The battle doesn't begin or end due to your participation - you are just a cog in the mighty war machine, but depending on how well you fare in battle, your efforts may inch your side to eventual victory. After you choose a faction to fight for, you are then thrust into the middle of an ongoing conflict. You choose a side in one of two galactic conflicts: Empire versus Rebellion in the struggle from the original trilogy, or the Galactic Republic versus the Confederacy of Independent Systems from the Clone Wars, subject of the prequel trilogy. Star Wars Battlefront Mobile follows the basic formula of the console game. There's a whole lotta Jedi love going around today, and it's good to see mobile being a good part of it. At the same time, Lucasarts has released Star Wars Battlefront II on Xbox, PS2, and PCs. Star Wars Battlefront Mobile bows today exclusively on Cingular, catching a little heat off the DVD launch of 'Revenge of the Sith,' which also drops today. It's a workaround that won't please everybody, but it pleases this reviewer - especially since the reviewer doubles as a 'Star Wars' fan. While you may not necessarily engage an opponent in direct combat, your actions, once piped over to a server, have an effect on a large-scale battle between different factions that you and your friends are part of. However, THQ Wireless and developer Mikoishi have found a clever way to step around network speed issues and still deliver a solid multiplayer experience.

Real-time multiplayer is only as good as the network speed you play on, and that's why most game makers have stayed away from going after this grail. So why is it taking so long to for the future to get here? The answer? Network speeds. After all, these cellphone-cum-game platforms are already online-enabled, jacking into a global network from the moment you power the thing on. It's been oft-said that the future of mobile gaming is multiplayer.

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