Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies

Hill Climb Racing 2 is a physics-based arcade driving game from Fingersoft. In this game, players control a wildly unstable vehicle as it careens over hills, bridges, and other obstacles in an attempt to win a race or travel as …

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Hill Climb Racing 2 is a physics-based arcade driving game from Fingersoft. In this game, players control a wildly unstable vehicle as it careens over hills, bridges, and other obstacles in an attempt to win a race or travel as far as possible. Gamezebo’s Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies will help you improve your anti-gravity driving skills—or at least crash ever-so-slightly less often.

Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • Above all else, try not to crash. There are two modes in Hill Climb Racing 2: the endless “Adventure” and the multiplayer race “Cups.” In both modes, the key is to not crash—aka, don’t let your head hit the ground. In Adventure, crashing ends the entire run. In Cups, crashing will end the current race and assign you the status of “DNF” (Did Not Finish). You will be given fourth place for that race automatically and awarded no points. Although you will occasionally have to take risks and will almost certainly end up crashing at times, you should still prioritize not crashing before coins, fuel, winning, or anything else.
    The exception to this is once you cross the finish line. You can crash after the finish line without any repercussions; if you’re haphazardly flying into the finish line and unable to land safely after it, no worries! Enjoy the crazy crash animation as you wait for the times to populate.
  • Your opponents are allowed to crash. When you’re playing Cups/race mode, your three opponents will likely crash. This does not end the race for them; it merely slows them down. Don’t assume because you saw someone crash they are out of the race; they can still continue driving and catch up to you.
  • General driving tips: You’ll need to use both the gas pedal and the brakes liberally. (The first game called them brakes, but it’s helpful to realize it’s really the “reverse” pedal. If you slam on the left pedal, you won’t stop, you’ll go backwards, but we’ll continue calling them “brakes” for continuity.) Flooring the gas without ever letting up or braking will result in you popping a wheelie and tipping over backwards. Mostly flat levels will be winnable by holding the gas and letting up / tapping the brakes when you start to tilt back. Let off the gas as you crest hills.
Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • Really hilly stages will require you to adjust mid-air. There’s a review of the original Hill Climb Racing that compares it to Tiny Wings, and this is fairly apt when thinking about vehicle control on large hills. When in the air, you’ll want to adjust so you land parallel to the ground, and at worst, horizontal to it. If you land parallel—the hill is sloping down and your car is sloping down at the same angle—you’ll not only hit the ground without losing speed, but you’ll actually gain speed as you go down. If you land horizontal—think of a car belly flop—you’ll slow down and possibly stop, but you’ll at least stay upright.
  • When adjusting, you want to tap the pedal that is opposite whichever side of your vehicle is too high. So, if your front end is too high and you’re tipping backwards, you want to hit the brakes. If your back end is starting to raise above your front end, hit the gas. You can tap both pedals at the same time, but your fastest adjustments and best control will come from lifting one finger and hitting only one pedal at once—even if this means frantically tapping each one back and forth.
  • Don’t overcorrect to make up for lost time. If you hit the ground hard and lose speed, readjust yourself before flooring the gas. Remember the first rule: it’s better to fall behind a bit than to crash.
Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • Don’t over-invest in your first jeep. As you progress through the ranks, you’ll be able to purchase new vehicles. The starter jeep, even upgraded, is much slower than the scooter and beyond. Save some money to not only buy these later vehicles but also to upgrade them instead. And buy the super jeep as soon as possible. It’s way, way faster than the starter jeep, more durable, and it even has a roll cage to protect you from minor crashes. We love the super jeep.
  • Tricks are mostly for fun, not for winning. Doing flips and getting air time will award you giant pop-up celebrations mid-race, but they don’t have much of a tangible benefit besides being cool. You’ll earn a few coins for each trick you complete, but you’ll earn a lot more by winning races and increasing your rank. Feel free to fly through the air when it gets you to the goal faster or if you’re just playing around, but if you’re trying for a best time or first place, avoid tricks and stay the course.
Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • Keep an eye out for free upgrades and chest openings. Occasionally while in the vehicle upgrade menu, one of the upgradeable parts will be yellow and say “Free!” If you tap on this part, you’ll be offered the chance to watch a video to earn an upgrade level instead of paying the required coin amount. If you have multiple vehicles unlocked, every vehicle will have at least one “free” upgrade available, so you can choose which vehicle you want to get the freebie for. (If one vehicle has more expensive upgrades than the others, you may want to opt for it even if you aren’t currently using it.) You’ll also get this freebie option sometimes when viewing locked chests, but you’ll have to tap on a chest to see if it’s available.
Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • What’s that gold medal at the goal line? When playing the Cups/race mode, you’ll sometimes see a gold medal waiting for you at the goal line. This shows up when you’re able to complete the red “win 10 races” chest and you’re in the lead. The gold medal indicates +1 to the races needed to unlock that chest. If you’ve already collected that chest for the day, you’ll no longer see gold medals at the goal line.
  • What’s the yellow number below RPM? In Cups/race mode, the yellow number shows you the current distance to the goal line. In Adventure/endless mode, it indicates how far you have traveled.
Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • What’s that green thing on the RPM gauge at the start of a race? If you press the gas so your RPM gauge is within the green space when the race starts (after the 3-2-1 countdown), you’ll earn a “Perfect Start.” What does this mean? We honestly don’t know! It doesn’t seem to have any effect on your RPM, boost, or anything else. Maybe it’s just for bragging rights. If you know what a “Perfect Start” does, please share with us in the comments!
  • You can revert to old car parts if needed. After you purchase an upgrade for your engine, grip, suspension, or fourth part (this is different on each car), you can still revert to the previous level if you’d like. Tap the “Tune” button to the left of the parts to reveal an arrow. Tap the arrow to scroll through the previous levels. You permanently own any upgrades and can go back to the highest level you’ve purchased at any time, but sometimes it’s fun to put together a wacky combination (and easier to get flips that way, too).
  • Looking for customization options? They’re in the vehicle menu after you select “Race” from the Cups menu or the location from the Adventure menu. Tap “Looks” next to the upgradeable parts above your current vehicle. You can adjust the appearance for each vehicle you own separately—so you could choose blue paint for your starter jeep and green for your scooter—but your character will wear the same outfit no matter what vehicle they’re on. Also, keep in mind that paint colors are specific to certain vehicles—so if you unlock a new paint but don’t see it as an option, check the customization tab for other vehicles.
Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • Open chests as often as possible. You can only store three chests at a time, so try to always have one open slot available for any new chests you earn. And you have to physically tap a chest to begin the “opening” process, which usually takes a few hours, so be sure to always tap a new chest after opening one. The exception to these rules are the blue chest you earn automatically every six hours and the daily red “win 10 races” chest: these do not take up a chest opening slot and will open immediately upon being tapped (assuming they are available to be opened). Finally, remember that you will often be given the option to open a slotted chest immediately by watching a video, so check back often to see if this shortcut is available to you.
  • Most of your coins will come from chests. The original Hill Climb Racing awarded large amounts of coins while driving, for doing tricks, and for reaching certain distances. Hill Climb Racing 2 really doesn’t award many coins during actual gameplay: on an average race you’ll probably come away with 100ish coins, and tricks only give you a few extra coins each. To get money for upgrades you’re going to need to open chests, which usually contain at least a few thousand coins, plus gems and customizations.
  • The difference between Ranked and Unranked: Ranked mode affects your current total Ranking, such as Bronze I, Silver II, Gold III, etc. When you win races in Ranked, your rank will improve. When you lose races, your rank will go down. The amount your rank decreases from losing is much lower than what it increases from winning, however, so it’s always advantageous to attempt a Ranked match. As you move up the ranks, you’ll unlock new stages and vehicles. You’ll also be pitted against players in these higher ranks. It’s worth noting that rank is only based on your personal score and not anyone else’s: so, when you reach 10,000 rank points, you’ll enter Silver. It’s not the top 10,000 players or anything like that; it depends only on the points you have earned.
    The stage for Ranked mode is chosen randomly from all of the stages you have unlocked. Exiting a Ranked race before it is complete will forfeit ranking points, but it will also reset the stage and give you a new one (so this is a way to get a new Ranked stage if you dislike the one you were just assigned).
Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • Unranked mode lets you choose your stage from all of the ones you have unlocked. You’ll still race other players’ ghosts, but you will not win or lose rank points. Exiting an Unranked match will not affect your rank points. The red “win 10 races” daily chest can be earned by winning Ranked or Unranked matches.
  • If you’re struggling with a particular stage, it’s probably a good idea to practice it in Unranked a few times in case it shows up in Ranked.
  • Don’t worry about fuel in race mode. The levels in Cups/race mode are so short that you’ll rarely run low on fuel. There are times, like Dark Roads, when you will have to choose which path to take and one will contain fuel while the other won’t; unless you’re already in the red, don’t worry about the fuel path. In Adventure/endless mode, however, fuel is critical and you should aim to pick up every container you come across. Do, especially in Adventure mode, keep in mind that fuel is always being used. Even if you stop moving, you’re still using fuel, so don’t stop to look at that roadside moose for too long.
Hill Climb Racing 2 Tips, Cheats and Strategies
  • Take in the sights in Adventure; ignore the sights in Cups. Hill Climb Racing 2 has greatly improved graphics over its predecessor. There are lots of little details along the road, including cows chewing cud, double-decker covered bridges, and mysterious military encampments. When you’re in race mode, ignore those sights. They are all background and won’t impact your drive, even if the cows act like you’re about to hit them. Let Adventure be your sight-seeing and cow-visiting time; race mode is racing time.
Jillian will play any game with cute characters or an isometric perspective, but her favorites are Fallout 3, Secret of Mana, and Harvest Moon. Her PC suffers from permanent cat-on-keyboard syndrome, which she blames for most deaths in Don’t Starve. She occasionally stops gaming long enough to eat waffles and rewatch Battlestar Galactica.