Comparison

Magic Brick Wars vs Nova Island

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

Head to head
About

Magic Brick Wars

Engage in real-time PvP battles in a magical world, deploying characters from popular games. Build powerful decks, strategize to outwit opponents, and collect rare loot to unlock new cards and defenses. Enjoy an ad-free, premium gaming experience.

Highlights
  • Real-time PvP battles
  • Build and upgrade card decks
  • Collect rare loot and unlock cards
  • Deploy unique characters and defenses
  • Strategic gameplay and quick thinking
  • Ad-free and no in-app purchases (premium version)
Read full description

Magic Brick Wars is the premium version of the quirky tower defence game you love! Exclusive to this version of Magic Brick Wars - enjoy uninterrupted strategic action, with zero ads or in-app purchases. All you have to do is sign up now! Welcome to the magic world of Magic Brick Wars. Fight wars with your favorite characters from games like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride using your own Raskulls! Play real-time multiplayer games featuring an epic cast of heroes with magic abilities and powerful bricks. KEY FEATURES ● Play games with epic real-time PvP battles with players around the world! ● Build the ultimate deck and develop strategies to defeat your opponents in games. ● Explore the caves and collect rare loot to unlock new powerful cards to use in multiplayer games. Play games to collect and upgrade dozens of cards featuring loads of troops, spells and defenses. Use the powerful Viking, sneaky Ninja, fire-breathing Dragon, and more powerful characters in games against real opponents! Smart moves and quick thinking are the order of the day as you battle to outwit your opponent in thrilling, fast-paced multiplayer games/battles. Play games and fight for glory in the arena! WHAT'S HALFBRICK+ Halfbrick+ is a mobile games subscription service featuring: ● Exclusive access to the highest-rated games ● No ads or in app purchases ● Brought to you by the makers of Award-winning mobile games ● Regular updates and new games ● Curated by hand - for gamers by gamers! Start your 7 days free trial and play all our games without ads, in app purchases, and fully unlocked games! Your subscription will auto-renew after 7 days, or save money with an annual membership! If you have any questions, please contact our support team https://support.halfbrick.com **************************************** Privacy Policy: https://www.halfbrick.com/halfbrick-plus-privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://www.halfbrick.com/subscription-agreement

About

Nova Island

Engage in strategic card battles with cute anime-inspired characters. Collect friends, powers, and skins while competing in PvP matches or embarking on an adventure. Build decks and master unique playstyles.

Highlights
  • Collectible card battles
  • Strategic deck building
  • PvP and PvE modes
  • Character collection
  • Cosmetic customization
  • Daily challenges
  • Draft mode
Features
Read full description

Discover friends and card duels in this exciting strategic adventure game! Nova Island is an anime inspired card game with cute characters, amazing strategy, and an engaging adventure!  And totally ad free! Looking for a unique collectible card game that combines strategy & chance? On Nova Island, you can take on challenges, play quick matches with friends, or compete against players from around the world to climb the leaderboard. Play cards to gain strength, deal damage, plan ahead, and disrupt opponents in ways they’ll never see coming. It’s fun! Try it out for free and discover its complete strategic freedom! Alert!  A new Nova Researcher has arrived on the island!  With your help and the various Pros by your side, collect all of the Friends, Powers, and customizable Skins found on this colorful island.  Go out on an adventure of a lifetime and see all of the fun in store for you! Quick PvP Matches in Every Mode Compete in fast online Ranked Matches versus players around the world.  Try out your strategic thinking in a unique single-player experience with new themes popping in the Daily Challenges. The Best of Your Favorite TCG and CCG Experiences Train your skills with the Turbo Chaos Draft Challenge against players around the world in a fast-paced draft mode. Challenge yourself with a PVE singleplayer journey around the island and tricky limited time game modes. Level up on Research Road and collect over 100 cards and over 1500 cosmetics, including: - 8 Pros, each with a thematic soundtrack and unique playstyle. - Over 70 Friends with cute animations, sound effects, and custom skins to change their look! So get in there and build your deck with strategy and style! Pick Your Prize or Try Your Luck: Use your winning Tokens on the Vending Machines to collect rewards, level up your favorite strategies, and unlock new cards. You’ll learn more about Nova Island, the Pros and Friends inhabiting the districts, and the challenges that await you as you explore! We have a growing community who love to chat! Discuss tips and tricks with some real Nova Island Pros!  Join in for all fun things NOVA ISLAND! Discord: https://play.novaisland.com/discord Need SUPPORT? Visit our Website: https://novaisland.com or Email us: hello@thirteengames.com Just some important legal information: PRIVACY POLICY: https://novaisland.com/privacy-policy TERMS OF SERVICE: https://novaisland.com/terms-of-service

Screenshots

Magic Brick Wars4 screens
Nova Island4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Nova Island at free with in-app purchases against Magic Brick Wars's subscription. Nova Island also leads on iOS requirement (16.0 vs 18.0). Magic Brick Wars's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.3) and ratings volume (4.8K vs 237). On price, review sentiment, update cadence and ads 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. Magic Brick Wars sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Nova Island sells 66 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Magic Brick Wars holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Magic Brick Wars has 4.8K ratings behind it against 237, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 56% of Magic Brick Wars's written reviews are positive against 60% of Nova Island's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Magic Brick Wars ships an update fortnightly, Nova Island every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Magic Brick Wars versus Nova Island: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMagic Brick WarsNova Island
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (4.8K ratings) — better4.3 (237 ratings)
Positive reviews55.8% of reviews60.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings4.8K — better237
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size383 MB262 MB
Age rating12+9+
DeveloperHalfbrickThirteen Games, LLC

Customer experience

Magic Brick Wars

All ratings4,773 ratings
Positive94.2%
Neutral1.8%
Negative4.0%
Written reviews154 reviews
Positive55.8%
Neutral11.7%
Negative32.5%

Nova Island

All ratings237 ratings
Positive79.3%
Neutral7.2%
Negative13.5%
Written reviews96 reviews
Positive60.4%
Neutral16.7%
Negative22.9%

User reviews

Magic Brick Wars

From 4.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast-paced gameplay
  • 🎨 Colorful and engaging visuals
  • 🤝 Competitive multiplayer experience
  • 👍 Unique brick-placement mechanic
  • 💎 Rewarding progression system

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
  • ⏱️ Slow matchmaking and long load times
  • 🔄 Unbalanced matchmaking and trophy system
  • 💰 Aggressive monetization and pay-to-win elements
  • 🤔 Lack of tutorial and unclear gameplay mechanics

Nova Island

From 237 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Unique gameplay mechanics
  • 🎨 Appealing art style and animations
  • 💰 Completely free-to-play, no pay-to-win
  • 🕹️ Engaging strategic depth
  • 🌟 Underrated and deserves more attention

Room to improve

  • 🎲 Excessive reliance on RNG
  • 🔁 Repetitive and swingy gameplay
  • 🕰️ Slow progression and grindy unlock system
  • ⚖️ Unbalanced card/character power levels
  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and connectivity issues

Bugs and requests

Magic Brick Wars

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game freezes during loading and matchmaking
  • Inconsistent performance on older devices
  • Inability to claim rewards from Jetpack Joyride
  • Progression data loss after updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • More diverse character and card selection
  • Improved guild and social features
  • Customization options for player profiles
  • Offline/single-player game modes
  • Better tutorial and onboarding process

Nova Island

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Soft-locking tutorial
  • Inconsistent performance on some devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Offline mode or paid full version
  • Ability to play with friends
  • More character/card customization options
  • Improved tutorial and onboarding experience

In-app purchases

7 purchases

Magic Brick Wars

Subscriptions6
  • Halfbrick+7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Halfbrick+2 variants$2.991 Month
  • Halfbrick+ (Early Adopter)6 Months trial$2.991 Month
Show 3 more
  • Halfbrick+1 Month trial$2.991 Month
  • Halfbrick+4 variants$29.991 Year
  • Halfbrick+1 Year trial$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Halfbrick+$99.99
66 purchases

Nova Island

One-time66
  • 90 Island Credits$0.99
  • Researcher’s Starter Bundle$0.99
  • Circuit Boiz Bundle 2$0.99
Show 63 more
  • Circuit Boiz Bundle 1$0.99
  • 4th Anniversary Emotes Bundle1$0.99
  • Halloween Juice Emote$0.99
  • Max Halloween Emote$0.99
  • Artillery Pack$0.99
  • Doodle Branehart Emote$0.99
  • 75 Island Credits2 variants$1.99
  • Welcome Bundle$1.99
  • Power Outage Pack$1.99
  • Researcher's Starter Bundle2 variants$1.99
  • Circuit Boiz Pack$1.99
  • Rerun Activate$1.99
  • Sprynk Activate$1.99
  • Hackmaster Activate$1.99
  • Escape Pod Activate$1.99
  • Novas Special BF$1.99
  • Food Emote Bundle$1.99
  • Cosmicosi Legendary Skin$1.99
  • Cannonball Level Up$1.99
  • Welcome Party Bundle$2.99
  • Mage Rerun$2.99
  • Oddball Filthy Clean Skin$2.99
  • Giving Tree Unlock$2.99
  • Giving Tree Level Up$2.99
  • New Season Novium Special$2.99
  • Greenhouse Pack$2.99
  • Daily Login Bonus$3.99
  • Rainbow Gemma Skin$3.99
  • Gemma Activate$3.99
  • EOY Winter Skins 2024$3.99
  • Unlock Sparki$3.99
  • Nova Tree Giving Tree$3.99
  • Cosmicosi Activate$3.99
  • Crystal Kitten$3.99
  • Arcade Pack$3.99
  • Ghost Blazer$3.99
  • Candy Weade$3.99
  • Frankenjazzy$3.99
  • 575 Island Credits$4.99
  • ULTIMATE Welcome Bundle$4.99
  • Welcome Party Bundle$4.99
  • Bloom King BC Special$4.99
  • 80s Sparki$4.99
  • Observatory Pack$4.99
  • 225 Island Credits$4.99
  • Intranet Pack$5.99
  • Activation Starter Bundle$5.99
  • One Cent and IP$6.99
  • Khrys and Flutter$6.99
  • Crystal Cats$8.99
  • 1175 Island Credits$9.99
  • Nova Tree Bundle$9.99
  • Welcome Bundle 5$9.99
  • Boost Pack C$9.99
  • Hooligan Bundle$9.99
  • Boost Pack B$9.99
  • 480 Island Credits$9.99
  • Ancient 9 Skins$14.99
  • EOY Credits Special 2024$14.99
  • 2400 Island Credits$19.99
  • Super Boost Pack C$19.99
  • 1020 Island Credits$19.99
  • 2155 Island Credits$39.99

Questions

Is Magic Brick Wars free?
Magic Brick Wars is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Nova Island free?
Nova Island is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Magic Brick Wars or Nova Island?
Magic Brick Wars is rated higher. Magic Brick Wars averages 4.7 out of 5 from 4.8K ratings, while Nova Island averages 4.3 from 237 ratings.
Do Magic Brick Wars or Nova Island have ads?
Neither Magic Brick Wars nor Nova Island shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Magic Brick Wars or Nova Island?
Magic Brick Wars ships an update fortnightly, and Nova Island every 3 weeks. Most recently, Magic Brick Wars was updated on October 26, 2026 and Nova Island on October 22, 2026.

Other comparisons