Comparison

X vs Prepare for Impact

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

Head to head
About

X

Experience a highly realistic flight simulator with accurate physics and detailed 3D cockpits. Explore numerous airports and terrain, with options to expand scenery and aircraft through subscription and in-app purchases.

Highlights
  • Realistic flight model
  • Interactive 3D cockpits
  • Detailed 3D airports
  • Free tutorials
  • Massive multiplayer
  • System failure simulation
  • Emergency scenarios
Features
Read full description

The most realistic aircraft. The world at your fingertips. It’s not a game, it’s a flight simulator. ▶ "Highly recommended." — Mel Martin, Engadget ◀ ▶ Featured by Apple in "Best New Games" ◀ ▶ Over 1 million downloads! ◀ Come experience why real pilots fly X-Plane. It starts with the flight model—the same flight model used in our FAA-certified desktop simulator—that’s complete enough to model the flex in your wings & the tilt in your landing gear. Add to that our desktop-quality aircraft with multiple liveries and interactive 3-D cockpits—so detailed you can do a full startup procedure using the hundreds of buttons, knobs, & switches in the cockpit. With working gauges, flight displays, & more, these cockpits are as realistic as those in our full desktop sim. But aircraft are no good without a place to fly them. That's why each of our 5 ▸free◂ regions features detailed terrain, lifelike city buildings, & 3D airports—complete with terminal buildings, jetways, hangars, & more. Want more? Subscribe to unlock global scenery, and get access to over 37,000 airports, with more than 11,500 airports featuring 3D terminals, hangars, & more. ▶ FEATURES √ 9 ▸free◂ tutorials, teaching the basics of takeoffs & landings, traffic patterns, helicopters, & more √ Massive multiplayer with thousands of other pilots and controllers in a single shared world (Professional subscribers only; non-subscribers can get free trial flights for a limited time) √ Fully interactive cockpits on many aircraft, wired to real systems models, with working gauges, displays, buttons, & switches √ Full startup procedures supported on many aircraft (optionally start any aircraft from cold & dark) √ More than 50 systems modeled, each of which can be failed on command √ Emergency scenarios √ Combat missions ▶ AIRCRAFT The app includes 2 aircraft (plus 5 scenery regions) for free. In addition, the following aircraft are available as in-app purchases: • ▸Free!◂ Cessna 172SP w/ 4 liveries • ▸Free!◂ Cirrus Vision SF50 w/ 5 liveries • Cirrus SR22 w/ 3 liveries • Cessna Citation X w/ 3 liveries • Airbus A320 Airliner w/ 3 liveries • Airbus A330-300 Airliner w/ 3 liveries • Boeing B737-800 Airliner w/ 3 liveries • Boeing B777-200ER Airliner w/ 3 liveries • Boeing B747-400 Jumbo Jet w/ 3 liveries • Bombardier CRJ200 Regional Jet w/ 3 liveries • Douglas DC-3 Airliner w/ 3 liveries • McDonnell Douglas MD-80 w/ 3 liveries • A-10 Thunderbolt II (“Warthog”) Fighter • F-22 Raptor Fighter • F-4 Phantom II Fighter • Beechcraft Baron B58 • Beechcraft King Air C90B • Piper PA-18 Super Cub • Piaggio P.180 Avanti • Sikorsky S76 Helicopter ▶ SCENERY 5 scenery regions are ▸free◂ for everyone! • Oahu, Hawaii • Grand Canyon • Seattle/Tacoma, Washington • Juneau, Alaska • Innsbruck, Austria Global scenery is available by purchasing a monthly or yearly subscription. ▶ MULTIPLAYER Come join tens of thousands of other pilots and controllers in a single, shared world! Try the Fly-In of the Day to meet up with hundreds of other pilots, or explore the MMO world for more chance encounters. Massive multiplayer is in early access—we wanted to get it in your hands as soon as possible—so we’re going to continue adding new features & improvements over the coming months. Terms of Service available at: https://www.x-plane.com/x-plane-mobile-terms-of-service/ Download X-Plane now to experience aviation like never before.

About

Prepare for Impact

Experience realistic aircraft emergencies from a passenger's perspective in this 3D simulation game. Learn critical safety procedures by making real-time decisions and observing their consequences. Navigate various emergency scenarios to achieve the fastest and safest evacuation.

Highlights
  • Realistic 3D aircraft emergency simulation
  • Passenger's viewpoint experience
  • Interactive decision-making with consequences
  • Multiple emergency scenarios
  • Threat simulation (fire, smoke, water)
  • Level editor for custom scenarios
  • Global leaderboards
Features
Read full description

This 3D game has been developed in the context of an international, aviation safety research project (http://hcilab.uniud.it/aviation), aimed at exploring possible new approaches to safety education, and featured on important media such as TIME, Popular Mechanics, Discovery Channel, and Fox News (see http://hcilab.uniud.it/aviation/media.html). Prepare for Impact is the world-first game that reproduces the experience of real aircraft emergencies from the passenger’s viewpoint, with the highest fidelity allowed by today’s mobile devices. In each virtual emergency experience, the player can try first-hand right and wrong actions that a passenger can take, and see the positive or negative consequences those actions have. Your goal is to take all the right decisions to come out from the plane unharmed as fast as possible. The different levels of "Prepare for Impact" depict major types of emergencies, such as in-flight decompression, ground collision, runway overrun, water landing, crash landing, rejected take-off, and fumes in the cabin. Moreover, they are able to simulate the different threats that can make aircraft evacuation more complex, such as fire, smoke in the cabin, water, unusable exits, and others. The latest version of the app also includes a level editor that allows players to create personalized evacuation scenarios. The game also offers the option of publishing your best evacuation results on world leaderboards.

Screenshots

X4 screens
Prepare for Impact4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Prepare for Impact at none against X's 11. Prepare for Impact also leads on review sentiment (82% vs 58%) and rating (4.3 vs 4.0). X's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. X sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Prepare for Impact asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Prepare for Impact holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: X has 25K ratings behind it against 2K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 58% of X's written reviews are positive against 82% of Prepare for Impact's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

X ships an update fortnightly, Prepare for Impact every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 31, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 3 level
X versus Prepare for Impact: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterXPrepare for Impact
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.0 (25K ratings)4.3 (2K ratings) — better
Positive reviews58.2% of reviews82.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings25K — better2K
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesAd-supported — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size1.0 GB198 MB
Age rating9+12+
DeveloperLaminar ResearchDipartimento di Matematica e Informatica - Universita' degli Studi di Udine

Customer experience

X

All ratings24,532 ratings
Positive74.7%
Neutral7.2%
Negative18.1%
Written reviews2,661 reviews
Positive58.2%
Neutral14.4%
Negative27.4%

Prepare for Impact

All ratings1,922 ratings
Positive82.8%
Neutral4.4%
Negative12.7%
Written reviews392 reviews
Positive82.4%
Neutral5.1%
Negative12.5%

User reviews

X

From 25K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Realistic flight physics
  • 👍 Highly interactive cockpits
  • 🤠 Great for flight enthusiasts
  • 💡 Potential to be used for flight training

Room to improve

  • 💰 Expensive planes and subscription
  • 🐛 Bugs and glitches in some planes
  • 🌍 Limited free global scenery
  • 🎮 Challenging controls for beginners

Prepare for Impact

From 2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Realistic and educational
  • 👍 Helpful for learning safety procedures
  • 👍 Fun and engaging gameplay
  • 👍 Captures the feel of a plane crash
  • 👍 Teaches important skills

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Glitches and bugs
  • 🐢 Slow character movement
  • 🤕 Graphic depictions of injuries/deaths
  • 🤔 Unrealistic passenger behaviors
  • 🤔 Confusing instructions/feedback

Bugs and requests

X

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Altitude hold issues in the MD-80
  • Inconsistent cockpit quality across different planes
  • Unexpected plane behavior during takeoff and landing

Requested features

5 requests
  • More free planes, especially commercial airliners
  • Larger free flight area and more airports
  • Improved autopilot and flight planning features
  • Addition of ground services like pushback and jetways
  • More realistic weather, lighting, and environmental effects

Prepare for Impact

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Passengers blocking exits
  • Incorrect feedback on actions
  • Inability to complete certain levels
  • Crashes and freezes

Requested features

8 requests
  • More levels and scenarios
  • Ability to choose aircraft type
  • Option to play as cabin crew or pilot
  • Customizable crash settings
  • Improved graphics and animations
Show 3 more
  • Dialogue and announcements from crew
  • Ability to board the plane and go through pre-flight
  • Multiplayer or co-op modes

In-app purchases

11 purchases

X

Subscriptions2
  • X-Plane Mobile Basic$4.991 Month
  • X-Plane Mobile Professional$5.991 Month
One-time9
  • Piper SuperCub$0.99
  • Baron B58$1.99
  • Sikorsky S76$2.99
Show 6 more
  • McDonnell Douglas MD-80$4.99
  • Airbus A320$4.99
  • F-22 Raptor$4.99
  • Boeing 777-200ER$4.99
  • Boeing 747-400$4.99
  • Boeing B737-800$4.99
None

Prepare for Impact

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is X free?
X is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Prepare for Impact free?
Prepare for Impact is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, X or Prepare for Impact?
Prepare for Impact is rated higher. X averages 4.0 out of 5 from 25K ratings, while Prepare for Impact averages 4.3 from 2K ratings.
Do X or Prepare for Impact have ads?
Prepare for Impact shows ads; X does not.
Which is updated more often, X or Prepare for Impact?
X ships an update fortnightly, and Prepare for Impact every 2 months. Most recently, X was updated on October 31, 2026 and Prepare for Impact on October 29, 2026.

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