May the 4th be with you: Top 5 Star Wars games on iPhone
The Emperor has already won (these games)

Today is May the 4th, otherwise known as ‘May the Fourth’, which sounds a little like ‘May the Force’ (if you have a speech impediment).
If you follow the laboured train of thought right through to the final station and not get off at Normal Central, you’ll come up with ‘May the fourth be with you’ - an hilarious joke that references a famous line spoken by practically everyone in the Star Wars films.
Therefore, today has become known among the hives of scum and villainy on the Internet as Star Wars Day. I’m not making this up.
To ‘celebrate’ how a once-loved sci-fi universe has slowly been run into the ground by a director more keen to push merchandise and to crowbar in as many CGI critters as possible onto the screen, we’re going to look at the top five Star Wars games available on iOS devices.
This isn't strictly speaking a traditional ‘Top five games', as that would suggest all the titles in question are worth buying.
The sad fact is that, apart from the excellent Republic Commando on the Xbox and the LEGO games, Star Wars tie-ins have rather varied in quality ever since the days of Jedi Knight and Tie-Fighter.
To reflect this, we’ve decided to classify the games: Jedi = good, Sith = bad. Pretty straightforward.
Choosing the light side will leave you fairly content, if a little emotionless, but choosing the dark side will likely lead to anger, hate, and a mild feeling of disappointment that you've wasted your cash.
Afraid yet? Will be you.
Jedi - The Force Unleashed.jpg)
Let’s start on a fairly positive note. The Force Unleashed on iPhone is a surprisingly decent interpretation of the home console version of the same name, despite the home console version being ultimately a big old disappointment.
Your young dark side protagonist is on a mission to hunt down the Jedi by using a manner of force powers and his lightsaber to cut down anyone that stands in his way.
The storyline may be something that Jar Jar would come up with, but the swiping and 3D visuals provide a fairly engaging little game.
Alas, ‘little’ is the key word here, as The Force Unleashed is shorter than a Jawa and is over before you can say ‘Solo ton Wookie’ in your best Jabba voice.
Sith - Battle For Hoth
The Battle for Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back is essentially the celluloid equivalent of a tower defense game - a bevy of different troops, some laser towers, and huge enemies walking in a straight line towards a base.
All it’s missing, really, is random bundles of currency flipping out from stormtroopers when they fall over or bang their heads against the scenery.
However, proving that even a good idea can succumb to the dark side, Battle For Hoth on iPhone manages to be a massive letdown in terms of looks and execution.
Muddy visuals matched with levels that can be won by using just the one type of unit means that both strategy and fun are sadly absent from the title.
On the light side, it does feature AT-ATs, which is always good.
Jedi - Trench Run
The descent into the Death Star for that all-important exhaust shot makes for one of the most iconic moments in sci-fi cinema history.
The thrill of the X-wings (and Y-wings) peeling off to dodge their way through the turrets is just crying out for a great game remake, and - no - I don’t count the Atari wireframe arcade title as a great game.
Despite the set-up though, Trench Run managed to mess it up on all counts upon release, with twitchy controls that make it nigh-on impossible to stay on target, and performance gripes that end up impacting on more than just the surface.
It’s been patched up quite a bit since then, mind, into a perfectly playable arcade game. So if you have a hankering for playing Han, then its certainly worth a look.
Sith - Imperial Academy
It doesn’t take a genius to see that the Imperial Troops may have natty outfits, but aren’t the finest of shots in the galaxy - despite the blast marks at the start of A New Hope suggesting otherwise.
It also doesn’t take a genius to see that Imperial Academy's gameplay is also well off the mark.
Essentially a re-skinned version of Eliminate, only with a far more darker in-app purchasing system, Imperial Academy ends up being yet another trap designed for Star Wars fans to fall into.
Considering Eliminate itself was already starting to feel a little old hat at the time of this game’s release, Imperial Academy looks and plays like something from the time of the Old Republic.
Jedi - Star Wars Cantina
Ok, let me get this off my chest - Star Wars Cantina isn’t in any way canon in the Star Wars universe.
Sure, there’s the Gamorrean’s kicking up a fuss, Twi-leks looking a bit weird and not at all sexy, and those plastic mugs with coloured liquids (although it’s debatable whether they’re as tasty as good ol’ Aunt Beru’s homemade coloured liquid).
But, as far as I’m aware, you order from the bar in a Cantina, not a Diner Dash-style waitress. I also don’t have a girlfriend, just for reference.
Anyway, despite the flagrant disregard for the rules of a fictional universe, Star Wars Cantina is a generally pretty decent Diner Dash clone with enough of the Star Wars wallpaper to mark it out from the rest.
It’s not going to answer such pressing first-world issues like ‘who shot first?’ or ‘what the hell is in that coloured liquid, anyway?’, but as a time management game it’s pretty decent.