how respectful you can be even toward a game you didn’t mesh with. Personally, I’m in my thirties and I loved 2K Drive! It’s the LEGO Racers I dreamed of as a kid! I would have and would still love some classic LEGO Racers content, but I bought a Johnny Thunder-alike with in-game money, built an awesome Adventurers/Pharaoh’s Quest inspired car, and played the whole game happy.
Also, you CAN unlock a Rocket Racer skin for free in-game by collecting all the trophies in the Big Butte city area! After that I downloaded a reproduction of his car that someone else made, and BOOM, Rocket Racer cosmetic pack for free!
Great video, my man!
Same. I'm 31, and this game made me think a lot of Racers 2. I unlocked Rocket Racer as soon as the trophies became available. And then I downloaded all the Racers cars I could find in the sharing center
In the meantime I found a free remake of the Rock Raiders game, made with the Unreal Engine. I'm in full nostalgia mode
While I totally agree with the points made in Tim’s video that you referenced regarding the why the power-up system couldn’t be implemented in a multiplayer setup, I think there is still a way they could make it work.
They could keep the 4 coloured bricks and their respective powers, however with the white bricks they could spawn more towards the back of the pack of racers, rather than in pre-determined places like in LR1.
Keeps all the fun of the powers, while implementing rubber banding system allowing those in lower places to catch up.
Think you said it best though that it’s not a formula developers want to mess with when Mario Kart have had so much success with the “lucky dip” way of approaching power-ups for decades.
I've noticed in some racing games that some power ups are added or removed depending on the game mode. The Lego Racers 1 formula could be changed for multiplayer simply by removing the warp and flying boosts from the roster.
18:59 Lego Racers’ Versus Mode wasn’t even playable right out of the box for PC, but that’s because it requires an extra game controller. You can’t play the game’s versus mode with just a keyboard, and it requires an extra game controller
3:57 Wasn't there a LEGO Racing/Racers Challenge game which was a browser bsaed game? I remember playing it as a teen. I think it was supposed to be a spiritual sucessor to the amazing LEGO Drome Racing Challenge browser game, but I don't think it ended being too popular so it didn't last as long as the original one, I remember one of the main complaints of the game was that you couldn't skip watching a race unlike Drome Racing Challenge. I can't find anything online about it so it's probably lost media and I'm not even sure if that was the one that was made by NetDevil, but I remember it was made around 2007-2010
From my understanding, that was supposed to be the one NetDevil was making, but you’re right that there is very little public information actually available for it. I loved Drome Racing Challenge though!
my god dude your videos are INCREDIBLE. Your scripts are beautifully constructed and detailed yet your personality shines through your words clearly, which is a hard balance to hit. thank you for creating awesome pieces like this for us to suck through our eyeballs!!
Thank you so much!
It looked amazing and very similar to Lego Racers 2, but as soon as I learnt about not being able to build my own vehicle, I lost interest.
Cars aren’t as custom as if you were building them IRL, but the garage is still quite robust! If you’ve got a PC or Xbox and it’s still on Gamepass I’d recommend trying it out!
I managed to snag this one from a reseller with all 4 passes for less than 5 euro. The gameplay is pretty good but I'm finding currency and XP really grindy. It's a shame for the chassis part, it's hard to create some of the Racers sets I had as a kid.
Great game for the most part. I really REALLY DO think all parts in the garage should be available to everyone right from the get-go. Imagine trying to faithfully recreate your favorite IRL Lego car and have all the parts actually exist in game but are denied access to them. Many are locked behind both a paywall AND then also needing to be earned via grind just so I can make my car the way I want, IN A LEGO GAME?? Stupid af.
It’s unfathomable to me that a limitless garage was not the KEY selling point for this game - and more unfathomable to me that 2K would lock so much of the usable bricks behind a paywall.
Love the Octane shirt!!!! That's how I know this video is off to a great start.
Making your game have Multiplayer, Guarantees it will live forever. A sole Single Player game has a shelf life, and once its done, its done. Adding Multiplayer to that, means players will come back time and time again to play.
Multiplayer games live and die by their servers, outside of the very rare local multiplayer experience. The moment they decide to pull the plug on online support is when you lose access to your game.
@LeveretTranslations I was talking about Peer to Peer MP, which is much easier to add and doesn't require a server to run. It does depend on the game type whether or not it works for p2p or not.
Ngl, all i want it’s Formula 1 or Assetto Corsa but with official lego speed champions cars, it would be so sick having a semi-realistic racing game but made up with lego bricks.
Me too! I played so much of Lego Racers 1 and 2. (and Drome racers, and Stunt Rally) Great video! Did you ever play flash games on the lego website?
I played a ton of the Drome Challenge game!
144 views?! how?? this is better than content with millions of views
wow amazing analysis
Since I loved Lego Racers 2 as a kid I was kinda interested in the game but seeing how it has those idiotic "games as a service" season/battle passes in them (they're just another form of pre-ordering and that's something one should never do) I decided against getting it.
I have nothing against good quality DLC/ extension packs that are always available once released and you can make an informed decision on if you want to purchase them or not, but I absolutely HATE the stupid time limited FOMO bait that are season passes these days and refuse to buy any game that includes them, too bad this game could have been fun to play.
Hopefully we will see single player games make a comeback. I enjoy them more they typically feel much more satisfying mechanically. Jesus loves you!
Fascinating. I guess I'll stick to LR2 then!
Amazing video
About why something like LEGO Racers cannot be made anymore:
You said that it's not possible because of current gaming trends on the market.
Suuure.... but I don't believe that these gaming trends are natural.
I feel like every game being something that has to be online multiplayer is something that is forced upon me. It's forced upon everyone.
Yes, there will be a demand for games that you can play with friends online. It has always been that way. But now everything is saturated with it. The fun is literally balanced out of every major game due to the multiplayer element taking priority, and I strongly doubt this high demand is from the market side. It's from the publisher/executive side.
Why?
Because a bunch of years ago the idea of a game being a "live service", and thus an infinite money printing machine, set into the gaming industry, and now games just can't be a thing that a publisher releases and people have fun with for a while, it must be a continuous revenue stream where the cost of buying the game is simply the initial piece of income. Games are literally considered failures by the investors if players don't spend money on all the game's microtransactions, even when launch day is so successful the game makes returns several orders of magnitude higher than the development cost. Just look at 2K Drive and how it's saturated with "micro"-transactions.
LEGO Racers, with its style of track design and intuitive powerup system can absolutely be created and designed today, and it might even sell really well. But then that would require investors and executives to be convinced that milking the cow dry isn't a good idea.
You are totally right.
I want a single player racing game :(((((((((((((
The single player mode in 2K Drive is fun!
day 1 owner Grade:8/10
The micro transactions are a huge deal breaker for me. I would've loved to try out this game if they weren't included, as I've been wanting to see a new proper LEGO racing game since I was a teen growing up with these games. I hate it when practices like this ruin what could've been an otherwise decent game!
You can definitely play it all the way through without interacting with them, if that helps!
@@Subpixel But wouldn't that be at the cost of a lot of grinding?
Only if you want the cosmetic items. The story has some grind in its own way, but totally unrelated to the microtransactions.
@@Subpixel Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that features are locked behind a pay wall, and not even as DLC.
Fair, and totally right.