Mars Race vs Ellipse
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mars Race
Build a Martian city by harvesting solar power and extracting water. Expand your territory by constructing drones to visit and compete with other players for resources, while defending your own colony.
- Martian city building
- Resource harvesting (solar power, water)
- Drone construction for exploration and combat
- Player versus player resource battles
- Territory occupation on Mars
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Occupy Mars. You will be assigned one of the nomenclature NASA locations and stake your ground on the red planet. Here you need to harvest solar power and extract water to build your Martian city. Speed up progress by building drones to visit other colonizers and fight for resources. And the same will be done onto you. The race is on!!
Ellipse
Design, build, and launch rockets with realistic orbital mechanics. Explore celestial bodies and experience dynamic physics for a true-to-life space simulation. Ideal for aspiring engineers and space enthusiasts.
- Rocket design and customization
- Realistic orbital mechanics
- Explore celestial bodies
- Dynamic physics engine
- Space exploration simulation
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Build your own vehicles and conduct your own space missions to explore space. Launch capsules, satellites, land on the Moon, land on Mars. - Real orbital mechanics and physics, nothing is faked - Planets based on real solar system data - Thrilling visual effects - No ads, no account required, free to download
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Ellipse at none against Mars Race's shown. Ellipse also leads on ratings volume (2K vs 2) and update cadence (monthly vs every 6 months). Mars Race's advantage is review sentiment (100% vs 79%) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Mars Race sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Ellipse sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Ellipse holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Ellipse has 2K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 100% of Mars Race's written reviews are positive against 79% of Ellipse's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Mars Race ships an update every 6 months, Ellipse monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 3, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mars Race | Ellipse |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.5 (2 ratings) | 4.7 (2K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better | 78.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 2K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 249 MB | 245 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | aGame Company | Starwelds |
Customer experience
Mars Race
Ellipse
Bugs and requests
Mars Race
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Ellipse
Reported bugs
12 issues- Connected parts don't work
- Staging issues (last stage goes first)
- Fairings don't attach
- Cannot delete after spawning samples
- Detached parts don't detach
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- Game freezes during missions
- Parachute gets cut before launch
- Expansion pack causes build issues
- Glitches on iPad
- Rocket parts don't separate
- Capsule doesn't separate from rocket near the moon
- Build area barrier
Requested features
49 requests- Add more planets
- Add astronauts
- Add a delete button
- Add more parts (solar panel, battery, antenna, wing, landing leg, chassis, monopropellant tank, docking port)
- Add electricity consumption
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- Add plane flight mechanics
- Add planet navigation (like SFS)
- Improve RCS control
- Improve plane aerodynamics
- Improve RCS in docking mode
- Add launch instructions
- Add symmetry feature
- Add staging mechanic
- Add modding or community made packs
- Add individual save slots
- Add more free stuff
- Add engine mounts
- Add SRB customizations
- Make fuel tanks adjustable
- Add emergency escape towers
- Add Jupiter and its moons
- Add Deimos (Mars' second moon)
- Add gas giants and their moons
- Add controllers support
- Add better damage and break apart models
- Add rovers
- Add Saturn V rocket parts
- Add free space shuttle
- Adjust planet speed
- Add more buildings around Earth
- Make planets more detailed
- Add more expansion parts
- Make build area better
- Remove build area barrier
- Add Saturn V rocket
- Add gas giants
- Add gas giant moons
- Add Deimos
- Add Jupiter and its 4 biggest moons
- Add more free parts
- Add tutorial on how to build
- Improve realism
- Add space stations
- Add more capsules
- Add bigger fuel tanks
- Add bigger rocket booster fuel
- Add more detailed graphics
- Add more parts to build planes
- Add a tutorial for maneuvers
In-app purchases
Mars Race
- Few$3.99
- Pile$9.99
- Bag$18.99
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- Box$48.99
- Vault$94.99
Ellipse
- Large Parts$2.99
- Heavy Lift Program$4.99
- Expansion$4.99
