Subway Surfers City beginners guide - How to maximise your run (and coins) from the get-go

If you're in your mid-to-late twenties like me, then you probably remember playing Subway Surfers back in the day. And you'll be glad to know that the core gameplay is pretty much the same. Simply swipe your finger left, right, up or down in order to avoid the corresponding obstacles by moving, jumping or sliding. The longer your run goes on, and the more coins you collect, the more rewards you gain and the further you progress.

Your main power-up is that of the hoverboard. Collect blue tokens alongside coins, and you'll gradually fill up a bar that then summons the hoverboard to ride on. This power-up has two benefits: it both increases your score when riding and serves as a 'second life' that disappears when you hit an obstacle, rather than ending your run, and can also activate power-ups inherent to each character.

One thing to watch out for is the new districts. Essentially, the more of these you unlock by progressing, the more varied the areas you pass through in each run will be. But unlike the regular subway stages, these will also have various new hazards to contend with. City also overall just has more in the way of hazards that even Subway Surfers veterans may be blindsided by.

The cargo district, for example, has floating containers, forklifts that can move unexpectedly out into the tracks or even just floating platforms you'll need to navigate quickly. It all presents a pretty compelling, fun and sometimes frustrating challenge even for the most experienced in endless runners.

Now, if you're like me and only really know Subway Surfers as 'that game I played as a kid' or 'that thing TikTok teens watch next to film clips', you might think you have City in the bag. But it's actually surprisingly challenging and fast-paced, which means there are some tips and tricks to keep in mind if you want to make the most of each run.

For one, remember that the speed with which you make movements matters. When jumping over obstacles, you can flick down to perform a ground pound, usually used to smash boards and get more coins. But it's also useful for quickly dropping down into a slide, for example, or dropping back to the floor and regaining control.

Also, keep in mind you have a surprising amount of air control, and often obstacles in the trickier areas such as the docks will require you to combine jumps and movement in short order to avoid obstacles. With each district being visually distinct, it means you'll actually find it quite tricky to get used to how it all works.

Speed is also key (especially in the trials we'll mention later), and it's important to be aware of your surroundings. Not in the 'don't walk into a lamppost' sense, but I found a surprising number of stupid fails resulted from not looking ahead to see what obstacles were coming up; remember, moving obstacles tend to be the biggest problem since they rapidly close the distance more than static hazards will.

Also, be aware that controls at this early stage are a little finicky. I'm notoriously twitchy with my movements, so I found more than a few other dumb mistakes slipped through when my brain acted slower than my fingers. But, you'll likely have an easier time with that than I will. It goes without saying in this Subway Surfers City beginners guide, but I do also recommend watching ads if failing a run to get another life. If only because the endless runner will force you to watch them anyway if you do fail, so you might as well get a free continue out of it.

Subway Surfers City can be split into two separate overall modes. You've got your average endless runner you can hop into anytime, and then there are trials and city tour - more limited modes that require the use of a limited resource called Tickets to enter.

City Tour is effectively what World Tour is for the first Subway Surfers, and sees you taking on shorter challenge stages to gradually unlock new surfers and other rewards. As you complete stages, you'll collect bells that unlock rewards, including new surfers. Each stage also usually has optional objectives you'll need to complete in order to get more bells, and getting all the rewards usually means replaying stages to complete all objectives.

Meanwhile, Trials function similarly, but rotate and often have a time limit and other conditions. Complete these, and you'll gain plenty of rewards. But you'll only have access to these from XP level 10 onwards, and some will rotate out daily, so check in if you see one that offers the rewards you want!

Missions are basically just dailies and long-term goals to strive for, tasks that you complete in order to gain greater rewards. You don't need to enter a specific mode to complete them, and you'll usually stumble into accomplishing them during your playtime in other modes anyway.

As for Crew Members, these are your fellow surfers, and as you might expect, you can unlock them, upgrade them and use their special abilities to fit your playstyle. Jake is obviously the easiest, with the coin magnet and score multiplier being an excellent pick for early on. While Tricky and Miss Maia, two other early picks, offer multipliers to gain more coins.

One interesting addition that seems to be new though is that of the My Best Crew mechanic. On each run, there's a chance to stumble into your fellow surfers (indicated by an icon on the right showing the distance to them), and when met, they'll grant extra score to both characters. The more characters in your crew, the more bonus score you'll get starting off each run as well.

You'll also want to keep an eye on the various reward tracks beyond these, of which there are many. Not least being the Subway Pass that functions as, well, you might expect a battle pass to. The most lucrative rewards are usually gated off or monetised, which is fair enough if not at least a little galling.

Ultimately, the best way to describe this endless runner (for better or for worse) is that it's a modernised interpretation of the original. That means better graphics and sound, but also means you might find it a bit overwhelming with the amount of currencies and other necessities to keep track of. So long as you keep track of your dailies, complete trials and use our basic tips and tricks, however, you'll be well on your way to mastering the world of Subway Surfers City.