Comparison

Full Steam Ahead vs Tiny Machinery

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

Head to head
About

Full Steam Ahead

Design and build your own steam ships, facing engineering challenges inspired by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Test your creations against rough seas, cargo capacity, and combat. Earn investor confidence to fund increasingly complex designs.

Highlights
  • Ship building puzzle game
  • Engineering challenges
  • Design and construction
  • Hull material choice (wood/iron)
  • Engine, fuel, and propulsion selection
  • Investor confidence and funding
  • Historical context of ss Great Britain
Features
Read full description

Brunel’s ss Great Britain, the Science Museum and Aardman Animations have joined forces to make this intriguing ship building puzzle game. Let Isambard Kingdom Brunel himself be your guide as you construct a ship to face the same challenges which the great engineer faced when designing the ss Great Britain. Your ship should be strong enough to cut through rough seas, carry as much cargo as possible, go the furthest distance and destroy opponents in tug-o-war battles. Chose your ship’s hull material (wood or iron), engine, fuel and propulsion mechanism to overcome the challenges posed by Brunel. The better you do, the more investor confidence, and so cash, you’ll earn; giving you more funds to design bigger and more complex ships! Become a great problem solver, just like Brunel, and take inspirations from his determination, resilience to persevere and his ability to learn from his mistakes. ● Eight ship building challenges posed by your guide, Brunel ● Discover the capabilities of iron versus wood in the construction of your ship’s hull ● Explore the difference between paddles and the screw propeller ● Earn investor confidence to get more money for bigger and more complex ships ● Learn about the design and construction of the ss Great Britain ● Find out about the history of the ss Great Britain and the challenges she overcame in her working life ● Can you build a ship to rival the ss Great Britain? Visit Brunel’s ss Great Britain to get special unlock codes for the game! Plan your visit here: http://ssgreatbritain.org/your-visit Developed by Aardman Animations for Brunel’s ss Great Britain and the Science Museum as part of the Museums and Schools project; supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Find out more about the Museums and Schools project ssgreatbritain.org/brunel-institute

About

Tiny Machinery

Immerse yourself in a virtual dimension to solve intricate puzzles and escape a mysterious experiment. Use your intellect to manipulate complex machinery and unlock the secrets of your confinement. Experience a unique escape room adventure with creative 3D graphics and atmospheric audio.

Highlights
  • Escape room-style puzzles
  • Creative 3D graphics
  • Intricate mechanisms
  • Atmospheric audio
  • Hint system
  • Unlockable story notes
Features
Read full description

You've been kidnapped by unknown scientists and your brain has been plugged into a sophisticated machine to run an experiment: travel into a virtual dimension to unlock weird machinery. Use your imagination and IQ to crack puzzles and complete all intricate levels to save your life. Can you make it? A CLEVER PUZZLE GAME Embark into an escape room-style adventure full of riddles! CREATIVE 3D GRAPHICS Explore weird machines that will impress you with their unique art style INTRICATE MECHANISMS Enjoy tons of original puzzles, interact with buttons, levers, and little wheels to complete each level ATMOSPHERIC AUDIO Play the game with your headphones to get immersed in the game at best TRY FOR FREE Play the first 4 levels for free, with the option to unlock all the levels with a small In-App purchase, which will make you experience the whole story and puzzles HINTS In case you get stuck on a level, click the bulb button to get a hint that will help you solve the riddles STORY NOTES You will unlock a new story paragraph for each level you will complete. Discover how your kidnappers have threatened you and how it ends! ------------------------------------------------ XSGames is an independent solo startup from Italy. Find out more at xsgames.co Follow me @xsgames_ on both X and Instagram

Screenshots

Full Steam Ahead4 screens
Tiny Machinery4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Full Steam Ahead at none against Tiny Machinery's 3. Full Steam Ahead also leads on review sentiment (82% vs 54%) and rating (4.5 vs 4.2). Tiny Machinery's advantage is update cadence (every 3 months vs every 21 months). On price, ratings volume, ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Tiny Machinery sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Full Steam Ahead asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Full Steam Ahead holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.2. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 61 and 45 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Full Steam Ahead's written reviews are positive against 54% of Tiny Machinery's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Full Steam Ahead ships an update every 21 months, Tiny Machinery every 3 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
Full Steam Ahead versus Tiny Machinery: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFull Steam AheadTiny Machinery
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (61 ratings) — better4.2 (45 ratings)
Positive reviews82.1% of reviews — better54.1% of reviews
Number of ratings61 — better45
Update frequencyEvery 21 monthsEvery 3 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS9.0 — better15.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB142 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerss Great Britain TrustXSGames

Customer experience

Full Steam Ahead

All ratings61 ratings
Positive86.9%
Neutral4.9%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews67 reviews
Positive82.1%
Neutral4.5%
Negative13.4%

Tiny Machinery

All ratings45 ratings
Positive75.6%
Neutral13.3%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews37 reviews
Positive54.1%
Neutral16.2%
Negative29.7%

Bugs and requests

Full Steam Ahead

Reported bugs

10 issues
  • Stern breaks off with half-sized propellers/engines
  • Flood meter doesn't work
  • Game crashes at the beginning
  • Game crashes after designing ship
  • Game crashes on first level
Show 5 more
  • Cannot move materials or drive ship
  • Music cannot be stopped separately from game sounds
  • Game does not resume correctly after display is turned off
  • Game keeps taking user out before mission starts
  • Update made the game worse, cannot design ships

Requested features

18 requests
  • Add water tight doors
  • Add paddle steamers for speed
  • Add triple and double expansion steam engines
  • Add different steam whistles
  • Add multiplayer
Show 13 more
  • Add more levels
  • Focus on White Star Line ships
  • Add ability to connect steam engine funnels
  • Add ability to build ship superstructure
  • Add more content and remove scanning requirement
  • Add zoom in option for phones
  • Add more complexity to the game
  • Add hints and tutorials
  • Add a Titanic version
  • Add ability to design ships again
  • Add infinite space for building in some levels
  • Add more updates
  • Add advertisements to get people to download

Tiny Machinery

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Full Steam Ahead

No in-app purchases

3 purchases

Tiny Machinery

One-time3
  • Full Game$3.99
  • Full Game + Coffee$4.99
  • Full Game + Love$7.99

Questions

Is Full Steam Ahead free?
Full Steam Ahead is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Tiny Machinery free?
Tiny Machinery is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Full Steam Ahead or Tiny Machinery?
Full Steam Ahead is rated higher. Full Steam Ahead averages 4.5 out of 5 from 61 ratings, while Tiny Machinery averages 4.2 from 45 ratings.
Do Full Steam Ahead or Tiny Machinery have ads?
Neither Full Steam Ahead nor Tiny Machinery shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Full Steam Ahead or Tiny Machinery?
Full Steam Ahead ships an update every 21 months, and Tiny Machinery every 3 months. Most recently, Full Steam Ahead was updated on October 16, 2026 and Tiny Machinery on October 13, 2026.

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