Overview – developed by Inlogic Software, with porting/publishin handed by Eastasiasoft, Nitro City Racing is a single player racing game where players must dodge and weave through traffic in several settings. As a street racer, blast down the road and avoid the other vehicles on the road at high speeds, completing missions and challenges. This title is available on all major platforms, with a link to all versions of the game at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I would like to thank Eastasiasoft for providing the copy of Nitro City Racing used for this piece. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this review, all thoughts and opinions contain within are my own.
Now with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. There is no real story for this release, so I will be going directly into discussing the gameplay of Nitro City Racing.
Gameplay – Nitro City Racing is an arcade style street racing game, with the objective being to drive down a straight road while weaving through traffic. Before players can get behind the wheel, they will need to select their car, starting with only one out of 10 cars to select from. After selecting the car, players will be able to pick one of five modes. At the start of the game, there are two modes that players can jump into, Career and One Way.
In Career mode, players will be able to challenge a total of 54 missions. These all include the same basic gameplay loop, where the player must drive down a straight road, dodging vehicles on the road at high speed. However, the mission objectives vary between each of them. The challenges include covering a set distance, near missing other vehicles, driving on the other side of the road and scoring set amounts of points, some with a time limit.
The driving is very basic, with the roads being straight lines with four lanes, offering a very basic high speed driving experience. While driving, players can accelerate, brake and move to the left/right as the basic controls. Then there are the “special features”, which consist of a turbo that lasts a limited time, as well as a time slowing power that adds a black and white filter. This offers a shallow, but functional speed driving experience.
When clearing each of the missions, the player will be awarded coins for the missions, as well as for driving skills during play. The base award for the mission will be set, however, the bonuses will vary based on near misses, going on the opposing lanes and going at high speeds. All of the awards will be added to the player bank, which can be used outside of the Career mode. Players will also gain experience which will level them up and unlock new modes.
Away from the Career mode, the player can access four other game modes. These consist of One Way, where all traffic goes in the same direction, Free Ride where players can just drive endlessly. Then there is the Time Attack mode, where players score as many points as possible, and Two Way which plays out the same as One Way, but with an additional lane. Free Ride, Time Attack and Two Way unlock when players reach set levels.
During play in Career Mode, One Way and Two Way, if the player makes contact with another vehicle, the run will be ended and scores will be tallied. Yet, in the Free Ride and Time Attack mode, the player will auto-brake is the player hits another car, allowing players to continue driving. In the three challenge modes with scores, the player will be able to record their highest score, acting as a record due to the lack of any form of leaderboards.
Away from the rather basic gameplay, there are the cars and customisation options that can be purchased. After accumulating enough coins, players can purchase new cars, with different models inspired by real world vehicles. These have different stats that should affect the performance, but it only seems to affect speed. When a car has been unlocked, the player will be able to buy upgrades and new parts for their car.
The upgrade system allows players to improve their core performance and unlock turbo, with several steps for each of the performance boosts. Then we have the cosmetic customisation options, changing the look of the car, including wheels and spoilers, with several options to choose from. Players can also change the look of their vehicles with color choices, changing the palette of the car with several options to choose from on the menu.
Now with the gameplay covered, it is time to discuss the other aspects of this release, starting with the controls.
Controls – this has a very easy control method, with only a few buttons needed to play. These are to control speed through acceleration/braking, moving across the lanes and the time stop/turbo boost. This works rather well in terms of handling and general play, with the steam version offering players the option of using keyboard, or controller if using steam input. The general performance of the game is pretty intuitive, with no issues in terms of lag.
Difficulty – this game lacks any real difficulty or challenge, as the driving is just a straight line with some swerving between traffic. The challenge itself is all about knowing how to weave between cars, get the near miss combos and maintain high speeds. Due to this rather low difficulty level, it is pretty easy to get through all of the challenges. I just wish there was more to the racing than just going along a straight road.
Presentation – from a visual perspective this game looks rather basic, with simple models for the roads, environments and assets for cars. This does look like a low budget release, with the simplified look of the game, as well as a low render distance. Thankfully, there are no issues in terms of lag or frame rate, with the game playing rather smoothly. The sound is rather basic, with a small amount of music tracks that loop and simple sound effects.
Final Thoughts – I do enjoy arcade style racing games, being a fan of the classics like SEGA Rally and Ridge Racer, so this appealed to me. However, my gameplay experience was a little bit mixed, as the game feels like more of a mobile release. This was due to the very basic menu system, alongside a very simple HUD during play. But the gameplay itself does have an element of fun to it, with a good sense of speed while going down the long roads.
I do wish there was a little more to this game, with more than just the straight never ending roads. The lack of turns and only having players drive in straight lines, does lead to the gameplay becoming tedious rather quickly. If there was a leaderboard system included, or opponent racers, then this would likely hold more staying power. If this style of gameplay does interest you, the price is very low, so it can be good as a bit of a time waster.
In the end, I give Nitro City Racing a final score of 2.5/5. This is a passable budget racing game, with a single style of play that sadly becomes tired fast, but for those who are looking for a cheap street racing game, there is a decent amount of content present. If you want to check this game out for yourself, a link to each version of the game will be below.
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to PlayStation version (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
Link to Steam version (HERE)
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