LEGO 2K Drive delivers a sense of childhood joy, but its microtransactions are still a choking hazard
LEGO 2K Drive is a kart racing game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Games. It was released on May 19, 2023, for all major platforms.
The game is set in an all-LEGO open world, and players can race around in a variety of vehicles including cars, trucks, boats, and planes.
The LEGO company has spent years developing virtual LEGO construction tools for its own designers, and their games capitalise on this to bring the boundless joy of brick-based building to the digital world. LEGO 2K Drive comes with a robust creator tool that lets you build any go-kart, clown car or rickety raft you can imagine.
The gameplay borrows from the many successful kart racers that have come before, including a drift mechanic and power-ups dotted across the tracks. While the gameplay is satisfying and fun to look at, it’s less than inspired level design seems like a wasted opportunity.
The game has received mixed reviews from critics. Some have praised the game’s graphics, its variety of vehicles, and its open world, while others have criticised its lack of innovation and its heavy reliance on microtransactions. While you don’t need to spend extra money to get the most out of LEGO 2K Drive, the microtransactions are still hard to swallow considering the game’s almost R2 000 price tag.
Overall, LEGO 2K Drive is a fun racing game that will bring a big grin to the face of any LEGO fan looking for some simple racing fun. Though, considering the in-game purchases and that features like custom car-sharing are still to be added, it’s probably best to wait for a sale to pick it up.
Google Lens
Google Lens is a powerful computer vision tool that allows you to bring the huge power of Google’s web search to anything you can point a camera at. Google Lens uses image recognition, and a variety of other clever tricks behind the scenes to identify objects in pictures and deliver you relevant information. Lens can be surprisingly good at figuring out exactly what an item is, down to the specific brand and product range, though this is less reliable for uncommon or local brands.
But more than helping you figure which species of bird you’re looking at, Lens’s most impressive feature is translating written text in real time, giving you access to street signs or menus in your native language no matter where you are. You can access Google Lens through its dedicated app or through the Google Photos app on both iOS and Android.
Pictory AI
Pictory AI is an AI-powered video generator that creates visually stunning branded videos from long-form, written content. Give it a URL with your published content, and it can pull it into its AI models. From there it can choose the best content, create voiceovers, and assign rich media to make a video worth publishing.
Pictory AI’s other useful features include creating short-form video content from longer videos. This is fantastic for helping creators transition their existing content to the short-form-focused world of TikTok and YouTube shorts. Unfortunately, they have on free tier to test out their service, and their subscription plans start at $23 (R446) per month.
James Browning is a freelance tech writer and local music journalist
BUSINESS REPORT