Approach Control vs Backburn
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Approach Control
Experience a realistic air traffic control simulation with genuine ATC procedures and pilot voice recordings. Make critical decisions under pressure, manage traffic across 10 unique sectors, and test your skills with challenging scenarios. Includes training modules and career tracking.
- Realistic radar simulation
- Genuine ATC procedures
- Actual pilot voice recordings
- 10 unique approach sectors
- 10 ATC challenges
- In-built training modules
- Career statistics and trophy case
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Work real approach radar. Make real decisions. Feel the pressure. Approach Control: Remastered is a highly realistic air traffic control simulation designed by real-world air traffic controllers. It delivers an authentic radar-control experience using genuine ATC procedures and actual pilot voice recordings. It's a game, but it feels very real. The radar behaves exactly like real approach control radar, including a true 3-second sweep used by professional controllers, plus actual ICAO separation and wake turbulence standards. Every element is designed to replicate how controllers scan, think, and manage traffic in real time, all within a clean, intuitive interface built for mobile. Control traffic in 10 unique approach sectors, each with its own localizer configuration and arrival entry points. Put your skills to the test with 10 ATC challenges that demand precision, planning, and calm decision-making under pressure. Train Like a Controller. New to air traffic control? Built-in Ground School and guided on-the-job training teach you the fundamentals step-by-step, preparing you for increasingly complex traffic scenarios. Track Your Career. Career statistics and a trophy case track your progress, performance, and long-term achievements as an approach controller. If you love flight simulation, try an air traffic control simulation. Approach Control: Remastered delivers one of the most authentic ATC experiences available on mobile.
Backburn
This offline strategy game lets you plan up to six turns ahead in wildfire scenarios. Compare different decisions, manage resources, and learn from your choices in a fictional environment. Rehearse before advancing to make every turn count.
- Plan six turns ahead
- Compare strategy branches
- Manage resources and crews
- Offline gameplay
- Thirty authored incidents
- After-action reports
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NEW IN 5.0: SEE THE NEXT TURN, UNDO A MISTAKE, TAKE A DAILY INCIDENT • Forecast: the map outlines every cell the fire will reach on your next Advance, and rings any structure that turn would lose. Change an order and the forecast redraws. It is exact for one turn because the game is deterministic. • Undo: step back any order placed since the last Advance, from a single line cell to a burnout. Undo never rerolls the fire. • Daily Incident: one new incident per date, generated on your device. An authored map with the wind turned 30 to 60 degrees and a fresh random sequence, the same for everyone that day. Your first finished attempt counts; practise as often as you like. Build a streak and share a plain-text result card. • Recruit, Standard or Veteran: Recruit slows the fire for learning, Standard is the campaign as you know it, Veteran spreads faster, spots more and makes engines work within two cells of their water target. • Service Record: nineteen commendations, from regime specialist to seven-day streaks, computed on your device. • Field Training that waits for you to act, briefings that introduce each new resource, iPad keyboard shortcuts, VoiceOver map summaries and high-contrast overlays. Make the next turn count. Backburn is an offline wildfire incident-command strategy game for iPhone and iPad, with thirty authored incidents and tools for trying, reviewing and learning from your decisions. COMMAND THE MAP Select and move resources, build line, place water or retardant, burn out from completed line and evacuate housing groups. Each Advance passes twenty minutes. Working crews tire; HOLD lets them recover. An authored weather schedule shows when winds shift, gust fronts arrive, inversions lift and spotting pressure rises. REHEARSE BEFORE ADVANCING Decision Desk resolves the next turn in two copies: your current orders, or crews held in place. Strategy Lab explores up to six turns of three fixed policies. Neither changes your incident or its random sequence. PICK UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF Every campaign incident and the Daily Incident save their map, orders, weather, clock and random state. Resume from the menu, briefing or Daily screen. Completed incidents can be reopened to review the report. COMPARE YOUR ATTEMPTS A restart keeps one previous attempt per scenario. Compare both recorded timelines and their acres, structures lost and line completed at the same turn. LEARN FROM ACTUAL RESULTS After-action reports state recorded growth, losses, injuries and score, plus any commendation earned. Passing a scenario and extinguishing all fire are different outcomes. The Field Guide explains the real rules, including the forecast, difficulty and Daily Incident. Thirty incident maps across grassland, chaparral, conifer, peat and interface fuels, with seeded spread and spotting, resource rosters and housing groups. Play in landscape on iPhone or iPad. No account, advertising, subscription or in-app purchases; gameplay works offline and progress stays on your device. Backburn is a fictional strategy game with a surface-fire model adapted for play. It is not a real-world fire forecast, emergency tool or professional training. The in-game forecast predicts only this game's next turn. There is no live weather feed, online leaderboard or app-managed cloud synchronization.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Approach Control at Free against Backburn's $0.99. Approach Control also leads on review sentiment (36% vs 0%) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). Backburn's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 9) and update cadence (every 4 days vs every 3 weeks). On 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
Approach Control is free to download; Backburn costs $0.99 up front. Approach Control sells 9 one-off in-app purchases. Backburn asks for nothing beyond the download.
Approach Control ships an update every 3 weeks, Backburn every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Approach Control | Backburn |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $0.99 |
| Rating | 2.9 (9 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 36.4% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 9 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases — better | Paid |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 174 MB | 118 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Big Fat Simulations Inc. | Robert Corbin |
Customer experience
Approach Control
Backburn
In-app purchases
Approach Control
- Advanced$1.99
- Ninja$1.99
- Approach Control: Remastered$1.99
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- Cornered$1.99
- Insanity$1.99
- Windy$1.99
- Pandemonium$1.99
- Gridlock$1.99
- Full Unlock$14.99
Backburn
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Approach Control free?
Is Backburn free?
Do Approach Control or Backburn have ads?
Which is updated more often, Approach Control or Backburn?
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