Touch Racing Nitro

Nitrous oxide has two very different uses.

On one side we have the application that’s seen it given the nickname ‘laughing gas,’ as inhaling it makes you feel all light-headed and giggly.

On the other side we have the application that has seen it given the nickname ‘Nitro,’ thanks to its ability to boost the power output of engines.

Bravo Game Studios has attempted to instil a similar duality of light-hearted kicks and serious competitive racing in Touch Racing Nitro, but it hasn’t quite got the mixture right.

Touch Racing Nitro’s unique selling point is its one-finger control. Though it appears to be a top down(ish) buggy racer in the mould of Micro Machines or R.C. Pro-Am, the controls are completely different.

Put simply, you touch where you want your buggy to go and - physics willing - it’ll head in that direction. The further away from the buggy you hold your finger, the quicker it will go.

It takes some getting used to – not least because your own hand often gets in the way - and an oddly fiddly tutorial section doesn’t help matters. Soon, though, you’ll be extracting quite a bit of fun from this simple and unusually control system.

It’s not as fun as it should be, though. I’ve touched on the influence the game’s physics have on your progress, but it really is too pronounced.

It’s all too easy to enter a corner too fast and overshoot into the barrier. Rather than bump back into play, though, you’ll often get stuck on (or the other side of) these barriers, prompting a frustrating track reset).

The control system, while fun, is too vague and woolly to be allied to such particular handling. Even the slightest spin-out can cause mayhem (especially if you’re under a bridge), as the touch-system doesn’t handle tight turns well, forcing you to lead the car around 180 degrees like you’re pulling it along by a short length of string.