Book Review: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed SPOILERS!

In 2008, LucasArts released a game taht most fans claim is the penultimate of garbage, an eight hour game called The Force Unleashed, which really doesn't allow the player to use every aspect of the magical Force, but rather limits the Force powers to about eight or ten. Synopsis: "The Sith always betray one another....I'm sure you'll learn that soon enough." The overthrow of the Republic is complete. The Separatist forces have been smashed, the Jedi Council nearly decimated, and the rest of the Order all but destroyed. Now absolute power rests in the iron fist of Darth Sidious–the cunning Sith Lord better known as the former Senator, now Emperor, Palpatine. But more remains to be done. Pockets of resistance in the galaxy must still be defeated and missing Jedi accounted for...and dealt with. These crucial tasks fall to the Emperor’s ruthless enforcer, Darth Vader. In turn, the Dark Lord has groomed a lethal apprentice entrusted with a top-secret mission: to comb the galaxy and dispatch the last of his masters’ enemies, thereby punctuating the dark side’s victory with the Jedi’s doom. Since childhood, Vader's nameless agent has known only the cold, mercenary creed of the Sith. His past is a void; his present, the carrying out of his deadly orders. But his future beckons like a glistening black jewel with the ultimate promise: to stand beside the only father he has ever known, with the galaxy at their feet. It is a destiny he can realize only by rising to the greatest challenge of his discipleship: destroying Emperor Palpatine. The apprentice’s journeys will take him across the far reaches of the galaxy, from the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk to the junkyard planet of Raxus Prime. On these missions, the young Sith Acolyte will forge an unlikely alliance with a ruined Jedi Master seeking redemption and wrestle with forbidden feelings for his beautiful comrade, Juno Eclipse. And he will be tested as never before–by shattering revelations that strike at the very heart of all he believes and stir within him long-forgotten hopes of reclaiming his name...and changing his destiny.

This is by far the worst novelization of any game I've ever ready. Sean Williams can't write properly and just copies down what happens on the screen for the first act before he decides to try and do anything to enhance the story, but by then it's too little too late. 

The novel opens with Darth Vader ordering the Secret Apprentice/Starkiller/Galen Marek to kill former Jedi General and Jedi Master Rahm Kota, but once Starkiller gets to the orbital station above Nar Shaddaa, Kota has already set traps for him. Starkiller and Kota duel briefly, and Kota, damaged and blind, tells him that Vader will kill him and that he (Kota) will be part of Starkiller's future. Starkiller shoves Kota out of the station and brings his lightsaber back to Vader as proof that he killed the renegade Jedi. Vader then tasks Starkiller with killing insane two-bit Jedi Kazdan Paratus on the junkyard world of Raxus Prime, which Starkiller does, but this time actually killing his target. Another mission pits him against Jedi Master "Shaak Ti" on Felucia. (I say that because most fans like to believe this character is really Ahsoka Tano from the shitty Star Wars: The Clone Wars kiddy show around that time.) "Shaak Ti" has an apprentice named Maris Brood, who escapes before Starkiller kills "Shaak Ti," but "Shaak Ti" kills herself after telling Starkiller that both Vader and the Emperor will kill him and that there's no hope for him. It's during these missions that we're introduced to Juno Eclipse, Starkiller's pilot and obvious love interest--this this bit still comes out of nowhere in both novel, comic, and game formats, like they're not even trying. She spends the majority of the book brooding over being ordered to bomb her own homeworld by Vader. Once Starkiller rejoins with Vader, Palpatine shows up and orders Vader to kill him. Vader does so, then retrieves the body and orders Starkiller's crazy droid PROXY to have Starkiller found a rebellion to help him overthrow the Empire.

Starkiller retrieves PROXY and Juno and sets about to complete his mission. He goes to Cloud City, Bespin and gets Kota to side with him, despite Kota's protests. Then they head to Kashyyyk, where Starkiller runs into Leia and R2-D2, before setting the Wookiees free and destroying the shipyards. It's there that Starkiller learns of his parents being killed by Vader during the Occupation of Kashyyyk and that his dad was a Jedi Master named Kento Marek. He also learns that his name is Galen Marek. They head back to Felucia and Galen defeats Maris and saves Bail Organa. Organa wants proof that Galen is a Jedi and that he can defeat the Emperor and Vader; Vader suggests via PROXY that Galen should hit the shipyards above Raxus Prime. Back they go and Galen kills many Imperials just to destroy the orbital docks. PROXY tries to fulfill his mission to kill Galen, but Galen defeats him. Then everyone heads to Corellia where Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, Leia, and Garm Bel Iblis agree to start a rebellion and to make war, but they're interrupted by Vader and the 501st. Vader and Galen duel, but Vader wins and almost kills Galen when PROXY intervenes as Obi-Wan Kenobi and they fight. Vader kills PROXY and watches Galen fall to his death. Miraculously, Galen survives and, with Juno, tracks Vader to the Horuz system, to the planet of Despayre, to the Death Star. Galen leaves, but not before Juno delcairs her love for him (which comes out of nowhere) and Galen slaughters his way through the Death Star, frees Bail, Mon, Garm, and Kota, then duels Vader. Vader wins, but Galen destroys the room they're in and kills himself. Palpatine and Vader take his body while, on Corellia, Bail, Mon, Leia, Kota, and Juno form the Alliance to Restore the Republic using the Marek family crest as their symbol.

The ending fight on the Death Star, in the Horuz system completely and utterly contradicts previously established cannon by both George Lucas and the Expanded Universe, where the Rebellion remained ignorant of the Death Star and where it was, and had to formulate a plan, called Operation Skyhook, to find its location after hearing numerous rumors about such a thing. This is why W. Haden Blackman and Sean Williams' story have become so hated. It wasn't just the 8hrs of gameplay, nor the shitty script, nor the out-of-left-field romance, but also the complete and utter disregard for previously established cannon. This book/game/comic deserves the reputation of trash and should never be spoken of again. But I still have that annoying sequel to review.

Up next, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II by Sean Williams, based on a story by W. Haden Blackman.

Book Review: Star Wars: Dark Forces: Jedi Knight SPOILERS!

On 14 October 1998, the third and final volume in the Dark Forces trilogy of novellas written by William C. Dietz was published. It was originally released by Dark Horse Comics and Boulevard. Both the hardcover and trade paperback include twenty-five full-color illustrations by Dave Dorman. This time, the fate of the Valley of the Jedi comes to a conclusion, and only Kyle Katarn can determine its fate. Synopsis: Kyle Katarn, Rebel agent and novice Jedi, has just returned from his covert operation to find the location of the Valley of the Jedi. But he knows that the evil Jerec, a dark Jedi with designs on the Empire's throne, knows where the Valley is too. Upon returning to the Alliance, and with the support of Luke Skywalker himself, Kyle offers to find the Valley and stop the oncoming Imperial invasion—and, at last, fulfill his destiny as a Jedi. Based on the popular Star Wars: DARK FORCES and Star Wars: JEDI KNIGHT interactive games, Jedi Knight is part three of a trilogy written by acclaimed author William C. Dietz (Steelheart) and illustrated by award-winning Star Wars cover artist Dave Dorman.

The novella opens on Ruusan with settler Grif Grawley being ambushed by an Imperial Probe Droid. He manages to escape and gets back to Fort Nowhere and tries to warn Mayor Byron Devo III about the Empire coming, but no one listens. Grif and his wife Carole flee into the badlands. Sariss, Yun, and Boc Aseca arrive and subdues the population after they learn that the settlers and smugglers no nothing of the Valley. During the Second Battle of Milargo, in which General Han Solo and Chewbacca lead Medpac Squadron, Luke Skywalker shows up with Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors in the Moldy Crow. After a short duel between New Hope and a damaged Star Destroyer, the Imperials surrender. On New Hope, Kyle and Luke relate to what they've learned about Ruusan and its location; Kyle proposes going to Ruusan to confront Jerec, but Mon Mothma remains convinced that Kyle will fall--she even voices this out loud--but Jan and Luke reassure Mon Mothma that her fears may not come to pass. Han volunteers to aide Kyle, but Leia Organa talks him out of it. (Possibly because Dietz realized that a Kyle-and-Han team up would be too awesome, or because Han was never in the game, but that doesn't sound as cool, does it?) The plan consists of giving Jerec's Imperials proton torpedoes that they can detonate and destroy Vengeance with. Mon Mothma, reluctantly, agrees to the plan.

On Milagro, Kyle and Jan hire rebel soldier Alfonso Luiz Obota to pretend to be the surviving ranking officer of a badly damaged Imperial Star Destroyer. The plan goes off without a hitch: Obota cons the Imperials into taking it, gets Kyle and Jan permission to land on Ruusan. In the skies, Kyle and Jan note the ruins of Fort Nowhere. The two of them happen upon Grif, Carole, Lasko, Kimber, Luther Pardy, and Portia and Kyle retells Morgan's fate and how he became a Jedi-in-training, and ended up on Ruusan. The survivors suggest Kyle meet with the bouncers. When they go to meet the bouncers, they find Imperials trying to slaughter the helpless creatures. Kyle and the survivors interfere, at the cost of every survivor except Grif. The bouncers agree to help Kyle, Jan, Grif, and WeeGee get to the Valley. Meanwhile, Yun has nightmares of killing Nij Por Ral. Maw wakes Yun up and brings him to Jerec; the Dark Jedi informs Yun that they're going to the surface of Ruusan, to the Valley of the Jedi. In the catacombs, Yun receives training from the Force ghost of Qu Rahn; Yun ends up saving the life of a stormtrooper, something Sariss notes, but doesn't understand. Yun is then sent out to track down Kyle Katarn, but having sensed Kyle in the badlands, decides to repay Kyle for sparing his life and looks the other way. Kyle, Grif, Jan, WeeGee, and Floater the bouncer sneak by and almost arrive at the Valley, when Grif sacrifices himself to kill a probe droid.

Kyle leaves Jan, WeeGee, and the bouncer behind, but Jan gets captured, the bouncer killed, and WeeGee deactivated and the Moldy Crow impounded. Kyle infiltrates the Imperial Base and receives warning from Rahn about Maw. Maw ambushes Kyle and they fight. Kyle defeats the Boltrunian Dark Jedi and Maw taunts Kyle by admitting that he was the one who placed Morgan's head on a spike in Barons Hed; Kyle gives in to his darkness and beheads Maw. Jerec applauds and reveals that he captured Jan and demands the Kyle surrender to the dark side, but Kyle refuses. Jerec uses Destruction to destroy the landing pad and Kyle barely makes it to the Moldy Crow, but he shock wave hits and Kyle crashes in the Valley floor. Kyle's knocked unconscious and witnesses the final moments of the Seventh Battle of Ruusan, becomes Jedi Master Tal who tries to voice his concern about confronting the Brotherhood of Darkness in the Valley, but Lord Hoth ignores this; becomes Sith Lord LaTor who helps Sith Lord Skere Kaan prepare the thought bomb; witnesses Lord Hoth confront Kaan and how Kaan detonated the bomb, and how it backfired and captured the 100 Jedi  volunteers of the Army of Light and 100 Sith spirits and imprisoned them in the Valley of the Jedi.

Kyle wakes up and finds Boc, Sariss, and Yun standing over him. Boc destroys Rahn's lightsaber. Sariss orders Boc to leave and tell Jerec that she killed Kyle. Yun, in a moment of pity for Kyle, blocks his mothers strike; Sariss kills her son, and, angered at Kyle, tries her best to kill him, but Kyle picked up a couple of expert sword fighting techniques from Tal and LaTor. He takes Yun's lightsaber and kills Sariss, then heads into the Valley to find Jerec. Kyle frees Jan, but Boc attacks with his two lightsabers. Kyle fights Boc and manages to kill him using a dark side technique called Spear of Midnight Black. Jerec applauds Kyle for once more giving into the dark side, but Kyle remains skeptical that the dark side has any claim on him. He duels Jerec with his new techniques and Force skills, but Jerec retreats when his hold on the Valley weakens. Kyle senses this and cocoons Jerec from the dark side. Jerec collapses as he's confronted with just the light side of the Force. Jerec reminds Kyle that he killed Morgan, but Kyle tosses Jerec's lightsaber back at the fallen Miraluka. Jerec charges Kyle, but the Jedi kills Jerec. The Valley erupts and the spirits go free. Kyle carves a memorial of Rahn and Morgan in a rock, then leaves with Jan and WeeGee.

All in all, the best damn conclusion to the Dark Forces trilogy and an epic way to set up the legend that would later become Kyle Katarn, as every game since (Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy) references the Valley of the Jedi incident. William C. Dietz created one hell of a story in this trilogy and I'm proud to have gotten the entire novella trilogy and read it several times over, amazed each time it ends.

Up next, possibly the most hated game tie-ins to ever grace the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the novelization of the eight hour video game that's generally disliked by everyone: The Force Unleashed by Sean Williams, based on a game by Haden Blackman.

Book Review: Star Wars: Dark Forces: Rebel Agent SPOILERS!

On March 11, 1998, William C. Deitz returned to the Star Wars Expanded Universe to compose the second novella of the Dark Forces trilogy, Star Wars Dark Forces: Rebel Agent, part one of two of a story about the hit Kyle Katarn game Star Wars: Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. Published by Dark Horse Comics and Boulevard. This time, Dietz takes us to the opening of the game to finding the coordinates for a lost planet of the Jedi, in a race against time and several Dark Jedi to determine the fate of the fabled Valley of the Jedi. Synopsis: Secret Rebel Agent Kyle Katarn will do anything to avenge his father's untimely death at the hands of the Empire. When Kyle is threatened by 8t88 in a Nar Shaddaa bar, he tracks down the droid and secures a mysterious disk that could put him on the path to learning why his father was killed. Kyle soon finds that the disk contains information about a map to the Valley of the Jedi, a place his father had stumbled upon and kept secret. Now it's a race between Kyle and the Empire to see who can get to the map—and the Valley—first. Based on the popular Star Wars: DARK FORCES and Star Wars: JEDI KNIGHT interactive games, Rebel Agent is part two of a trilogy written by acclaimed author William C. Dietz (The Final Battle) and illustrated by the award-winning artist Ezra Tucker (the Adventures of Little Nettie Windship children's book series).

The novella opens with Morgan Katarn taking a few citizens and farmers to a smuggler's haven on the remote and forgotten planet of Ruusan, home to telepathic beings called bouncers. Morgan, after helping oversee the settlers settle in "Fort Nowhere", Morgan heads for the badlands, where he encounters a couple of bouncers. They tell him about the Poem of Ages: "A Knight shall come, a battle will be fought, and the Prisoners will go free." Despite his misgivings, the bouncers believe he is the one who will free the trapped Jedi and Sith spirits. Morgan, after seeing the Valley, flees in terror. Back on Sulon, Morgan tells Jedi Master Qu Rahn about the Valley, but Rahn refuses to be told the location and that Morgan should leave the coordinates for Kyle. The book then references Morgan being killed by Jerec a few months later. Five years later, Rahn, pilot Duno Dree, professor Nij Por Ral, technologist Rolanda Gron, and weapons expert Cee Norley are hunted on Dorlo by Dark Jedi Sariss, her son and friend Yun, and Maw--a former Jedi Knight. The Dark Jedi trio manage to kill Norley and Boc Aseca manages to capture the others. On the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer Vengeance, Gorc and Picaroon C. Boodle--a.k.a. Pic--kill Rolanda, Yun kills Nij Por Ral, Boc kills Duno Dree (this is the part where the games starts, with Bock killing Duno Dree). Rahn, after Jerec pries the location of the coordinates from his mind, slices Maw in half, but Maw survives, and Jerec kills Rahn.

On Nar Shaddaa--the Smuggler's Moon/Vertical City--8t88 attempts to hire Boba Fett to shake information out of Kyle, but Fett, having had a prior experience with Kyle, declines. Kyle meets with 8t88; the droid reveals Morgan's disk, but Kyle refuses to help '88. 8t88 orders his goons to kill Kyle, but he gets the drop on them and chases 8t88 through the streets and finally corners him, blowing off an arm with the disk, but the droid escapes on a shuttle. Meanwhile, Jan, having arrived, blows a TIE/sa bomber about to kill Kyle. Kyle tells Jan that the disk has fallen to the undercity and goes racing off after it. After a fight through the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa, Kyle manages to retrieve the disc before he becomes badly wounded. Jan finishes off the rest of the scum and hauls Kyle back onto the Moldy Crow. On the hospital ship Mercy, Jan steals Kyle's disc and shows the information to Mon Mothma, Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker, but Luke, despite Mon Mothma's assurance that Kyle might fall, knows this is part of Kyle's journey. He also states that Yoda related the Seven Battles of Ruusan during the New Sith Wars years ago. Jan puts the disk back, and Kyle, when he wakes up, leaves for the Katarn homestead on Sulon. It turns out that Boc, Sariss, and Yun have already arrived and taken a few stone slabs and left for Barons Hed. Kyle sneaks his way into the house and finds the family droid WeeGee. he reactivates him and plays the disk. Morgan appears and states that he embedded the coordinates for Ruusan in the ceiling of the work room--where WeeGee is and where the stone slabs came from--and left Rahn's lightsaber behind for Kyle to use for good.

Kyle and WeeGee escape the farm, but end up chased by a band of Tusken Raiders; WeeGee pulls Kyle to safety into the Moldy Crow while the Tuskens fall off a cliff. In the Governor's House, in Barons Hed, 8t88 kills a majordomo for being rude, and uploads the coordinates to Jerec. Kyle arrives, and so does Yun; 8t88 escapes with his Hornagaunt pet while Yun and Kyle duel. Kyle defeats Yun and spares him, then escapes as stormtroopers enter the room. Kyle tracks 8t88 to Fuel City and Jan drops him off. Kyle sneaks aboard the Sulon Star and finds 8t88, but the droid is dead, killed by Gorc and Pic. Dimwitted Gorc leaps out at Kyle and the Jedi shoots him in the head (very different from the game), then knocks Pic unconscious. Kyle kills the Hornagaunt--which has eaten 8t88's head--and retrieves the droid's head, figuring out that the coordinates are stored in them, but Pic wakes up. Kyle bashes Pic with 8t88's head, then flees the Star. A firefight ensues and Fuel City is destroyed, but a couple of TIE/LN fighters chase Jan and Kyle through the Nefra Canyons where one impacts with a cliff face, and the other is shot down by Kyle's Bryar blaster pistol. Back at the Katarn estate, Jan hooks 8t88's head into WeeGee, and all three of them see the coordinates for Ruusan. Luke arrives, and Kyle finds out that Jan told Luke, Leia, and Mon Mothma about his trip, but Luke talks him into a temporary apprenticeship. The four of them leave for the Valley.

All in all, a well crafted novella that perfectly captures the first half of the game, but Deitz's changes are great: Boba Fett's appearance, Morgan and the Ruusan scenes, a different trek through Nar Shaddaa than the game, a longer version of the hospital ship scene, faster action getting into and out of the Katarn estate, a different look at Barons Hed, a chase through the Nefra canyons, and Luke teaming up with Kyle and Jan to hunt for the Valley of the Jedi. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

Next time, Star Wars: Dark Forces: Jedi Knight by William C. Deitz, with art by famed artist Dave Dorman, in the epic conclusion to the novella trilogy and the second half of the game.