Star Wars Ask Yoda

A few years ago Hasbro reinvented the good old Magic 8-Ball by releasing a small Yoda toy that responded to questions. Although limited, he became a fixture on desks across the country, but now you can put him in your pocket or clip him to your belt in THQ Wireless' and Amplified Games' Ask Yoda, a pint-sized version of the toy that's been crammed into cell phones and made available for Cingular subscribers. While not a game per se, this travel buddy is the perfect way to get some Jedi wisdom before big meetings and Saturday night dates.

Just like the toy, Ask Yoda lets you throw any question you wish at the aged though powerful Jedi Master and he'll respond in his famous Yoda Speak. For example, when I asked the question, "Will Modojo become the greatest website in the galaxy," he said... well... it's not important what he said. The point is you can totally ignore your psychologist and family members and confide in a 900-year old alien who's capable of raising the Titanic by waving his hands, but there's more to it than just asking whether Greedo shot first or if Salacious Crumb survived the explosion on Tatooine.

You can also ask Yoda for some Jedi wisdom (Control, control. You must learn control.) as well as knowledge. Yoda's full of all sorts of cool Star Wars trilogy factoids (such as The Executor was 12,800 meters long.) so you're truly able to unlearn what you've learned. Lastly, if your brain has been seriously taxed you can elect to just watch Yoda do his thing, which is usually sweeping, meditating, cooking, and waving his walking stick around.

When you first boot up the game you'll enter Yoda's house and find him doing one of the aforementioned tasks, and all you need to do to get his attention is press a button, whereupon which he'll blurt out one of his famous Hrmm sounds. The game's graphics have been drawn in a style similar to Cartoon Network's Star Wars: Clone Wars series and Yoda's limited animation is quite impressive. The music is also pretty cool, though it's the same theme from Jedi and it continuously repeats.

Although it's more of a novelty than a true game, Ask Yoda is a cool app that's worth downloading. You shouldn't buy it to replace the actual mini Yoda that's sold in stores but instead treat it as an extension of that toy and a way to take it with you on long trips (or just waiting for your friends at the mall). Besides, on the positive side, this Yoda's eyelids won't wear off from constant blinking (a definite plus). Look for it this May, but when you find it, make sure that you don't ask him any scary questions, such as whether you'll be digested within the belly of a Sarlacc. Boba Fett was lucky.