Comparison

Extra Lives vs Sandbox City

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Extra Lives

Survive a zombie-infested world by developing relationships with characters and exploring diverse locations. Engage in satisfying combat and customize your experience with various gameplay options. Upgrade for enhanced features and enjoy a unique survival simulation.

Highlights
  • Zombie survival gameplay
  • Relationship development with 200 characters
  • Explore 50+ locations
  • Interactive objects
  • Above-average combat system
  • Character customization
  • Adjustable zombie population
Features
Read full description

See how long you can survive in a world full of brainless zombies and heartless humans! Develop unique relationships with 200 other characters spread across 8 warring factions - each with their own beliefs about what the problem is and how to solve it. Explore over 50 different locations on your journey to restore order to every corner of the city, with hundreds of interactive objects to help you along the way. Featuring an above-average combat system from the Wrestling Revolution series, tearing enemies apart has never been so satisfying! Although the game is mostly free to play, you can upgrade to "infinitely" enhance your experience. Start with a character of your creation and save your changes to all others to make the world your own. You can even choose how many zombies you start with to either dive in at the deep end or ensure a slow build. Full access to the special "Deathmatch" mode also gives you all the fun of slaying zombies with none of the pressure! HOW TO PLAY Players of previous games may need to take the time to adjust to the new control system, which distinguishes between the left or right hands: * The RED fist buttons allow you to ATTACK from either side. * The BLUE hand buttons allow you to PICK-UP or DROP with either hand (hold a direction to THROW). + Pressing BOTH buttons on either SIDE will attempt to USE what is in that hand - such as eating food or reading books (notice that some actions may cause you to swap hands to use them properly). + Pressing BOTH pick-up buttons together will COMBINE the objects you have in each hand or nearby on the ground. Both hands can also be used to pick up larger furniture so long as they are empty and there is nothing closer to handle. + Pressing BOTH attack buttons together will attempt to GRAB your opponent (press again to release or any other combination of buttons to execute moves). + DOUBLE-TAP any direction to RUN. - Touch the HEALTH METER to SLEEP when your energy is low. - Touch the CLOCK to PAUSE - where you can exit or access other options. I regret that there's more to this game than could ever be explained here, so please look out for additional hints in the game itself.

About

Sandbox City

Explore an open-world city filled with pedestrians, zombies, and traffic. Engage in combat with various weapons, drive numerous AI vehicles, and earn money to upgrade your gear. Customize graphics and settings to your preference to prevent a zombie apocalypse.

Highlights
  • Open-world city exploration
  • Combat with various weapons
  • Drive multiple AI vehicles
  • Earn in-game currency
  • Customize game settings
  • Zombie survival
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Sandbox City! Run and drive freely through a lively city full of pedestrians, zombies, and traffic in first or third person. Punch zombies or run them over to save the people of Sandbox City. Equip yourself to survive with weapons such as the MP-40, grenades, baseball bats, and more. Jump into different AI vehicles, including taxis, police cars, ambulances, vans, and more. Earn money by taking down enemies in melee, from range, or behind the wheel. Spend it in the Shop to unlock better gear. Tune the game for your device and preferences. Graphics quality, shadows, view distance, anti-aliasing, and post effects can be changed at any time. Prevent the zombie apocalypse! Defend the city at all costs! And join the community on Discord from the main menu.

Screenshots

Extra Lives4 screens
Sandbox City4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Sandbox City at 4.6 against Extra Lives's 4.1. Sandbox City also leads on ratings volume (9.2K vs 1.6K) and device support (4 vs 2). Extra Lives's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 weeks). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Extra Lives sells 1 one-off in-app purchase and Sandbox City sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Sandbox City holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Sandbox City has 9.2K ratings behind it against 1.6K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 72% of Extra Lives's written reviews are positive against 71% of Sandbox City's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Extra Lives ships an update every 8 days, Sandbox City every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Extra Lives versus Sandbox City: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExtra LivesSandbox City
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.1 (1.6K ratings)4.6 (9.2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews71.8% of reviews — better70.5% of reviews
Number of ratings1.6K9.2K — better
Update frequencyEvery 8 days — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS10.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size87 MB208 MB
Age rating+1712+
DeveloperMDickie LimitedYilmaz Kiymaz

Customer experience

Extra Lives

All ratings1,534 ratings
Positive76.3%
Neutral5.9%
Negative17.7%
Written reviews284 reviews
Positive71.8%
Neutral7.7%
Negative20.4%

Sandbox City

All ratings9,155 ratings
Positive90.4%
Neutral3.8%
Negative5.8%
Written reviews482 reviews
Positive70.5%
Neutral10.8%
Negative18.7%

User reviews

Extra Lives

From 1.6K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Great game
  • 👍 Fun to play
  • 💡 Unique concept
  • 👍 Lots of customization
  • 👍 Realistic gore and dismemberment

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Clunky controls
  • 🐛 Aggressive and unreasonable NPCs
  • 🐛 Unfair combat mechanics
  • 🐛 Slow character recovery time
  • 🐛 Repetitive dialogue and quests

Sandbox City

From 9.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun gameplay
  • 🚀 Realistic physics
  • 💡 Unique concept

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes
  • 💰 Excessive in-app purchases
  • 🔍 Lack of content variety

Bugs and requests

Extra Lives

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Game crashing after ads
  • Disappearing character limbs
  • Inability to restore purchases
  • Automatic movement/actions
  • Inconsistent NPC reactions

Requested features

8 requests
  • 3D version of the game
  • More weapon and character variety
  • Improved AI and NPC behavior
  • Ability to skip dialogue
  • Online/multiplayer mode
Show 3 more
  • More locations and environments
  • Customizable character creation
  • Adjustable hunger/survival mechanics

Sandbox City

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Glitches when using guns
  • Pedestrians getting stuck in objects
  • Inconsistent vehicle physics

Requested features

6 requests
  • More weapons and combat options
  • Ability to enter buildings
  • Larger map and more locations
  • Multiplayer mode
  • Customizable player characters
Show 1 more
  • Improved AI behavior

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Extra Lives

One-time1
  • Infinite Lives$2.99
10 purchases

Sandbox City

One-time10
  • Man (Hoodie) Character Skin$0.99
  • Man (Jacket) Character Skin$0.99
  • Man (Police) Character Skin$0.99
Show 7 more
  • Sedan$0.99
  • Police Car$0.99
  • SUV$0.99
  • Van$0.99
  • Small Money Pile$0.99
  • Large Money Pile$3.99
  • Remove Ads$4.99

Questions

Is Extra Lives free?
Extra Lives is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Sandbox City free?
Sandbox City is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Extra Lives or Sandbox City?
Sandbox City is rated higher. Extra Lives averages 4.1 out of 5 from 1.6K ratings, while Sandbox City averages 4.6 from 9.2K ratings.
Do Extra Lives or Sandbox City have ads?
Sandbox City shows ads; Extra Lives does not.
Which is updated more often, Extra Lives or Sandbox City?
Extra Lives ships an update every 8 days, and Sandbox City every 3 weeks. Most recently, Extra Lives was updated on November 9, 2026 and Sandbox City on November 10, 2026.

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