Mars Quest vs Beach Defender
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Mars Quest
Embark on a challenging retro adventure guiding an astronaut through alien-infested Martian levels. Experience nostalgic 8-bit graphics and music while avoiding obstacles and increasing speed. Compete with friends via Game Center.
- 8-bit retro music
- Guide astronaut through levels
- Avoid aliens and obstacles
- Smart level progression
- Increasing speed challenges
- Game Center scores and achievements
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A must-have if you grew up in the eighties or if you are a C64, Atari, arcade or 8-bit lover. Nostalgic feelings guaranteed! *** REVIEWS *** - SlideToPlay.com: "Mars Quest is a good choice if you need to get your nostalgia on" - AppsOnTapp.com: "a fun and addicting retro game" - AppFavour.com: "Today's Best Apps August 18th 2012" *** WHAT PLAYERS SAY *** - "Super fun game that can be played over and over again. I'm ultra picky about games I let take up valuable space on my iPhone, but this one is a must!" - "A great little arcade game that I enjoy playing" - "Fun game, addictive" - "Once you start, you dont want to stop playing :)" *** FEATURES *** - Game Center scores and achievements - 8-bit retro music - Guide the astronaut safely through all levels - Avoid all aliens and obstacles on Mars - Think smart to advance to the next level - Be careful when the speed level increases!
Beach Defender
Defend your beach from waves of sea creatures with simple one-touch controls. Collect creatures, climb leaderboards, and enjoy retro pixel art and sound. Play anywhere, even offline.
- One-touch controls
- Offline play
- Creature hunting and ranking
- Leaderboard
- Retro screen themes
- Haptic feedback
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Defend the beach with one tap, even offline. Hunt every sea creature, climb the ranking and switch between retro screen styles. Waves of octopuses, sea urchins, jellyfish, crabs and turtles come out of the sea. Hold your wooden palisade: every plank you lose opens the way for the next enemy. FEATURES • One-touch controls: easy to learn, hard to master • Works offline, play anywhere • Hunt log: collect every creature and earn new ranks • Leaderboard: climb the ranking and beat your friends' scores • Retro screen themes with handcrafted pixel art and 8-bit sound • Haptic feedback • Optional "Remove Ads" purchase
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Beach Defender at 4.4 against Mars Quest's 4.0. Mars Quest's advantage is review sentiment (68% vs 43%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price, ratings volume, 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
Both are free to download. Mars Quest sells 5 one-off in-app purchases and Beach Defender sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Beach Defender holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 91 and 34 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 68% of Mars Quest's written reviews are positive against 43% of Beach Defender's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
Mars Quest ships an update fortnightly, Beach Defender every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Mars Quest | Beach Defender |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (91 ratings) | 4.4 (34 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 68.5% of reviews — better | 42.9% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 91 — better | 34 |
| Update frequency | Fortnightly — better | Every 2 weeks |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | 13.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 98 MB | 128 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | First Class Media B.V. | Florian Brochard |
Customer experience
Mars Quest
Beach Defender
In-app purchases
Mars Quest
- Remove advertising$0.99
- 1 extra life$0.99
- 5 extra lives$1.99
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- 10 extra lives$2.99
- 25 extra lives$4.99
Beach Defender
- Remove Ads$2.99
