LEGO Racers 2 began development by 2000, with Attention to Detail developing the title instead of High Voltage Software, who developed the first game. Several features were scrapped or changed during the development including LAN multiplayer and completely different plot to the game with Barron Russo being the main antagonist. LEGO Racers 2 released on September 9th, 2001.
There were some changes to the plot from what we originally were going with. In the shipped games story mode you took on a series of bosses to improve your car in order to travel to Xalax to take on Rocket Racer. Our original plot idea had Rocket Racer more as a mentor figure to the player, and the games villain was actually an evil corporate guy whose name I forget. (His model is still in the game, he’s the guy in the red pinstripe suit in the sandy bay levels) I think Lego were keen to keep Rocket as the final goal. Our art team did get permission to change his look at least, they gave him a racing suit based on Evel Knievel.
