Comparison

Pixel Starships™ vs Space Marshals 2

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

Head to head
About

Pixel Starships™

Command every aspect of your spaceship, from construction to battles, in a persistent online universe. Design epic vessels, manage resources, engage in diplomacy, and explore the galaxy. Battle other players and form alliances for ultimate victory.

Highlights
  • Build and design custom starships
  • Manage ship systems and resources
  • Engage in real-time player battles
  • Diplomacy, research, and exploration
  • Form alliances with friends
  • Program AI for automatic combat and offline play
Features
Read full description

Featured by Apple in Best New Games! From one of the most successful Mobile Game Kickstarter campaigns of the year comes Pixel Starships! Pixel Starships is the world’s first total spaceship management game in an 8bit massive online universe. In Pixel Starships, you command every aspect of your ship from construction to battles in a single persistent world. Featured Reviews - Touch Arcade - Pixel Starships tasks you with outfitting your very own ship with resource rooms, staff, and weapons. This looks Awesome! MMGN - The graphics in this 8Bit indie game is the best we've seen in a retro style game for a long time PocketTactics - I’m intrigued by the cutaway side-view of the starship with turbolifts and transporters at the ready TechTimes - The World’s First 8-Bit Total Starship Management Game Hits The Online Universe The Discovery Channel - A fully immersive starship captain experience. Key Features - ● Build Epic Starships of your own design. ● Many races, aliens, factions to command and conquer. ● Battle it out with other real players in a single massive online universe. ● Manage diplomacy, recruitment, research, exploration! ● Control ship's power and limited resources. Discover epic weapons. ● Build and deploy support ships to support your Starfleet. ● Cross section full ship control and battles. ● Explore planets, discover secrets of space. ● Form alliances and battle with your friends to achieve victory! ● Program situational AI commands to systems and crew allowing automatic combats and offline play. If you're a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek; if you enjoy games like EVE, Clash of Clans, FTL, or Homeworld, you'll love Pixel Starships! Note - Pixel Starships is totally free to play and is designed for perfect balance for all players. However, there are in-app items that can be purchased for real money to help speed up progress or offer cosmetic improvements. If you don't want this feature, please disable in-app purchases in your device's settings. Note on Auto-Renewing Subscription - Pixel Starships contains a optional Subscription Membership. Members receive extra missions, bonuses, and daily rewards. Membership content is regularly updated. The Monthly Membership Subscription cost is USD $3.99 per month or a similarly adjusted currency price in your local region. Please refer to IAP menu or in app display for localised pricing. Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. The subscription is auto renewable and will renew monthly unless cancelled at least 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. Subscription can be cancelled via iTunes subscription manager. There is also a 7 day free trial for the membership; the free trial period is not transferrable and any remaining free time is cancelled if a paying subscription starts. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. EULA: http://www.pixelstarships.com/eula Privacy Policy: http://www.pixelstarships.com/privacypolicy As per Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, you must be at least 13 years of age to play or download Pixel Starships.

About

Space Marshals 2

Embark on a sci-fi wild west adventure as a specialist fighting galactic criminals. This tactical top-down shooter emphasizes stealth and strategic combat, allowing you to use the environment and a variety of tools and weapons to outsmart your enemies.

Highlights
  • Tactical top-down shooter gameplay
  • Emphasis on stealth and environmental combat
  • Wide selection of over 70 weapons and gear
  • 20 missions with performance-based rewards
  • Multiple enemy factions to engage
  • MFi controller and iCloud save support
Features
Read full description

The sci-fi wild west adventure in outer space continues with Space Marshals 2. This tactical top-down shooter puts you in the shoes of specialist Burton in his struggle against the criminal elements of the galaxy. This isn’t your ordinary dual-stick shooter. The emphasis is on tactical combat and stealth, rather than just spraying bullets, and there’s a story! TACTICAL COMBAT Use the environment to your advantage. Avoid attacks by taking cover. Flank enemies for extra efficiency, but avoid getting flanked yourself! Use the tools of the trade to gain an edge - frag grenades, flash bangs, drones, gun turrets, proximity mines and much more… STEALTH Choose your approach carefully. Some say running into the fray, guns blazing, isn’t always the answer. Use distractions to single out opponents. Use stealth takedowns and silenced weapons to covertly reduce the enemy numbers. Hack gun turrets to turn on their masters. Lure different enemy factions together and let them fight each other. LOAD-OUT & GEAR Choosing your load-out is a big part of your tactics. In addition to body armor and grenades you can carry one two-handed and one single-handed weapon - and there’s something for everyone. Shotguns, handguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, crossbows, energy weapons, throwing axes and more. • Tactical top-down shooter • Gorgeous, stylistic HD graphics rendered with Metal • 20 missions with performance based rewards. TAMI is watching you! • Wide selection of weapons and gear. Over 70 different weapons. • Multiple factions to fight – or pitch against each other • MFi controller support (requires extended layout) • iCloud save game support • Game Center achievements • English, Deutsch, Français, Español, Italiano, 简体中文, 한국어, 日本語, 繁体中文, русский, Português do Brasil

Screenshots

Pixel Starships™4 screens
Space Marshals 24 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Pixel Starships™ at Free against Space Marshals 2's $4.99. Pixel Starships™ also leads on ratings volume (35K vs 786). Space Marshals 2's advantage is chart position (#194 vs unranked) and iOS requirement (9.0 vs 15.0). On rating, 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

Pixel Starships™ is free to download; Space Marshals 2 costs $4.99 up front. Pixel Starships™ sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Space Marshals 2 sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Pixel Starships™ against 4.8 for Space Marshals 2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Pixel Starships™ has 35K ratings behind it against 786, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 82% of Pixel Starships™'s written reviews are positive against 88% of Space Marshals 2's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Pixel Starships™ ships an update every 9 days, Space Marshals 2 fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 12, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 6 level
Pixel Starships™ versus Space Marshals 2: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPixel Starships™Space Marshals 2
PriceFree — better$4.99
Rating4.7 (35K ratings)4.8 (786 ratings) — better
Positive reviews82.0% of reviews88.1% of reviews — better
Number of ratings35K — better786
Update frequencyEvery 9 days — betterFortnightly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#194 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple TV
Requires iOS15.09.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size450 MB662 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperSavy Soda Pty LtdPixelbite

Customer experience

Pixel Starships™

All ratings35,079 ratings
Positive95.1%
Neutral2.1%
Negative2.7%
Written reviews784 reviews
Positive82.0%
Neutral4.7%
Negative13.3%

Space Marshals 2

All ratings782 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral1.2%
Negative3.2%
Written reviews658 reviews
Positive88.1%
Neutral4.3%
Negative7.6%

User reviews

Pixel Starships™

From 35K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Decent game with no pay wall harassment
  • 🚀 Great little game
  • 🚀 Good game
  • 🚀 Straight gas
  • 🚀 Amazing game

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitchy
  • 🐛 Horrible backend, would not recommend for slower devices
  • 🐛 Cleverly disguised ad farm
  • 🐛 Needs some fixing
  • 🐛 Unfair in battle

Space Marshals 2

From 786 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Amazing game
  • 👍 Excellent gameplay
  • 🎨 Beautiful graphics
  • 💎 Fantastic sequel
  • 🕹️ Smooth controls

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes/freezes
  • 🐛 Bugs/glitches
  • 🕹️ Difficulty spikes
  • 🕹️ Repetitive missions
  • 🕹️ Short campaign

Bugs and requests

Pixel Starships™

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Crew abilities not working as intended
  • Losing resources and trophies due to connection issues
  • Ads not rewarding the promised amount of Starbux
  • Scrolling issues when rearranging ship layout
  • Inconsistent loading times
Show 3 more
  • Missions consuming daily allowance even on error
  • Starbux purchases not being credited
  • Resources not properly credited after selling on the market

Requested features

17 requests
  • Lower how much bux people can ask for items and resources
  • Set a limit on bux that's not too ridiculous
  • Add more galaxies to explore
  • Add larger ships
  • Add smaller support craft that can fight alongside the main ship
Show 12 more
  • Add a faction war mode with 3v3 or 5v5 battles
  • Add a way to have multiple ships in your fleet
  • Add a ranking system for top players and top ships
  • Add more ship customization options
  • Add a way to remove items from the market
  • Add a panel to view all crew stats
  • Add a button to fix all modules at once
  • Add multiple AI preset options for combat
  • Add a way to fight against your own ship to test vulnerabilities
  • Add a permanent live PvP mode
  • Add a way to change the email associated with an account
  • Add a daily login bonus that increases over consecutive days

Space Marshals 2

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • Crashes on launch
  • Invisible walls
  • Progress not saving
  • Freezing during gameplay
  • Audio issues
Show 2 more
  • Incompatibility with iPhone
  • Glitches in Ava missions

Requested features

8 requests
  • More levels/content
  • Difficulty settings
  • Multiplayer mode
  • Character switching
  • Melee combat system
Show 3 more
  • More boss battles
  • Ability to skip dialogue
  • Compatibility with older devices

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Pixel Starships™

Subscriptions1
  • One Month Membership7 Days trial$3.991 Month
One-time9
  • Special Offer$1.99
  • Clip of Starbux$4.99
  • Special Offer$4.99
Show 6 more
  • Season Pass$8.99
  • Roll of Starbux$9.99
  • Special Offer$9.99
  • Stash of Starbux$19.99
  • Special Offer$19.99
  • Case of Starbux$49.99
1 purchases

Space Marshals 2

One-time1
  • Ava Mission Pack$2.99

Questions

Is Pixel Starships™ free?
Pixel Starships™ is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Space Marshals 2 free?
Space Marshals 2 costs $4.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Pixel Starships™ or Space Marshals 2?
Space Marshals 2 is rated higher. Pixel Starships™ averages 4.7 out of 5 from 35K ratings, while Space Marshals 2 averages 4.8 from 786 ratings.
Do Pixel Starships™ or Space Marshals 2 have ads?
Neither Pixel Starships™ nor Space Marshals 2 shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pixel Starships™ or Space Marshals 2?
Pixel Starships™ ships an update every 9 days, and Space Marshals 2 fortnightly. Most recently, Pixel Starships™ was updated on November 12, 2026 and Space Marshals 2 on November 11, 2026.

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