I recently had a staff member remark that videogames do not belong on cell phones and I immediately corrected him. His opinion was based on what he'd seen from a single company and therefore wasn't even valid. After all, if he had seen even half of the stuff that THQ Wireless has been pumping out he would've changed his tune real quick. The relatively new right arm to parent company THQ has been releasing hit after hit, and it's about to give us several this month when it rolls out its brand spanking new Star Wars line for Cingular subscribers. There are quite a few quality games in the line-up, but the most enjoyable is Star Wars: Battle Above Coruscant. Gorgeous, fun to play, and quite intense, it's one of the best cell phone games to release in quite some time.

Battle Above Coruscant is without question one of the coolest-looking cell phone titles that I have ever played. A 2D vertical shooter, you play as young Jedi Anakin Skywalker, who's zipping through space in his custom Starfighter to rescue [SPOILER]. In his way are scores of trade federation enemy ships of all shapes and sizes, and to make matters worse you'll also need to avoid lock-on missiles as well as gun turrets.

Like all shooters, the primary goal of this game is to destroy the enemy before it destroys you, so it's all about recognizing patterns and/or just furiously blasting the moment you start playing. Battle Above Coruscant won't throw 10 plus enemies at you at once, though having to deal with four or five may prove difficult if you let them fire their weapons, whereupon which you'll need to do some skillful dodging.
THQ Wireless has a habit of releasing some of the greatest-looking cell phone videogames that the world has ever seen and Battle Above Coruscant is yet another feather in the publisher's cap. The screen comes alive with all sorts of vibrant imagery including lasers, enemy fighters, planets, and these gigantic sprites of ships that you must fly over. I really cannot get over how outstanding the visuals are. I'm talking about a game that is actually a notch below Super Nintendo quality, and the icing on the cake is the catchy Star Wars music that plays throughout the entire experience. It's not as good as what you've heard in the films, but these tunes (and there are several of them) are really well done and further enhance the gameplay experience.

The only negative thing I can say about Star Wars: Battle Above Coruscant is that it's not fair that it's Cingular exclusive because Verizon owners (that'd be me) are truly missing out on one of the greatest mobile games ever made. However, we do have NBA All Star 3-Point Shootout and Big League Homerun Challenge 2005, so both sides have some bragging rights.

THQ Wireless' Star Wars portfolio is extremely impressive (stay tuned to GameDAILY for continued coverage), and Battle Above Coruscant is the coolest game of the bunch. Not only does it provide non-stop thrills, but it's a landmark graphical achievement and a fantastic glimpse of the future. Plus, it doesn't contain too many Episode III spoilers, so you don't need to worry about it ruining the movie for you. Bottom line, this is money well spent, and I urge you to download it immediately. I know you were planning on buying that other game, but I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!