Lego 2K Disc (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Switch, £49.99)
Verdict: Plastic fantastic
The Forza Horizon games – in which you tear across vast, open landscapes in muscular supercars, taking part in races and other challenges along the way – are one of the most joyous experiences in gaming.
And Lego toys – those clickable plastic bricks from Denmark – are pretty fun, too.
So what happens when you put the two together, as the creators of Lego 2K Drive did? The answer isn’t quite limitless joy, but it’s still a good time.
You are a driver in Bricklandia, a diverse world much like the Lego movies in look and spirit: beautiful expanses, made largely of Lego bricks, where practically every sight and sound is some kind of joke. Click, click, boom!
It’s Bricklandia that’s the best thing about Lego 2K Drive, although – crucially – the driving is fun too. None of the race cars have the refined feel of the serious machines in Forza, but what they have instead is weirdness. Want to travel from the road to the rough to the river? No problem! Your vehicle will transform itself from car to buggy to speedboat in the blink of an eye.
Throw in the wacky challenges along the way – an early one sees you roll a giant egg into a giant frying pan; an egg, it turns out, is an awkward shape – and here’s a game that will keep kids happy for hours.
And older gamers? In reality, my (just about) adult brain found Lego 2K Drive to be a bit the same after a while. The madness can only go so far before it runs out, well… the road.
Until then, however, Bricklandia is a lovely place to be. If only my real car would turn into a speedboat the next time I drive it into a swampy ditch.
Life in plastic is fantastic in the wacky world of Lego 2K Drive, scheduled for release on May 19, 2023
PETER HOSKIN: ‘The madness can only go so far before it runs out, well… the road’
Bricklandia, like the vast open spaces of Forza Horizon, is a diverse world of beautiful expanses
Desta: The Memories Between (Mobile, Switch, PC, £16.49)
Judgment: Strategy, sports, Newbury…
What do you do when you’ve released two of the most pristine mobile gaming experiences of all time in Monument Valleys 1 and 2, where players swipe across their touch screens to understand and navigate MC Escher-style landscapes?
Monument Valley 3 maybe? No. That is the coward’s choice. What British developers Ustwo Games have created instead is Desta. A game in which the title character returns to their hometown to confront their demons through a series of dodgeball in-dream attacks.
Naturally.
If that sounds strange, it’s because Desta is indeed a probably strange game. But it is also a mix of relatively well-known ingredients. Desta-the-person’s special powers and square move are straight out of turn-based strategy games like Fire Emblem. The tactile ball throwing is reminiscent of mobile games such as Angry Birds. There’s even a hint of Monument Valley in the delicate, pastel-colored settings.
Desta’s genius lies in the interaction of these different parts – and in how you want to interact with them. It’s still fun to try new combinations of powers and teammates, while perfecting your throwing skills at the same time.
And his world is also quite striking – in that, aside from the dreamscapes and spectral adversaries, he is ours. Desta’s home town is simply an English market town, a place of church steeples, bus stops and graffiti. That’s perhaps the most unusual thing about it, compared to most other video games.
It ends just around the point where it feels like it’s exhausting its ideas – maybe a little after that – and that’s a good thing. It’s time to take my dodgeball to the bus stops right outside.
Desta: A game where the title character returns to their hometown to confront their demons through a series of in-dream dodgeball attacks
Desta’s home town is simply an English market town, a place of church steeples, bus stops and graffiti
