The ambitions of Playground Games and their Forza Horizon series are constantly growing. A few years ago, we were only going somewhere in Colorado, and now we have a huge piece of Great Britain with a dynamic time of day, weather and even seasonal rotation. The same applies to the expansion of this series. It started with a smaller rally expansion, the perfect Storm Island with extreme races came in number two, but from the top three we have a scheme of two expansions - the first brings new environment and new conditions, the second returns to the kids' time. In the three we got from sun-drenched Australia first to the snow-capped mountains and then to the world of Englishmen in the Hot Wheels expansion.

Many players weren't excited about the official Forza Horizon 4: LEGO Speed ​​Champions. But the truth is that even though this expansion borrows a lot from the world's best-known construction kit, its foundation is still the same. Just this time the authors could release their imagination a little bit more and you will find out about it right after their arrival to the new site. Here, too, you can get from a new point on the base map, from where you travel by loading on your first arrival to expansion. Then there is just a new world tour in front of you and it is a great ride.

You will find everything you already expect from Forza Horizon today. However, the authors did not have to stick to the unified theme of the real environment, so they could calmly side by side and it still looks good. You can find here meadows, beach, hills, desert, city, airport or even a forest with ghosts (from Lego). Simply things that you may well know from each kit. And that's not all. Forza Horizon with this expansion finally got a race track, although this is due to its oval more suitable for racing NASCAR. It is similar to watching a Lego Story in a movie theater, although of course you won't find superheroes, Middle-earth and other well-known universes of Lego cubes here for license reasons. But it's a shame, maybe at least that Lego Batmobil would fit well here. This does not mean that the use of Lego Speed ​​Champions is bad.

The design of the new world is so successful and, above all, it is diverse, so there is no stereotype of having the same looking surroundings in front of your nose. In addition, there is no dynamic weather, time of day and, as in the basic game, seasons are changing, although there has not been much opportunity. Again, however, the map seems smaller, even if it is full of content. You can do it quite quickly. You will find more than a hundred roads of asphalt, plastic and sand. However, it is not just about them, as the Forza Horizon is no longer just driving on roads, and perhaps even more often driving away.

A classic set of diverse events awaits you to fill your time with the game. So there are races on some circuits, races from point A to point B, to which may be added some restrictions on the type of car, eventually you end it with a special event, but in between you will experience a few special, where Lego car will stand its real Draft. Here is not driving in toy cars, but Lego cars in 1: 1 scale with the real ones. There is a short “storyline” and a huge pile of different stunt challenges. Add to this the time-limited championships, Forzathon events and many more. Until you start dealing with all the challenges in the game, you don't even realize how much there really is.

They are the way to your main goal, which in this game is to build your Lego house. For meeting challenges and racing you get Lego dice and they are added to you. When you have enough, your house will be upgraded with new features. It will take a fair amount of hours to do it all. Or you can just drive around, play some created playlists, create your own plans (and share them with others), or start multiplayer. These are all the options you know from the basic game and I'm not sure if the game has expanded in any way with a new expansion. It really brings mainly new single player content.

It is already weaker in the area of ​​cars. You don't build your own Lego cars, though you might expect it. Lego Speed ​​Champons license is about sets, from which you actually build only one car at a time. There are more of these sets and they have found their way into the game four. The Mini Cooper S Rally is a car that you get to know right at the start and is the foundation that wants to draw you into the Lego world. It doesn't look infantile, on the contrary. Lego model is nicely crafted and you are already thinking that if it continues like this, you have something to look forward to. Then you get the Ferrari F40, which is even nicer. And the highlight is McLaren Senna. The fourth car is the only barn find in this expansion that you can find in the game, but you can't pick it up yet. However, you can guess when you find it in the disassembled version.

These Lego cars behave like their real opposites in the game, so you don't go into any big unknowns. I was a little disappointed that even though they are made of Lego cubes and theoretically they wouldn't mind if you broke them on the way to the last piece, you can't. Some of them will fall off, but you would expect more destruction from Lego. You can not change them significantly, but you can improve them in terms of performance and also visually thanks to the extensive visual editor.

Personally, I had the impression that the Lego theme could be used more and more in several respects. It is not only the aforementioned car smashing, but also the aesthetics of the world. As part of everything that mixes in it, you'll find parts like the basic game. Ie rather realistic. In one place you ride through a colorful forest of cubes and Lego flowers pop out from under your wheels, and then you are back in the real forest. This brings with it the fact that the destruction of Lego elements looks different from that of the realistic ones.

This in itself is not a mistake, the game does not lose its quality, of course, but I'm not sure if it meets the expectations with which you go into the game. Of course, it can't change to “Lego racers” just by snapping a finger, but some things would like to make it. Luckily, though, although this aesthetics is inconsistent, it still looks good. Lego cars fit perfectly into the realistic world, and realistic cars also look good as they roll through one checkered wall after another.

In other areas, Playground Games are licensed to work in an imaginative way, and even transformed into unconventional gaming content that has never been in the Forza Horizon series. In the Lego world, there must be no flying saucers, and not only will you find their runway where there are just a few, the aliens seem to be gradually taking over this world. That is, alien fuel cells appear at night to collect. And whenever it rains or snows, extraterrestrial trees grow, which you have to get rid of. Something similar would like dinosaurs, for example, because here you can find a heap of their skeletons.

Forza Horizon games largely owe their great festival atmosphere to the radio stations in the game, which complete it all. Unfortunately, the expansion did not bring any new tracks to the existing stations, but their "moderators" returned to the recording studio. They have uploaded a bunch of new replicas that nicely describe what is happening in expansion and your progress across her campaign when you do something. Again it works very well, it is pleasant to listen and varies the game. However, if you are not enough, a new Lego radio has been added. But that's a bit of a joke, and in an endless loop, he plays only one song - Everything Is Awesome, the title song from Lego Story, which you certainly know.

There was not much to change visually, much like the soundtrack. It is the same technology as the basic game and has not been improved in such a short time. Graphic changes are brought only by a new stylization of the few cars and a large part of the game world. However, as I have already indicated, from the point of view of how it works for the game itself and its atmosphere, it is still a good job. In addition, the game still looks very good, supporting 4K and HDR on Xbox One X and PC.

LEGO Speed ​​Champions may not be the best expansion in the Forza Horizon series, but it's definitely not a bad expansion. Even if you don't believe her, she definitely pays to give her a chance, whether she is infantile or not. It brings with it a decent portion of new content, along with other long hours of fun playing. The catchy gameplay of the basic game remains. Add to that really great moments when, for example, you drive through the woods at night and phosphorescent ghosts are flying around you, or you are causing a mass destruction in the city of Lego cubes. Errors and shortcomings are mainly in the details. The aesthetics of the Danish kit is not completely transformed into the whole world, or it would like more car destruction. Moreover, there are very few of them, and it is a pity that one of the four players in the game is still missing. However, you will still have a good time and quite a long time.