5779 LEGO Racers 2

5779 LEGO Racers 2 is a PlayStation 2 Video Game released in 2001. It is the sequel to LEGO Racers. The Windows PC and PlayStation 2 versions of the game were developed by Attention to Detail, who also created Rocket Racers, an arcade style game based on LEGO Racers that had opened at LEGOLAND Windsor in 2000.
== Premise ==
LEGO Racers, start your engines! Rocket Racer is back and he's teamed up with the toughest competitors in the galaxy to bring racers of all ages this awesome challenge. Players must win their races, keep their cars on the road and muster all their adventure racing skills to find and collect the elusive Golden Bricks.
== Gameplay ==
In this game, the player has more freedom, as well as more characters to talk to. This video game is an open world racing game. There are five worlds, starting with Sandy Bay, Dino Island, Mars, Arctic, and finally the racing planet Xalax. Power-up is also used in this game. However, the way it works is different from the original. Players race around tracks passing through checkpoints in a correct order but they need to pass through checkpoints exactly. Passing around checkpoints does not count. The direction arrow at the top screen gives the player the direction to the next checkpoint. When the player loses all the bricks, the player needs to run on feet. Pit is the place where the player needs to repair the car and/or get the car back. Brick Boost helps the player's car move faster, just like turbo boost from LEGO Racers, except players have to hold down the Brick Boost button and they gain it one by one whenever they lose a brick. The more the brick boost is, the stronger and faster it is.
== Opponents ==
The four racers from Sandy Bay are Workman Fred, Mike the Postman, Fireman Gavin, and P.C. Bobby. On Dino Island, Mars, and Arctic, there is a set of opponents you race on the four main levels of each world: Johnny Thunder, Pippin Read, Mr. Cunningham, Cassiopeia, Mac, Frankie Solido, and Baron Rosso. On Xalax, the racers are the Ramas Lightor, Warrior, Duster, Ghost, Freeze, Chill, and Snake. There are also four Bosses, one for each world, excluding Sandy Bay: Sam Sanister, Riegel, The Berg, and Rocket Racer.
== Levels ==
There are five levels or worlds in LEGO Racers 2, each based on a particular theme. In addition to racing cars in the Racers product line, each theme is based on an actual series LEGO sets, and includes parts of those sets.
* Sandy Bay: Based on Town sets. It is an island that has a town, construction site, and several beaches as well as a mountain in the center. 
* Dino Island: The next LEGO world you visit is based on the Adventurers Dino Island sets. It is also an island featuring two rivers, a plateau with a volcano, a jungle, a tribal village, ancient ruins, and a few beaches. It constantly rains here, except when racing at certain tracks. There are LEGO dinosaurs running which doesn't hurt you (although they can push you, which is a setback during races) and always run the same path.
* Mars: The third LEGO world is based on the Life on Mars sets. It is a series of valleys in between tall cliff-like mountains. It features a martian mine, martian base, abandoned martian base, crashed space shuttle (which you arrive in according to the mini-movie), and two caves as well as two lava rivers. If you get enough speed in free roam mode, you can get on top of the mountains, but you will re-spawn if you get too close to the edge of the platform. Shortcut: the waterfall.
* Arctic: Based on the Arctic sets. It is an island just like Dino Island, with a mountain that you may go inside of, an ice-locked freighter, an ice maze, an iced over lake with several large holes in it, and several bases. It constantly snows here, depending on the track you race through.
* Xalax: The characters could be purchased from the Crash It Racers line, but the world does not resemble any particular sets. This world is a dome full of cheering fans and features a volcano in the middle of a lava lake, a jump, a loop, and a tunnel which you may drive upside-down in. Xalax is unique in that for each race the landscape changes. The racers are the Ramas Lightor, Warrior, Shred, Ghost, Freeze, Chill, Snake. Shortcut: go around the loop instead of on it, then back into the checkpoint.
== Adventure ==
The Adventure mode is the main game in LEGO Racers 2. It’s here where you drive through the LEGO worlds in their quest to challenge Rocket Racer on Xalax. By winning races in Adventure mode, you will unlock tracks to play in other modes. You will first be given the choice of starting a new game or continuing one that you saved earlier. Once you start a new game, you will be asked to type in your name, and asked to design a character and build or select a car or before starting. Each time you win the race (excluding boss race), you receive a gold brick. After unlocking the world, you can explore around the world anytime you want. After winning all the racers in Sandy Bay and after getting certain amount of gold bricks, you can travel to any Lego Worlds around without even defeating boss race, excluding Xalax in which you need certain requirement.
Except Sandy Bay, there are foyers and have 5 tracks total for each worlds. Four of them are normal races (where you races against 7 other racers) and one of them is a boss race. You can race on these tracks in any order, except the boss race which can only be raced after defeating all 4 normal races in 1st place. Anytime you want to travel back to Sandy Bay and/or want to travel to some place else, you can just go through the Sandy Bay Foyer. You can ask Sparky to save the game anytime you want or explore the world and collect gold bricks or secret vortex (where in Sandy Bay, players explore all the time).
=== Introduction ===
"After he was beaten in the first LEGO‚ Racers game, Rocket Racer was heart-broken - he thought his racing days were over. Then, one day, while trudging sadly through Sandy Bay, he came across an advertisement for the planet Xalax, home of the race-crazy aliens, the Ramas. “Wow”, he said to himself, “a whole planet of racers – sounds like my kind of place!” He found the intergalactic portal, and he so impressed the Ramas with his driving talents, he earned their respect and friendship. His skills improved, and his confidence returned – he even built a better car and picked out some cool new clothes! Now, Rocket Racer has issued a fresh challenge to the LEGO worlds – come to Xalax and race against him and his alien friends to become Galactic Racing Champion! You live in Sandy Bay, and when you hear of the challenge, you decide to try and make it to the Championship. But there are four other local inhabitants who would like to go to Xalax to represent the town, so you’ll need to beat them first. Then, you must travel to three more LEGO worlds, to improve your skills and to win new parts for your car that together will help you beat Rocket Racer."From the Lego Racers 2 instruction manual.
=== Builder Option ===
After you type the name, you then builds their character then a car. You cannot change your player at any time during adventure mode. Unlike LEGO Racers, you need to build or choose 5 cars total, one for each world, before first entering.
=== Sandy Bay ===
You start from this world. A character named Sparky assists you and lets you explore, with the tips on playing the game, not just from this world but also at other worlds. Workman Fred, Mike the Postman, Fireman Gavin, and P.C. Bobby are the challengers of this world. Each character not only has its own gold brick to give you, but also has its own vehicle and a track to race on with you. First, Fred challenges you on "Dig-A-Brick" track, next Mike gives you a challenge on "Express Delivery", after that it is "Hot Stuff" from Gavin, and finally Bobby on "Bobby's Beat". After beating everyone in Sandy Bay, you will be able to travel to the other LEGO worlds by using Jump Points. You use the direction arrow to find Jump Points and you can change the destination by asking Sparky. Golden bricks can be found at the beach, at the top of the mountain, and on a ledge by the west beach.
=== Dino Island ===
After beating everyone on Sandy Bay, you can travel to Dino Island. The boss here is Sam Sanister, who drops treacherous oil slicks behind his car to try and slow you down, and also uses power-ups to attack you. His car is fast, having an engine increasing his power. When you beat him, he will give you the engine that powers and increases the speed of your car. Golden bricks can be found by the plateau, the mountain, and the serpent's mouth.
=== Mars ===
You need 8 gold bricks to travel to Mars. The boss of this race is Riegel, the head Martian. Unlike all of the other racers, he doesn't drive a car but his vehicle is a Giant Mech. Also his Mech has a shield and cannot be hurt by the power-ups nor he cannot pick up and use the power-ups. After you beat Riegel, you are rewarded with Martian shield generator to make your car tougher. Golden bricks can be found in the maze, the waterfall (also a shortcut), and Riegel's tribute.
=== Arctic ===
9 gold bricks are required to enter. The boss of this race is The Berg, a large ice-monster. Unlike all the other racers, he does not drive a car. He runs leaving giant ice stalagmites behind him and gets a head start. He cannot be hurt by the power-ups and cannot pick up the power-ups. Once you beat him, he’ll give you super-grip wheels. Golden bricks can be found in the plane, the doctor's base, and on the trapped boat.
=== Xalax ===
You need to beat all the other bosses in order to go to this world. Rocket Racer, the boss of this world, is waiting for you to race. He has all of the upgrades that you earned from each world boss. After Rocket Racer is defeated, he will happily hand over the trophy, as the title of the greatest racer in the galaxy. Golden bricks can be found near the tunnel, near the mountain by the loop, and by a Rampage.
=== Upgrades ===
Upgrades can be obtained by winning bonus games. There are total of 10 upgrades that you can achieve, 2 from each world. They are not required, but they are helpful.
There are three categories of upgrades available.
Grip: improves how well your car turns and how much your car slides
Power: controls how fast your car goes and how much climbing power your car has
Shield: controls how much damage your car can take before disappearing
== Arcade ==
* After selecting the track that the player has unlocked, the player writes the name then chooses the pre-built character then the car. In the 2 Player mode, player 1 chooses first, then player 2.
* Players can choose the number of laps unlike from the Adventure mode.
* Just as from Adventure mode, players race each other by passing through check points in a correct order.
* Unlike from the Adventure mode, there are no upgrades or gold bricks or hidden portals (vortex) to search. The only things that are present from Adventure mode, besides checkpoints and certain obstacles, are brick boost and power-ups.
== Time Attack ==
Just like from the original Lego Racers game, the player records the best record lap for each track. However unlike from the original, the player does not compete against anyone but themselves. Once the player finishes the lap, the ghost appears and unlike from the original, that is the player's ghost having the best record of the lap. The player just keeps on repeating from then on until the player decides to stop.
== Bonus Games ==
Every bonus game from each world contains easy and hard level difficulty. Except Sandy Bay, the object of this game is to collect certain items by driving into them and bring it back to the destination while avoiding vehicles along the way under the time limit. Hitting the vehicle causes the player's car to loose all the item that the player was carrying.
=== Sandy Bay ===
Easy: Take 3 passengers in 5 minutes
Hard: Take 5 passengers in 4 minutes
Unlike the rest of the worlds, Sandy Bay has the Taxi level where you need to carry the passengers one by one in a taxi. Doctor Dave will ask you for the task in Adventure mode. You need to talk to the passenger first in order to carry; then you need to drive to the destination that the passenger wants. After the passenger tells you where he/she wants to go, the destination is marked on a mini map. Just like the rest of the bonus games, if you get hit by another vehicle, you lose the passenger you were carrying.
=== Dino Island ===
Easy: Bring back 6 fuels in 5 minutes and 30 seconds
Hard: Bring back 8 fuels in 4 minutes and 30 seconds
In Adventure mode, Johnny Thunder and Pippin needs help fueling the vehicles. You need to pick up and bring back certain number of barrels of fuel.
=== Mars ===
Easy: Finish in 5 minutes
Hard: Finish in 4 minutes
Doc gives you a task to bring power crystals to power up the space shuttle. You need to collect all of the (10) crystals.
=== Arctic ===
Easy: Collect balloons in 6 minutes
Hard: Collect balloons in 5 minutes
In Adventure mode, Doc (the other Doc) asks you to bring back weather balloons. Both levels feature snowy weather. You need to bring back 8 balloons. If you try to carry 5 balloons, then you will float away even when you are driving a heavy vehicle, where you need to drop all of the balloons to stop floating away before continuing. While trying to carry 5, after a few seconds, you will automatically being dropped all of the balloons you are carrying.
=== Xalax ===
Easy: Get 8 drones in 4 minutes 
Hard: Get 10 drones in 3 minutes 
One of the racers named Warrior, gives you training exercise. You need to collect certain amount of drones. Unlike every other bonus games, the drones move around in circles. 
== Builder ==
Like in the original, Lego Racers 2 also lets players build drivers and cars but with different concepts. LEGO Racers 2 has more bricks but fewer characters to make. However, while in theory this means that more individual racer possibilities exist, the number of "widely used" parts is much lower, and only a few possibilities that exist are commonly used. This also follows over to cars. Players can build more than just one car.
=== Character Builder ===
Unlike from the original, Players create their player by selecting each parts in a specific order. They first choose head, then hat, chest, and finally legs.
=== Car Builder ===
LEGO Racers 2 also includes many different vehicles that aren't specifically cars, such as trucks, cars with tank-like treads, hover cars, and snow vehicles with skis, as well as a "sail" snow vehicle that players cannot build with the displayed pieces.
Also unlike in the original game, players have a limited number of bricks that players can place. Only up to 20 bricks can be placed, one is for the car chassis (aka car plate). Players must at least place one brick on a chassis in order to save and/or store a car.
== Power-ups ==
Power-ups are various types of weapons that can be used while racing. You obtain a power-up by driving over a white, spinning, glowing LEGO brick. A counter appears that cycles through all of the power-ups; the one it lands on is the one you get. You can press the power-up button to stop the counter if you see one that you want. It takes a quick hand, however. Otherwise, the counter will automatically give you a bonus based on your position in the race. Those in last place will receive the best power-ups. Unlike from LEGO Racers, there are no power-enhancing bricks for a power-up. When you get hit by one of the power-ups, LEGO bricks fly off the cars. Losing all the bricks forces you to continue on foot, in LEGO minifigure form. You has to walk to the nearest pit stop to get your car back in that case.
Disk power-up fires a flying disc in front of your car. The disc will bounce off any object it hits, except cars or once it runs out of power, in which case it explodes. You can get another power-up once fired. It is very powerful, like the drill it eliminates around half of the bricks on your opponents car, but is very hard to use.
Symbol: A disk with blades
Advanced use: If you press the power-up button, while pushing the look back button, you can fire the disc backwards; which can be useful if you are being chased by a Missile, as the Disk can destroy the Missile, or if you need to fire someone behind you.
Explosion power-up creates a bubble of expanding energy around and behind your car. When the energy expands to a certain point, it explodes, harming every racer in the vicinity of the bubble except for you.
Symbol: A storm cloud
Advanced use: You can charge the shot by holding down the fire button (note that if you keep charging and don't drop it as follows, it WILL damage your own vehicle). If the fire button is held and then released at a certain time, the bubble will fall behind the car and explode as described above. If a car runs into a dropped bubble, it will suffer more damage than normal. Damage is variable with this power-up, dependent on how deep racers drive into the bubble.
Missile power-up fires a homing missile that you may lock on to any racer. The same with the disc, you can pick up another power-up once fired and tracks. Occasionally it will explode (by hitting something) before or once it reaches target. It is easier to cause damage with it, than the drill or disc, but it does less damage - around a third of bricks.
Symbol: A bloodhound
Advanced use: You can also select the target using Next Homing Missile Target & Previous Homing Missile Target buttons. That way, you can target any car in the game.
Drill power-up fires a drill missile in front of your car, eliminating around 50% of the opponents bricks that are hit. The drill behaves like a torpedo. It does not lose any power until it hits the landscape or a wall.
Symbol: A drill
Advanced use: You can also ride on the drill by holding down the power-up button, as a speed-boost. You can also ride on water and lava. However, if you ride on it for too long, it will detonate, causing damage to your car. You do not have a control over the direction of the missile while holding it.
Stealth power-up makes your car invisible to other racers. Also, it prevents the Tracking Missile power-up from hitting you and you will be able to overtake other players unnoticed. It lasts for around eight seconds.
Symbol: The gray ninja
Advanced use: You can bump into other racers to steal the power-up they have. Not only that, you can see the power-up the other players have over each car.
Whirlwind power-up creates a stationary whirlwind that causes cars to veer away from it, spinning out of control, and will also take some damage. Once you press the power up button, it will drop on the track in a few seconds. It lasts for 5 seconds. You won't be able to pick up any power-ups while this lasts.
Symbol: A twister
Advanced use: If you hold down the power-up button, the whirlwind stays attached to your car. As it grows bigger, it acts as a shield, deflecting anything that tries to hit you. If you keep it attached for too long, you will suffer minor damage.
Destruct-a-brick power-up creates a force that first turns the screen yellow for half a second, and then takes 3 layers of bricks off every single car (except for yours) for six seconds. It is very rare, and is the most powerful power-up in the game. Because it is the most powerful power-up, it does not have an advanced use. 
Symbol: Flying LEGO bricks
== Characters ==
*Achu
*Alexia Sanister
*Altair
*Antares
*BB
*Ben
*Bungo
*Captain Ross
*Doc (Arctic)
*Doc (Life on Mars)
*Fisherman
*Frosty
*Gillian
*Jan
*Jimmy
*Laura
*Morat
*Pauline
*Rocket Racer
*Sam Sanister
*Slyboots
*Rachel
*Riegel
*Berg
*Sparky
*Professor Voltage (in the beta version, but was cut out in the final release)
== Tracks ==
=== Sandy Bay ===
* Dig-A-Brick
* Express Delivery
* Hot Stuff
* Bobby's Beat
=== Dino Island ===
* Tribal Trouble
* Dino Dodgems
* Cretaceous Canyon
* The Lost Race World
* Sam Sanister's Slammer
=== Mars ===
* Red Run
* Deimos Derby
* The Phobos Anomaly
* Contact
* Riegel's Racketrack
=== Arctic ===
* Winter Wonderland
* Ice Canyon
* Slip Sliding
* Chill Thrill
* The Burg's Royal Rumble
=== Xalax ===
* Wheeled Warriors
* Smash 'N' Bash
* Vertigo
* Beyond the dome
* The Grand Finale
== Battle ==
This mode is only available in two-player mode. The object of the game is to knock out the opponent's car with power-ups. Certain power-ups which are Missile and Destruct-a-brick cannot be used but brick boost can be used. 
== Others ==
You cannot change your Player's Appearance at any time during the Adventure (Story) mode, further limiting options.
League is the game mode only available in 2 player mode. In this mode, players races through a specific track order up to 10. The player with the most number of wins is the Champion.
== Development ==
The story for LEGO Racers 2 underwent a change part way through development - originally, Baron Rosso was the game's villain:
It is assumed that Frankie Solido was also some sort of antagonist in the earlier version of the story, but details are unknown.
==Notes==
* In LEGO Racers 2, the player has more freedom than in the first game. In LEGO Racers, you are bound to the track, however in LEGO Racers 2 you are able to go off the track and explore the island or world while you are racing.
* In the original LEGO Racers, you race against five opponents in general. In LEGO Racers 2, you are racing against seven opponents.
* Bosses in LEGO Racers 2 are not always a normal character with a kart, like in LEGO Racers. For example, the boss of the Arctic world is "The Berg", who you could see as the Abominable Snowman, who races on foot.
* LEGO Racers 2 features a comeback from several characters featured in LEGO Racers, like Johnny Thunder, Baron Von Barron (Sam Sanister in LEGO Racers 2) and Rocket Racer (but in different uniform).
* There are only eight different heads, hats, bodies, and pairs of legs to choose from, there are also seven types of car chassis for every world.
* Even though this is the sequel to LEGO Racers, not counting GBA version, it is developed by the different company (people from) ATD (also known as "Attention to Detail Limited"). 
* After getting all the 35 gold bricks, Sparky will put on a Fireworks display at Sandy Bay. 
* This game marks appearances of several classic LEGO minifigures. 
* Professor Voltage appeared in beta version of LEGO Racers 2, where he acted as a guide to the player. He was also shown in the first Trailer. This role was changed and was given to Sparky in the final game. Despite this, Professor Voltage's model, textures, and icon are still present in the game's assets, and through file modification or memory editing it is possible for the player to play as him. His appearance in LEGO Racers 2 was quite different from his others, with gray hair, altered face and shirt detail, and brown pants. 
* Other characters (or character parts) and certain vehicles cannot be played in general or unlocked, even after 100% completion. The only way to play/choose those characters and/or vehicles in a race that are featured in the game is by cheats which were first discovered by a youtuber name kajeuter. This also includes being able to unlock certain cars like Rocket Racer's car, the Rama's vehicle, and Taxi. Others are changing cars and characters in a race and the position the player wants to be at the start of the race.
==See also==
*LEGO Racers
*Rocket Racers
*Drome Racers
==References==
==Sources==
* https://web.archive.org/web/20191018213041/https://rockraidersunited.com/topic/8647-unusual-dromeracers-2-content/
* https://rockraidersunited.com/blogs/entry/2571-research-mega-dump/
== External Links ==
* Bricklink
* Brickset
* Peeron
* Brickowl
* Lugnet
Category:5000 sets
Category:2001
Category:Video Games
Category:Articles that use content from other websites
Category:Racers