Nitro Nights

Nitro Nights: Slot Overview

Foot on the accelerator, players, it's time to become King of the Streets, or try to at least, in the high-octane, nitrous boosted release Nitro Nights from developer Hacksaw Gaming. Apparently, there is only one rule in this race, which is, 'no brakes allowed.' That is a teensy bit dangerous, seeing as the races take place on city streets, meaning other cars, shops and pedestrians to contend with. To get the motor really ticking over, Nitro Nights has an injected Burnout Mode, which is a mix of wild adds, multipliers, and nudges, as well as an Epic version of the mechanic with extra horsepower under the bonnet.

Hacksaw Gaming has brought a neon paint set to illuminate Nitro Nights' skin, one it has used before to good effect in slots like Chaos Crew 3 and Beam Boys. The studio has gone all Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift when designing the game world, mixing in black, whites, and greys, to accentuate the bolder colours. Nitro Nights is brought alive with a dynamic background and bopping tunes, as it flits between its base game and three different Asian race spots, one for each of the three bonus rounds. Cynics might see it as a cringy corporate attempt at being hip and with it, but for the most part, Nitro Nights brings a fun, lively racing around the city streets, heart-in-mouth experience to the reels.

Nitro Nights is a 5-reel slot, each reel holding four positions, while 14 paylines evaluate winning combinations. For a hanging on the edge, extreme styled game, the volatility could have been higher than its 4 out of 5 rating, but it is high nonetheless. The most preferred of the four RTP configurations is the 96.31% variant, while the base bet range goes from $/€0.10 to $/€50.

The numbers 1, 6, 8, 12, and 43 are the low pay symbols awarding 1x the bet for a 5 OAK hit. Then there are five car-related symbols as the high pays, worth 2x to 5x the bet when landing 5 matching premium symbols in a win. Wilds appear on all reels, substituting all pay table symbols. Land 5 wilds in a line, and the payout is 5x the stake.

Nitro Nights: Slot Features

The game gasses up with a Burnout Mode sequence, three bonus rounds, each one getting faster than the one preceding it, as well as a handful of feature buys.

Burnout Mode

When a Nitro symbol lands, it activates Burnout Mode. The Nitro symbol is transformed into a Wild Nitro, and nudges, wilds, and multipliers are awarded. At least 5 Nudges are added to the Nitrous Bar, which has room for up to 10 nudges. In addition, 5 wilds and 0-3 multipliers are added to random positions on the grid. When a position multiplier is part of a win, it multiplies the win's value by x2 to x5.

After wins have been evaluated, the nudges trigger, moving all symbols down one row, adding new symbols to the top to fill the empty spaces. Wilds and position multipliers are sticky during nudges. If a new Nitro symbol lands after a nudge, at least one more nudge can be added to the Nitrous Bar (if it is not already full), while 0-3 wilds and 0-3 multipliers are added to the grid. Multipliers are added when placed on top of each other. The spin ends when the Nitrous Bar is empty.

Seoul Bonus Game

Hitting 3 scatters in the base game triggers 8 Seoul free spins. It uses the base game machines but has an increased chance of landing Nitro symbols.

Tokyo Bonus Game

Hitting 4 scatters in the main game awards 8 Tokyo free spins. As well as the base game mechanics, a global multiplier starting at x2 appears outside the grid. There is also a chance of landing Epic Nitro symbols, which trigger Epic Burnout Mode. In this mode, the global multiplier increases by +1 after every nudge. Otherwise, Epic Nitro symbols keep the mechanics of the Nitro symbol, with at least 3 nudges awarded to the Nitrous Bar. New Epic Nitro symbols that land during the Epic Burnout Mode can add at least one Nudge to the Nitrous Bar, plus wilds and multis can be added to the grid. A Nitro symbol landing during Epic Burnout Mode can add at least one Nudge.

Fukushima Hidden Epic Bonus

Landing 5 scatters in the base game triggers 1 Fukushima spin. This spin guarantees 1 Nitro symbol lands to award 10-20 nudges. There is no limit for how many nudges can be stored in the Super Nitrous Bar.

Feature Buy

Where permitted, players have access to four feature buys. At 5x the stake, BonusHunt FeatureSpins make each spin 10 times more likely to trigger a bonus game, or for 50x, Road Rage FeatureSpins guarantee 1 Nitro symbol lands. Seoul may be bought for 90x or Tokyo for 200x the stake.

Nitro Nights: Slot Verdict

Visually, Nitro Nights fully commits to the theme as Hacksaw Gaming takes its formula of neon-soaked chaos and applies a layer of street-race attitude on top. Between the city skylines, energetic soundtrack, animated backgrounds, and drifting cars, the game rarely sits still for long. On a positive note, there is more than enough substance beneath the body kit to prevent Nitro Nights from feeling like it's all style and no engine. Burnout Mode is genuinely entertaining when it catches fire, and is able to produce the sort of exciting nudge sequences that'll have adrenaline junkies clinging firmly to the car's grab handle.

Hacksaw Gaming has landed on a pattern it likes to use when making slots, and Nitro Nights is a prime example. That is, drop a solid mechanic in the base game from time to time, ratchet up the feature frequency in the entry-level bonus round, build on it in the next level-up bonus, before letting anarchy reign supreme in the highest echelons of the coveted hidden bonus. It's a recipe which has served the studio well for a while now and works effectively in Nitro Nights as well. There's always a wonder at how much the five scatter-triggered rounds would cost to buy if that were a possibility, but keeping it hidden gives grinders something to work towards. In the case of Nitro Night's Fukushima round, the thought of 20+ nudges, locking sticky wilds and position multipliers in place for the duration is one that gets the engine idling.

However, there is no need to fret if the hidden bonus is not revealed since Nitro Nights has enough horsepower to hit its 15,000x the bet max win no matter the mode. Apologies for getting cliched, but Nitro Nights is a high-octane game that can literally burn rubber during solid Burnout Mode, where nudges are flowing, wilds are stacking, and multis are staining the reels. Even gamblers who treat cars solely as a means of getting from A to B rather than throwing them sideways around corners should be able to get a kick out of Nitro Nights.