X-Plane 9 for the iPhone or iPod Touch

As a big fan of flight simulators and once holding the dream of flying in the sky in reality I was looking forward to the release of X-Plane for the iPhone. Now I’ll stop you there, yes it has been out for a long time already however a recent version has just been updated to 9.0.3 and I finally saw there was enough for me to warrant a purchase.

Straight away I am impressed on what Laminar Research have done to get this thing down to the small screen.  I’ll run over the options later but the frame rate is marvellous, no jumps at all, and the whole input system seems fluid.  You control the throttle and flaps with two easy sliders at each edge of the screen with two buttons for brakes and gear.  Finally the aileron and elevator surfaces are controlled just by tilting the device.  So if you want to fly up, you pitch your iPhone back and to go right, tilt it right. It’s that simple! With this though comes its first problem.  Anyone can pick it up and give it a go but it’s only the seasoned professionals who will be able to control it 100%, it will take a bit of practice if you have unsteady hands, trust me.

You can see that a lot of work has gone into the customisation options of this app. You can change the weather, turbulence, time, weight, it’s all there however most of the casual consumers won’t bother changing any of these.  But it’s there and that’s what’s important.  The choice of 4 aircraft may seem small but to be honest after my brief time with the game I can’t see much difference between them apart from the speed and look. See more information on the settings in the video review below.

The graphics are a mixed bunch, with great model details on the aircraft compared to some lacklustre textures on the mountains and terrain.  However this doesn’t really bother me as I understand to keep the frame rate smooth and not overstress the iPhone processor there has to be some give.  None the less it’s still a good look but then you notice there is absolutely nothing else there. Just two runways and some mountains. With no other buildings or aircraft around you really feel empty and if only they could add a few more objects to the world it would make it more “real.”  Now as the iPhone will never be able to support a full on flight simulator I think Laminar should take a fun slant to this game and add some missions to occupy pilots like fly from A to B in 4 mins.  What about a low level chase through the depths of the mountain? It’ll be like Top Gun and Independence Day = MEGA!

Sorry for the short review but X-Plane is either a lover or a hater for its price of £5.99.  At the moment thought I don’t think this will reach out to the casual gamers and its features are orienteered towards aviation enthusiasts.  I’d recommend it though and lets hope new updates are coming to continue supporting this ground-breaking app!