A few days ago, we shared some beginner tips for Nitro Nation Stories, the latest Nitro Nation game from Creative Mobile. This game is now available for Android and iOS devices, and you play the role of mysterious bad boy street racer Justin Carr. There are races to win in story mode and in the other game modes, but story mode is where it’s at here – that’s where you meet your best friend Da Fly, your love interest and fellow street racer Kristine Keller, and her villainous then-boyfriend/initial boss Mel Fitzwilliam. Along the way, you can collect more cars, make your existing ones better, and keep on improving your rep as a street racer, beating more drivers, not the least of these being the game’s five boss characters.
Think of this game as something similar to CSR Racing/CSR Classics, but with enough elements to make it different from that game we had once covered so extensively. As promised, we shall be helping you get closer to completing story mode, with a longer, more detailed list of tips and tricks. This Nitro Nation Stories strategy guide, after all, is designed for intermediate to advanced players, so read on and here’s hoping you put these tips to good use!
1. The Controls Can Be Stiff
For all races, you’ll have an up-shift and a down-shift button on the right of your screen. The slalom races come with left and right arrows that allow you to turn or swerve, while the Underground races (see below) have a Launch button on the lower left corner that you should hit when the traffic lights go green. As we’ve observed, the controls aren’t the most responsive ones out there, so you may have to be very quick if your tap doesn’t register like it should. It’s all too common for players to be unable to register a gearshift properly, so be wary of this; don’t give your opponents a chance to overtake! And, as a bonus tip, be careful not to be shifting down, due to the proximity of the up shift and down shift buttons on your screen.
2. Keep Your Eyes On The Road
This should probably go without saying, but it’s so important we should talk about it in detail. When racing in slaloms, you have to look ahead of you. You need to be aware of the flashing lights ahead, but this isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Trucks and darker vehicles can be harder to spot from your vantage point behind the wheel, but you should always be on the lookout for them in slalom races. Sure, it’s important to make certain you’re shifting at the right time, but it’s even more important to be alert. You don’t want to paint yourself into the corner, so to say, and be in a situation where even the quickest, most aggressive swerving action won’t save you from a collision.
3. Be Patient If You Want To Gas Up
We’ve tried some tests, and as it seems, Nitro Nation Stories doesn’t allow players to use the time lapse cheat. You really will have to wait for your tank to fill back up, or pay 10 gold coins (the premium currency) to fill ‘er up ASAP. But if it’s any consolation, it takes less time for your tank to fill up automatically than it does in most other racing games.
You also get a full tank each time you level up, so you can also try this trick; try using up all your gas at a time when you’re very close to leveling up. That way, you can optimize your gas usage and race on a full tank a mere couple minutes after almost being out of gas.
4. Unconventional Ways To Make Your Car Better
Upgrading is usually a cut-and-dry process, but sometimes, you’ll come across a rare upgrade, which you can then use to replace one of the common upgrades that are already in the five slots for a certain part. The Workshop will also become available once you make it to the second city/stage. You can improve parts in a similar way to evolution in role-playing games – combine two parts in order to improve their rarity.
5. Watch Out For Those Cars Near The Finish Line
Nitro Nation Stories loves throwing a curveball at players with well-placed obstacles that could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. What are we talking about here? We’re talking about cars or trucks that may show up near the finish line. As we said above, the controls here are a bit stiff, and if you aren’t alert, you may be too late in swerving away from danger. That’s going to end your race regardless of how close you are to the finish line, and unlike in a few real-life freak instances, you won’t win the race if your crashed car spins toward the finish line and somehow crosses it!
6. Battling The Bosses
The boss race, of course, is the final race in story mode per stage, and in here, you’ll have a limited number of controls – a right or left arrow (but not both) may appear depending on where you have to turn, and you’ll also have to fire shots at your opponent’s car. Keeping this in mind, your goals in boss races are to avoid careening into cars and other obstacles, and to take out the boss. And avoiding the obstacles and staying alive often wouldn’t be enough; normally, your car will be much lower-rated than the boss’ ride, so it’s paramount that you try to take them out ASAP.
When firing at a boss car, you want to make sure that the white dot is completely within the circle. Centering the dot in the circle is good for a perfect hit, and you want to aim for that, as that takes out twice the amount of hit points as a merely good hit. Also, when it comes to swerving away from the obstacles, we’ve noticed that the arrows you have to hit are always the same. That means the cars and obstacles will always pop up in the same place regardless of how often you replay this race. Memorize the layout of the cars/obstacles so that you only have to focus on getting a good aim when firing.
7. Surviving The Underground
At first, the Underground mode may seem like an easy way to earn money and upgrades. The game tends to lure you in like that – it makes winning six straight races for a sizable pot of cash and four mystery boxes with upgrades or gold look easier than it sounds. But when the tutorial-laden first Underground event is completed, the gloves are off. Suddenly, your opponents become much tougher to beat despite the fact that all your cars’ ratings are similar. So how can you ensure yourself of a better chance of winning the Underground, given that if you lose one race, you lose all the money you would have earned?
We would suggest buying the engine booster (the one on the extreme left) for 10 gold coins; that’s going to last you five minutes and give you a much better chance of beating the competition. Start out with higher-rated opponents and work your way toward the lowest-rated, but remember that you’re all supposed to be on similar footing; a car rated at 440 while yours is at 490 may actually be packing some boosters. And though you’re going to miss out on much bigger prizes, you may want to bank your earnings after the fourth or fifth race. In most cases, it’s still going to be more than what you’d earn per race in the street races. Underground events will cost you 5 gold to join once you’ve used up your three free attempts per day, so make these races count!
8. Don’t Buy The False Start Insurance
Absolutely not – stay away from this booster. Unless you’ve got a bad case of trigger-happy fingers, it’s almost impossible to have a false start in the Underground, which means your gold coins should be spent elsewhere when it comes to the boosters. False start insurance is as superfluous as it gets, though again, you may beg to differ if you’re the type who tends to get too excitable in such situations.
9. Rubbin’ Is Racin’
Nitro Nation Stories is a street racing game, but the old NASCAR-related adage holds true – rubbin’ is racin’. That means you should expect aggressive driving from some of your opponents. These drivers may not be content with passing you; they may try to bully your car toward a barrier by driving, or should we say, pushing against it. This won’t result in a collision unless you inadvertently careen into a car in front of you, but it’s going to slow you down big-time, and in most cases, opponent cars will emerge victorious in this battle of “rubbing.” If you see a car about to pass you, you can try moving slightly out of the way if the coast is clear.
These would be our best tips and tricks for Creative Mobile’s fantastic mobile game, Nitro Nation Stories. We hope you’ve enjoyed this set of hints and learned something new, that will help you become more successful in this game.