Apex Rumble vs Nova Blaster
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Apex Rumble
Embark on an arcade adventure to rebuild a fallen city by smashing enemy towers, collecting resources, and strategically using boosters. Grow your character by consuming smaller towers while avoiding larger ones to progress through increasingly challenging levels.
- Rebuild Apex City
- Smash enemy towers
- Collect Voxel Brix and blueprints
- Grow by consuming towers
- Utilize six powerful boosters
- Progress through 60 levels
- Unlock GameCenter achievements and leaderboards
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Embark on an epic arcade adventure in the ruins of Apex City! The once thriving metropolis has fallen victim to the Voxel Vandals. Your mission is to rebuild the entire city. Recover the stolen blueprints, smash enemy towers, create Voxel Brix and build! You have six powerful boosters and a well-calibrated Blueprint Proximeter at your disposal. The people of Apex City count on you. Don't let them down. Blast your way through endless, colorful arcade levels filled with both danger and goodies. Feel the vertigo as you grow and feel the pulse as you dodge past the bigger towers. How high can you reach? - Build: Collect Voxel Brix, find blueprints and restore Apex City to its former glory. - Grow: Gobble up all the small colorful towers to grow but watch out for the big black towers. - Boosters: Use boosters like Fungus, Frost and Tornado to strategically beat challenges. - Combos: Build color combos to grow faster. - Progress: Smash your way through 60 levels of increasing intensity and unlock three stars on each course. - Rewards: Collect gifts and unlock invaluable loot to max out your journey. - Achievements: Conquer 12 GameCenter achievements and show what you're all about. - Compete: Climb the GameCenter leaderboard and challenge your friends. In a sea of colorful towers, you quickly realize that the key to success lies in growing fast. Smash the small colorful towers to grow and watch out for the big black towers. As you grow, black towers will turn into your next colorful snack. But beware, there are towers out there, larger than anything, and they're coming for you. Use boosters to gain an advantage. Each booster offers a unique strategic twist. Freeze your rivals with Frost, eat Fungus for temporary dominance, or summon a Tornado to suck up scores of nearby towers and skyrocket. Collect gifts filled with boosters and add them to your arsenal to use at just the right moment. Apex City awaits! Let's go!
Nova Blaster
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NOVA BLASTER is a retro arcade space shooter for players who miss real coin-op shoot 'em ups. Blast through waves of alien fighters, weave through bullet hell patterns, and take down screen-filling bosses. It plays fully offline, with no ads, no energy timers and no loot boxes. NEW: THE HANGAR Every run earns Salvage. Spend it in the Hangar on permanent ship upgrades: hull plating, shield capacitors, a stronger reactor, extra starting bombs, a rescue beacon and more. Each run makes your starfighter tougher for the next alien invasion. PICK A PERK AFTER EVERY BOSS Beat a boss or mini-boss and choose 1 of 3 run perks: spread shot, rapid fire, piercing rounds, missile swarm, graze battery and more. Stack them into a different build every run, roguelite shmup style. DAILY MISSIONS AND DAILY CHALLENGE Three new missions every day, plus a Daily Challenge with a fresh modifier of the day. Clear them to earn Salvage and unlock rewards. PURE ARCADE MODE Want the classic space shooter experience? Pure Arcade turns every upgrade off. Only upgrade-free runs post to the global Game Center leaderboard, so every high score is earned with skill alone. THREE WEAPONS, ONE SHIP • BLASTER: rapid-fire spread shot; hold to charge a heavy blast • LASER: a sustained beam that melts armor • MISSILES: homing shots that hunt down priority targets Switch weapons instantly, mid-fight. BOSSES THAT FIGHT BACK Named alien bosses with multi-phase attack patterns, curtain-fire telegraphs and an enrage phase when they're nearly dead. Elite enemies arrive with extra armor, and a Wingman ally can join your side of the fight. ARCADE SCORE CHASING All the scoring depth of a classic arcade shooter: • Graze: fly close to enemy bullets to build your combo multiplier • Kill streaks and combo callouts • Smart bombs that clear the screen with lightning • Bonus stages every 10 waves • Seven power-up types, from shields to an orbiting pod THE LOCKER Earn ship paints, engine trails and weapon colors by playing: beat bosses, graze bullets, clear daily missions. Optional cosmetic packs in the Supply Depot change how your ship looks and never change your power or score. RETRO LOOK AND SOUND A 3-layer parallax galaxy starfield, CRT scanlines, procedural explosions, 100+ arcade sound effects and a new procedural soundtrack. It runs at 60fps on phones and tablets. PLAY ANYWHERE, OFFLINE No internet required and no ads interrupting a run. Play this space shooter for one wave on the bus or chase a new high score for an hour. If you grew up on classic galaxy shooters and vertical shmups, NOVA BLASTER is your next favorite arcade shooter. The swarm is waiting. How high can you score?
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ads: Nova Blaster at none against Apex Rumble's shown. Apex Rumble's advantage is update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support 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. Apex Rumble sells 12 one-off in-app purchases and Nova Blaster sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Apex Rumble ships an update every 3 days, Nova Blaster every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Apex Rumble | Nova Blaster |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 62.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 169 MB | 26 MB |
| Age rating | 9+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Patrik Hedmalm | Joe Hillman |
In-app purchases
Apex Rumble
- Revive 25$0.99
- Fungus 25$0.99
- 100 Coins$1.99
Show 9 moreShow fewer
- Thunder 100$1.99
- Immortal 100$1.99
- Revive 100$1.99
- Fungus 100$1.99
- 500 Coins$2.99
- Thunder 500$3.99
- Immortal 500$3.99
- Revive 500$3.99
- Fungus 500$3.99
Nova Blaster
- BOMB CRATE$0.99
- PLASMA TRAILS$1.99
- NEON SQUADRON$2.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- PRISM WEAPONS$2.99
- FOUNDERS PACK$4.99
Questions
Is Apex Rumble free?
Is Nova Blaster free?
Do Apex Rumble or Nova Blaster have ads?
Which is updated more often, Apex Rumble or Nova Blaster?
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