So you've got this far in Gangstar: New Orleans, but now you're looking for some tips and tricks that are going to push your criminality on to the next level. Well don't you worry, we're here to help.

In this fourth part of our guide to Gameloft's latest crime sim we're going to look at some advanced tips to make sure that you're pushing your empire of wrongdoing in the right direction.

Tomorrow we'll throw out some tips and hints to finish things off, but right now we're going to focus on making sure players who've stuck a lot of time into the game are pushing in the right direction. I mean, it'd be embarrassing if they weren't, right?

Choose your battles

It's important to make sure you're tough enough for the challenge that you're facing. That doesn't just mean being at the level the game requires, it means being well over it.

If you're only a couple of points stronger than the game is suggesting, you need to go and grind some challenges and get some more upgrade materials to push you higher.

It might seem like a boring way around things, but the stronger you are the easier you're going to find the challenges. And by the same token, the better you're going to do in them.

Upgrade your car

Make sure you're not just upgrading your weapons but you're upgrading your vehicles as well. It's all well and good having super strong guns, but your car needs to be on form as well.

When you get new upgrade materials, don't just chuck them all at your weapons, save some for your ride. And make sure you're upgrading your thugs as well - that's going to come in very handy when you want to send them on missions.

Find the tokens

There are special tokens spread out on the map. These are part of your daily quests, and bagging them is pretty important.

Even if you're not playing to finish the quests, and you see one, it's worthwhile picking it up. You never know when you're going to change tack, and that gives you a pretty good start.

Reload

Always manually reload. It's all well and good wading into a firefight, but if you've only got two bullets in your clip it's going to end badly.

Tap the gun icon in the top right corner to reload, and make sure you're doing it in between each section of the gun battles so that you're ready to take on whatever comes your way.