The greatest mobile game ever?
Hill Climb Racing 2 is a two-dimensional, side-scrolling racing game for Android and iOS.
In this post, I refer to the game as HCR 2, short for Hill Climb Racing 2. I’ll show you how to play the game, what modes there are, and how you can improve your vehicle to make it easier!
I’ll also include some hints and tips I’ve learned from playing the game.
What are the basics?
The basic aim of the game in HCR2 is simply to use the main character, “Bill Newton”, to drive vehicles across the terrain of different levels to get as far as possible without crashing, or running out of fuel.
There are many different vehicles to choose from, including cars, motorbikes, and even a snowmobile
Throughout the level, there are coins to collect that you can use to upgrade your vehicle and buy parts. To collect the coins, drive over them with your vehicle. Coins have a value of either 1, 5, or 10 coins.
You can also do stunts with your vehicle during each run to earn extra coins. For example, doing a backflip without crashing earns you 10 coins. Coins are also awarded for “air time“, which is how long you can stay in the air without touching the floor. You earn more coins for each second you can spend in the air.
During the run your level of fuel decreases. Drive over the fuel cans found at certain points in each level to refuel so that you can continue your run.
There are additional goals to achieve to get treasure chests containing rewards. For example distance-based goals such as driving over 500 metres with a specific vehicle.
How can I fail?
Each run will immediately finish if any of the following happens:
Break your neck!
If you land upside down on your head, or do a jump and smash your head into the roof, you will break Bill’s neck and the level ends.
The game shows “driver down”, and a summary of the run appears.
Your run is over if you crash your vehicle
Run out of fuel
Your car will slow down and eventually stop if your fuel is empty. Sometimes you can still use gravity to roll down a hill and collect a fuel can, so that you can continue the level.
Run out of time
One of the modes of the game is “Events”. These events have a time limit, often around 2 minutes. If you run out of time, Bill jumps out of the car and your run is over.
What are the controls?
The controls in HCR2 are simple. There are two pedals on the screen:
Brake
The left pedal is the brake.
Pressing the brake slows your vehicle down when it is on the ground. If you have come to a halt, pressing the brake pedal makes your vehicle reverse to the left of the screen.
If your vehicle is in the air, pressing the brake pedal makes your vehicle spin in a clockwise direction.
Accelerator
The right pedal is the accelerator.
Pressing the accelerator speeds your vehicle up when it is on the ground.
If your vehicle is in the air, pressing the accelerator pedal makes your vehicle spin in an anti- clockwise direction.
You can control the spin using the pedals when in the air.
What modes does the game have?
The game has a number of different modes alongside the default “Adventure” mode.
Adventure
In Adventure mode, fuel and battery charge have to be collected so that you can continue your run along the level.
The object of this mode is to get as far along the level as you can without crashing or running out of fuel or battery, depending on the vehicle you are using.
Collect as many coins as you can to upgrade your vehicle.
Adventure mode is single-player.
The rewards you can get in adventure mode include common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary, and champion chests.
 Common chest |  Uncommon chest |  Rare chest |
 Epic chest |  Champion chest |  Legendary chest |
Your personal best is shown for each map. If the vehicle you are using matches the one that you achieved your best distance with, your second-best distance is also shown.
Time Attack
In the time attack mode, you race against real people who have played the same level in the last 24 hours. You do not race against them live, but a recording of them playing the level.
The goal is to beat the other players and set the fastest time you can.
If you can get first place 10 times in a day, you receive a special Daily chest, containing rewards such as coins and parts.
Community showcase
Every day a random map that someone made is put in a race you get 5 free tries. You can refill tries with gems if you get top 3 you get a rare chest and the higher you place the more points you get
Team Events
Team events are for teams of up to 50 players. A team must have a minimum of 5 players to enter. The team events last for around 2 days.
Team members work against other teams to try and beat their combined scores.
These events can be things like a long jump event, where each member jumps as far as they can. A flag is placed where you first touch the land. The combined distances are measured and your position on the worldwide leaderboard is calculated.
After 7 days the team receives a chest with rewards based on the total distance your team has covered, up to 25,000 kilometres each.
Special Events
Special events happen several times a month and have themes such as a Christmas-themed tobogganing special event, and during Halloween, you had to escape from zombies.
A special event is similar to a team event but only has one race type, such as driving as far as you can without fuel or getting as far as you can without touching the floor much.
One major difference is that you only get 4 attempts to complete a special event.
The aim is to get as high up the leaderboard as possible. The higher your position, the more points you get. You can use these points to buy rewards, such as tokens for new levels, or common, rare, and epic chests.
At the time of writing the live special event was 2 Fast 2 Flip.
In this event, you have to finish the level as quickly as possible, rather than being distance-based. You can perform flips and tricks to knock bonus seconds off your total time.
What vehicles can I use?
There are a lot of vehicles in the game. You start with the Hill Climber for free and can use coins to unlock the others, as long as you have achieved the required rank.
Some vehicles are only obtainable from public events such as the Raider or Hoverbike
| Did you know? If you hold both pedals down for 3 seconds when driving the bus, it lowers down as if picking up passengers! |
Cars
| Vehicle | Picture | My opinion |
|---|---|---|
| Hill Climber |  | Okay. Comes with a built-in wheelie boost, although that doesn’t work when you’re out of fuel. My score: 5/10 |
| Hill Climber Mk 2 |  | I don’t really like this or use it much, The roll cage is annoying, and it isn’t very fast. Should be called “super jeep” but they changed the name! My score: 4/10 |
| Dune Buggy |  | Very good, has great grip and is good at climbing. Has a good roll cage so is good for adventure mode. My score: 10/10 |
| Sports Car |  | I use it quite a lot, with its great landing boost. My score: 8/10 |
| Monster Truck |  | I don’t use this often, but it’s pretty good if you upgrade it a lot. Has a lot of records, and is fun to wheelie with. My score: 5/10 |
| Rotator |  | Very good, has built-in downforce making it very good for landing boosts. My score: 6/10 |
| Super Diesel |  | Don’t really like it, but it has a lot of records and good kangaroo ability. My score: 3/10 |
| Lowrider |  | I use this one quite a lot. It has a B.R.A.I.N. feature where the wheels will move upwards if you are near the roof! My score: 7/10 |
| Beast |  | Very good and comes with jump shocks. Goes very high. My score: 6/10 |
| Rally Car |  | Probably the best car in the game, I use it for almost everything. My score: 11/10! |
| Formula |  | Runs out of fuel in like 10 seconds, so barely anyone uses it other than for time attacks. My score: 5/10 |
| Muscle Car |  | Very fun to use the burnout, where you hold both pedals. My score: 8/10 |
| Racing Truck |  | Not very good as it has high drag. You end up going backwards when in the air! My score: 3/10 |
| Hot Rod |  | Very good! Has almost every adventure record due to its built-in boost. My score: 10/10 |
| CC-EV |  | Very good! Has almost every adventure record due to its builtin boost. My score: 10/10 |
| Supercar |  | Pretty good, but high fuel use. Used mostly for time attacks. Costs a lot to upgrade. My score: 5/10 |
Bikes
| Vehicle | Picture | My opinion |
|---|---|---|
| Scooter |  | I really like this vehicle. I use it for most of the levels I do, but it’s easy to crash. My score: 9/10 |
| Motocross |  | Rubbish. No records, and far too easy to hit your head. My score: 2/10 |
| Superbike |  | Very good wheelie and coin boost. Great for time attacks. My score: 6/10 |
| Chopper |  | Got a big fuel tank that seems to last for ages. Probably has the best fuel boost. My score: 5/10 |
Other
| Vehicle | Picture | My opinion |
|---|---|---|
| Monowheel |  | Not the best. Hardly ever use this as it’s far too easy to crash. My score: 0/10 |
| Bus |  | Don’t use it very much; hard to set up and has miserable kangaroo ability. Too big to fit into many levels. My score: 2/10 |
| Tractor |  | Large back wheels give a great wheelie boost. If you press both pedals then the tipper raises up. My score: 7/10 |
| Tank |  | Don’t use it very much; hard to setup and has miserable kangaroo ability. Too big to fit into many levels. My score: 2/10 |
| Snowmobile |  | Can go over water and is great fun. My score: 4/10 |
| Moonlander |  | Very hard to get. Has a glitch where if you get a perfect start and then boost, the wheels fall off! My score: 8/10 |
| Gameplay tip You can use the features of some vehicles to continue along the level even without fuel! If you accelerate and brake when landing on your wheels, some vehicles give a landing boost, pushing you up and forward, for free. This is called “kangarooing”. One player used this to travel 70,000 metres in the Desert level, using the CC-EV vehicle! |
How do I improve my vehicle?
There are two ways to improve your vehicle in HCR 2 to make things easier:
Upgrades
You can upgrade your vehicle in HCR 2 by buying upgrades using the coins you earn in levels. As you buy more upgrades, the more expensive they get.
| Gameplay tip You can sometimes watch a short advert video to upgrade your vehicles! |
Each vehicle has 4 categories that you can upgrade. For example, if you upgrade the engine in a vehicle, it gets faster. If you upgrade the gearbox, you can accelerate more rapidly.
You can only upgrade each category on a vehicle up to 20 times.
If you are able to fully upgrade each category on a vehicle, you get a hat for the driver to wear that looks like that vehicle:
Some vehicles have mastery which is 4 very powerful upgrades that cost 1 million each! This includes the bonus part
Parts
Each vehicle has 3 spaces for adding tuning parts some vehicles have mastery meaning they have 4 parts. These special tuning parts apply different effects which make adventure mode easier.
Not all parts can be applied to all cars. For example, one of the parts is a roll cage to make you safer, but that cannot be applied to vehicles that already have a roof.
You get tuning parts by buying them with coins, or in chests that you earn.
Some of my favourite tuning parts are as follows:
Nitro
Gives a big boost when you press the button charge the boost by getting fuel or a perfect start
Landing Boost
Gives a good boost if you can land both front and back wheels at the same time.
Jump Shocks
Lets you jump over blocks in the road by pressing both pedals at the same time.
Wheelie Boost
Gives you a forward boost when doing a wheelie.
Fuel Boost
Gives you a huge forward boost when collecting fuel.
Thrusters
Make you fly very high. The more you upgrade the higher you go. Gives you a lot of “Air time” coins.
Summary
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