For those of you who love your N-Gage (I’m far too frustrated with it, and actually had to install the application onto my N95-3 in order to take the screenshots for this post), you’ll be excited to know that yet another game has been made available – the much-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Mobile. It’s there, now, in the showroom, as a 16MB download.
I spent a little bit of time playing the trial, to see how well it played, and immediately I became extremely frustrated. This game incorporates the CellWeaver control system that’s really incredibly innovative and easy to pick up. So easy, in fact, that the incessant tutorials become REALLY annoying, as the game forces you to learn the new controls without actually playing the game. 
Add to that the countless lengthy cut scenes with excessive dialog, and well, I was tempted to uninstall right there, had I not needed to get screen captures for you all. I will say, however, that the graphics are incredibly good, both in the cut scenes and the actual gameplay.
The new CellWeaver control system makes excessive use of the d-pad (though there’s an option to use the numeric keypad, as well) to allow you to attack certain foes, and otherwise interact with your environment. Each position on the d-pad is set as a destination, and you must retrace the path shown above each enemy to attack them. For instance, to slash your lightsaber at a droid, you may need to press down-up-right, followed by the right softkey to activate, or ‘send’ the combination. While this might seem odd, it’s a great way to beat the boredom that sets in when you only need to run and shoot in mobile games.
The Cellweaver system can either offer simple 3-destination commands, or it can get more complex, by simply adding more destinations to each combination. A great way to offer a new take on mobile gaming. Also, it eliminates the keypad as a potential weakness for a specific device, as you only really use the d-pad for controlling the whole game.
In any case, if you’re interested, and have the patience to sit through the various tutorials and cut scenes, you can get Star Wars: The Force Unleashed through the N-Gage showroom now.
