Comparison

Classic Marathon Infinity vs Vactics

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

Head to head
About

Classic Marathon Infinity

Experience the epic conclusion to a classic sci-fi shooter trilogy. Engage in single-player campaigns with exploration, puzzles, and combat, or test your skills in intense multiplayer battles. Features enhanced graphics and sound.

Highlights
  • Single-player campaign with story and missions
  • Multiplayer cross-play support
  • Enhanced HD graphics
  • 3D positional sound
  • New weapon: KKV-7 SMG
  • 25 main levels and 5 hidden levels
Read full description

Rage hard.. Marathon Infinity® is the climactic conclusion to Bungie's groundbreaking Marathon® Trilogy. Learn the the truth about the events of Classic Marathon® and Marathon: Durandal® first hand in "Blood Tides of Lh’owon", the single player portion of Infinity. ENHANCEMENTS • High frame rate support • Updated HD Sprite set • 3D positional sound with HRTF • Texture parallax mapping • Multiplayer cross-play with Linux, Mac, PC, and Steam • Fan soundtrack by Talashar FEATURES • 25 levels divided into four chapters • 5 hidden levels • missions include exploration, puzzles and extermination • "Carnage is as easy as point and shoot." ~Marathon Manual • introducing a new weapon: KKV-7 10mm SMG Flechette submachine gun ===== to.be.a.vidmaster ==== What does it mean to be a Vidmaster? It is being balanced in the calm center of a whirling and untouchable tornado of destruction, while showers of grenades patter harmlessly around you and bullets crawl toward you in slow-mo. It is when your brain develops a new bundle of nerves whose only function is to re-route impulses directly from your eyes to your finger muscles, so that you can twist and snap off a rocket long before you’re conscious of the yellow blip in your motion detector. It is when the difference between a roomful of alien warriors and a carpet of them is a matter of seconds. The word "vid" entered the Marathon lexicon during development of the first game, to distinguish the excellent players (particularly in net games) from the fodder. The Oath of the Vidmaster was inscribed into the skip-levels dialog (Command-Option-Begin New Game), to remind players of the highest level of excellence they could aspire to: "I pledge to punch all switches, to never shoot where I could use grenades, to admit the existence of no level except Total Carnage, to never use Caps Lock as my 'run' key, and to never, ever, leave a single Bob alive." To do these things is to invite maximum peril, and requires one to play the game as hard and unrelentingly as possible, at the highest level of skill; to play as a Vidmaster. These three games, the Marathon® saga, are the best training and testing ground for Vidmasters. You can play against aliens alone or in a networked group through more than 80 levels. But the true challenge is surviving in one of the 50 included netgame arenas against other people. It is in such trials by fire that mighty Vidmasters are forged. Rage hard.. ===== BUNGIE™, MARATHON® and the Bungie and Marathon logos are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Bungie, Inc., used with permission.

About

Vactics

Engage in tactical, chess-like combat by building powerful mechs to battle robotic enemies. Face randomly generated challenges and fight for a better future in this strategic warfare game.

Highlights
  • Mech building
  • Tactical chess-like combat
  • Randomly generated challenges
  • Mech and tech upgrades
  • Extended campaign
  • Leaderboard competition
Features
Read full description

Build the mech to fight against robotic Vactics in tactical chess-like combat. The war is already over and the heroes of the city have fallen. Take on a new randomly generated challenge every time you play and join with the citizens to fight for a better future. Vactics is designed to let you play as much as you like and upgrade to the full version at any time. Unlocking the pro version of the game provides: • Access to all 18 mech types and dozens of additional tech modifiers. • Access to the full 24 colour palettes to choose from with custom app icons each. • An extended campaign with additional enemy types and areas to fight through. • An additional phase to the campaign with the true ending and all the co-pilots. • The daily district challenge where you can compete with others on the leaderboards. • Much more to discover.... -- Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Classic Marathon Infinity3 screens
Vactics4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Vactics at every 3 weeks against Classic Marathon Infinity's every 5 months. Vactics also leads on iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). Classic Marathon Infinity's advantage is rating (4.4 vs 4.0). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume 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. Classic Marathon Infinity sells 10 one-off in-app purchases and Vactics sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 3 months. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Classic Marathon Infinity holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 160 and 56 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 74% of Classic Marathon Infinity's written reviews are positive against 71% of Vactics's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Classic Marathon Infinity ships an update every 5 months, Vactics every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Classic Marathon Infinity versus Vactics: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterClassic Marathon InfinityVactics
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (160 ratings) — better4.0 (56 ratings)
Positive reviews74.4% of reviews — better70.9% of reviews
Number of ratings160 — better56
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.0 GB309 MB
Age rating17+9+
DeveloperDustin WenzGerard Delaney

Customer experience

Classic Marathon Infinity

All ratings160 ratings
Positive85.6%
Neutral5.0%
Negative9.4%
Written reviews86 reviews
Positive74.4%
Neutral9.3%
Negative16.3%

Vactics

All ratings56 ratings
Positive73.2%
Neutral8.9%
Negative17.9%
Written reviews55 reviews
Positive70.9%
Neutral12.7%
Negative16.4%

User reviews

Classic Marathon Infinity

From 160 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Faithful port of classic game
  • 🎮 Full single-player campaign included
  • 📱 Successfully brought to mobile platform
  • 🎨 Graphics updates and HDR improvements
  • 🔊 Spatial audio and fan-made music additions

Room to improve

  • 🎮 Touch screen controls are cumbersome
  • 🎮 Auto-centering view during movement
  • 🎮 Difficult to aim while moving
  • 🎮 Awkward button placement on screen
  • 🐛 Frequent crashes on various iOS versions

Vactics

From 56 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Innovative gameplay mechanics
  • 👍 Deep tactical gameplay
  • 🎨 Gorgeous art style
  • 🎶 Excellent synthwave score
  • ✨ Well-balanced gameplay

Room to improve

  • 💰 High price for pro version
  • 💸 Expensive subscription options
  • 😩 Frustrating paywall
  • ❓ Lacking tutorial explanations
  • 🐌 Slow restart function

Bugs and requests

Classic Marathon Infinity

Reported bugs

15 issues
  • Game crashes on iOS 8 and later versions
  • Crashes when loading specific levels (Level 1, Despair)
  • Cannot progress past end screen
  • Stuck in 'Rage' chapter loop
  • Level 0 to 1 transition crashes
Show 10 more
  • Black screen except HUD visible
  • Cannot open doors
  • Texture rendering issues on Level 3
  • Sky texture rotated 90 degrees
  • Game Center broken
  • App Store purchase features not accessible
  • Screen zoomed in and distorted on iPad Mini
  • Menu covering half screen on iPhone 4s
  • Levels advancing out of sequence
  • Achievements bugged (level progression)

Requested features

16 requests
  • Controller support (Backbone, MFi controllers)
  • Multiplayer/network gameplay
  • Custom map support and community maps
  • Map builder tool
  • Inverted aim option
Show 11 more
  • Adjustable sensitivity settings
  • Field of view customization
  • Auto-center view toggle
  • Run/swim toggle option
  • Rearrangeable on-screen controls
  • Bluetooth keyboard support
  • Bootable from Backbone app
  • Texture filtering options
  • Scenario packs (Marathon Evil, Rubicon, Tempus Irae)
  • Pathways Into Darkness port
  • Desktop/CPU version

Vactics

Reported bugs

6 issues
  • Combo attack bonus cancelled by heavy landing
  • "Restore purchases" not working after update
  • Cannot equip more than one ability
  • Inconsistent combat: adjacent Vactic not hitting
  • Cannot mount one tech in Chassis and one in Engine
Show 1 more
  • Line-of-sight for ranged enemies unclear

Requested features

20 requests
  • Add more upgrades
  • Add more game modes
  • Add online co-op
  • Add infinite wave competition
  • Add diverging paths on map like FTL
Show 15 more
  • Add small story elements at decisions
  • Add new enemies and technologies
  • Add a big boss
  • Add Russian language support
  • Improve tutorial clarity
  • Faster restart function
  • Option to confirm selection before moving
  • More customization options for mechs
  • Unlock more mechs for free
  • Add wallpapers in the art style
  • Support for lowercase game text
  • Option to change palettes easily
  • Save progress on runs
  • Adjustable difficulty settings
  • Add more content

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Classic Marathon Infinity

One-time10
  • Master Chief Mode$0.99
  • Enhanced Reticules$0.99
  • Just a tip$0.99
Show 7 more
  • HD Mode$1.99
  • Not the smallest tip$1.99
  • A good tip$2.99
  • A pretty good tip$4.99
  • An excellent tip$7.99
  • The best possible tip$12.99
  • Better than the best tip$20.99
2 purchases

Vactics

Subscriptions1
  • Subscribe to Vactics Pro$2.993 Months
One-time1
  • Vactics Pro$8.99

Questions

Is Classic Marathon Infinity free?
Classic Marathon Infinity is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Vactics free?
Vactics is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Classic Marathon Infinity or Vactics?
Classic Marathon Infinity is rated higher. Classic Marathon Infinity averages 4.4 out of 5 from 160 ratings, while Vactics averages 4.0 from 56 ratings.
Do Classic Marathon Infinity or Vactics have ads?
Neither Classic Marathon Infinity nor Vactics shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Classic Marathon Infinity or Vactics?
Classic Marathon Infinity ships an update every 5 months, and Vactics every 3 weeks. Most recently, Classic Marathon Infinity was updated on November 1, 2026 and Vactics on November 3, 2026.

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