[HTML1]

With JJ Abrams' Episode 7 film in the midst of production and DICE's Battlefront (hopefully) ramping up development, Star Wars is about to return in a very big way. After Disney bought LucasFilm in the early part of 2013 most expected them to leverage this billion-dollar property to the best of their ability, and leverage they have.

However, while most of the Star Wars game development duties have passed to Electronic Arts, Disney still has the freedom to deliver franchise tie-ins of their own. And today, they have done just that with the release of Star Wars Commander for iOS.

One part Clash of Clans and one part Star Wars, Star Wars Commander is a free-to-play strategy game where players can side with either the Rebel Alliance or the Empire. After choosing a side, the game then grants access to a series of faction-specific characters and items, namely AT-ATs, Tie Fighters, and stormtroopers for the Empire or Han Solo and Princess Leia for the Rebels.

As with any strategy game, the main goal is to build up and then defend a base from oncoming forces. And in Star Wars Commander's case those oncoming forces just happen to be themed around George Lucas' sci-fi epic. Players will travel to different planets within the SW universe, train and upgrade their fleets, and try to outlast massive battles in order to secure victory for their respective faction.

[gallery columns="2" link="file" ids="236220,236221,236222,236223"]

There are even story bits peppered throughout Star Wars Commander that focus on the galactic civil war that highlights Episodes 4-6. We aren't sure if these storylines are considered canon — that issue has become rather tricky as of late — but that should be incentive enough for fans to try out this free game.

It's worth pointing out that Star Wars Commander does carry the nefarious free-to-play designation, meaning that although the game's download is free it does include in-app purchases. Obviously, gamers can get through most free-to-play mobile games without dropping a single cent, but we can't say whether that's true of Star Wars Commander just yet.

We should also mention that the game is exclusive to iOS devices at the moment, but Disney promises that a multiplatform release is in Star Wars Commander's future. This is Star Wars after all, so anywhere the game doesn't release is simply money left on left on the table. As we mentioned, Star Wars is about to come back in a big way in the next 12 months, and fans can only expect to see more and more of their favorite franchise leveraged in every conceivable way.

What do you think of Star Wars Commander? Does it sound like a mobile game worth checking out?

Star Wars Commander is out now for iOS devices.