The Force will be strong with our younglings this fall, when Sony Online Entertainment releases Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures , a free-to-play, kid-friendly online PC game.

Clone Wars Adventures (trailer embedded above) will deliver a suite of online mini-games themed around the Clone Wars cartoon, all wrapped in a social environment that lets players customize a character, buy pets and compete against friends in daily challenges.

While kids can play for free, a monthly membership fee will get them even more stuff to do — and there will be FarmVille -style microtransactions using Sony’s Station Cash system.

I got an early look at the game during a pre-E3 event last month and found the mini-games to be solid. A typing drill asked players to hunt and peck the names of Clone Wars characters and settings to take down incoming spaceships. A Star Wars -flavored tower defense game pitted the player against an oncoming army of battle droids.

Maybe the most intriguing (especially for those old enough to feel burnt by The Phantom Menace ) was a game in which players used their force push to hurl a Gungan into the air, hoping to hit explosives and piles of dung with the creature.

One of the game designers told me LucasArts was a bit iffy about this shabby treatment of Jar Jar’s kin until the gamemakers explained that the Gungan was a willing participant, happily helping young Jedi hone their skills.

Image courtesy Sony Online Entertainment

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