Having now played all four different versions of this game, what can I say about the DS one? It’s… better than the one made for java phones?
The developer n-Space also handled the DS port of Battlefront Elite Squadron, but I had more fun with this; it’s more dynamic, and I enjoyed trying out the different force powers you unlock in different scenarios. It’s one of “those” DS games, where actions are controlled by tapping different buttons on the touchscreen while the D-pad moves your character. They do manage to do something interesting with it, by having you slide between the action buttons to make combinations that “unleash” “the” “Force” in different ways. It works.
As for the structure of the game, imagine the HD console game; it was shrunk and some new greebles glued on for the Wii/PSP (eg. Jedi Temple and Bespin levels). Now it’s been shrunk again; collectibles almost entirely removed, medical frigate level still relegated to a cutscene, levels much more sparse, linear, and tiny. Even so, they’re a decent size for the platform and I never felt shortchanged. The wiggeting continues too: new kinds of junk constructs/Imperial probe droid-ish things, a giant worm chase on Felucia, a new robot boss in the Death Star, and a subplot about Raxus Prime’s sentient computer taking over PROXY are all unique additions for this verison.
The low-poly look and horridly stretched textures may seem cringeworthy but I still see a… kind of charm in them. Don’t bother turning the volume up though. Anyway, look past that and you’ll find a decent approximation of the core gameplay stripped back to its bare essentials (the mobile game going way too far in that respect). There’s no complicated physics system here; the game still expects you to interact with your environment to take out enemies, but it’s more scripted and staged, and less satisfying. Still, it’s a decent port and an acceptable stand-in for the main game on a much less powerful system.
