Book Review: Star Wars - The Force Unleashed

Source: Amazon.com

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, by Sean Williams

From the book’s cover:

“The Sith always betray one another. . . . I’m sure you’ll learn that soon enough.”

The overthrow of the Republic is complete. Absolute power now rests in the iron fist of Darth Sidious–the cunning Sith Lord better known as 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, who in turn has groomed a lethal, nameless Sith apprentice to secretly dispatch the last of his masters’ enemies. This acolyte’s journey will take him across the far reaches of the galaxy and test him with shattering revelations that strike at the very heart of all he believes, stirring within him long-forgotten hopes of reclaiming his name . . . and changing his destiny.

The review:

You've heard me say it countless times, I know, but...  here it comes...  there are two ways to look at this novelization.  Whew!  That wasn't so bad, now was it? 

Ok, on the one hand, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an interesting take on how things evolve behind the scenes during the years before the events of Star Wars, Episode IV (A New Hope, that is).  And if there hadn't been anything else written by other aspiring authors about that time period, and if most of us weren't good and tired of somewhat overly dramatic lightsaber battles and new "ultra-cool" characters being thrown at us for those ravenous Star Wars fanboys who can't get enough on the subject, this storyline (by itself, that is) might have actually been pretty good.

Now let me warn you right now, I'm going to be kinda hard on this book.  Probably harder on it than it deserves.  After all, somebody worked hard to come up with this story.  And somebody worked just as hard to find a way to cash in on Star Wars and exploit the tinkering that has been done with the Original Trilogy, and of course the ever-loved Prequel Trilogy.  And somebody had some really cool ideas on how to make a really immersive (I imagine) video game that lets people feel some level of wonder at being able to do all kinds of neat tricks with the Force, without being weighed down all the time with either the restraints of being a Dark-sider (Sith) or a Light-sider (Jedi).  Heck, this Starkiller character, our main protagonist, that is, does it all.  We don't need no stinkin' good or bad labels!

The author: Sean Williams.  / Source: Wikipedia.org

Forgive me, but I gotta get my gripes out of the way right up front, so if you are a fan of this video game / novelization of the game and can't bear to see it criticized, go ahead and skip this review.  Do it.  You'll be happier if you do.  But if you turned to this review for an honest opinion, you're about to get it.  In spades as the turn-of-phrase goes.

Now before you say it, I know it is unfair to give a real review of a novel based on a video game's plot.  It is so often a bad idea, that you'd have thought the people approached to do such novelizations would have put the industry into deep arrears just by demanding huge sums of money to make something that... well let's face it, they get attached to a product that may or may not be any fun, and that's the point of games, yes?  To be fun, in some way, shape or form.  But then people who like the game buy the book, and are more often than not disappointed in it. 

Nine times out of ten, you just can't translate a video game into a really engaging linear story, especially when a game, by its fundamental nature these days, is so based in possibilities.  I mean, in the game, you probably killed that one lowly guard, and accidentally tripped an alarm in the process, and then had to fight several waves of powerful bad guys.  But in the book, the hero finds some clever way to go around it, and you're left thinking: well I wish I'd known that when I was playing!  What I'm saying is, the two experiences become mired in each other.  So gamers probably won't like the book as much as the game. 

At first I was like "whoa," and then I was like "whoa!" and then I was like "whoa?"  How's about we leash up that Force, eh Son?

And then there are those like me, who think the game looks fun, but don't own the hardware to play it, nor have the time or resources to go about doing so even if they did.  So they pass on the game, but just because they are fans of the genre in question (Star Wars, in this case), they pick up the book for fun.  And they discover that the thing is written... well, like a video game.

Haven't convinced you yet as to how this is bad?  Let me explain.  I recently reviewed the online novel Free Radical, and gave it high marks for taking everything that was really cool about the game on which that story was based, but yet having the sense to be a thoroughly genuine product in its own right.  Free Radical can stand on its own two legs without relying on its source material for everything.  Even in the face of those of us who did play that game it was based on, and felt a little thrown off in places where the plot diverged widely enough to make us a bit uncomfortable with the story (I'm talking about the: "Hey, that ain't how it went down!" moments here), it was still good.

R.I.P. Jed Porkins.  And no, this has nothing to do with the novel whatsoever. / Source:sw-family.org 

But The Force Unleashed, though it does take time to talk about things that probably were alternate paths which the player could take in the game (by way of meditation visions the protagonist has), still feels very much like the author is describing playing a video game.  I get the feeling that some of the action scenes were written by the author as he either played through an exciting section, or watched somebody play through that section, and then described what he saw.  Yes, modern video games are really exciting, but reading about somebody playing a video game is not.  I refer back to Free Radical, where in the introduction Young describes how it might be if somebody translated the game Doom straight to a written description:

   Computer games are exciting to play, but would be hopelessly dull if converted directly into a narrative. This is particularly true for older games:

   The marine blasted three more aliens. He turned around and blasted two more. He reloaded his shotgun. He went upstairs and blasted two big aliens and three little ones. He opened the door. He blasted two more. Behind the next door four more aliens (one big and three little) were waiting for him. He shot one, but then realized he'd forgotten to reload! He backed up and reloaded while the aliens bit him, lowering his health. Then he blasted them. He went through the next door and found his goal: The Red Keycard!

   And so on. While the above sounds dull, it's actually quite fun if you're the one doing the blasting. [excerpt taken from the introduction to Shamus Young's Free Radical online novel.]

Love that old-skool synth soundtrack.

It's boring!  It's like a twelve year old's idea of the perfect action scene.  The emotional connection is almost entirely missing.  This is the problem big stretches of The Force Unleashed suffers from.  You think to yourself: "boy, I'd like to play that part of the game.  Probably more interesting than what I just read."

Now before you say: "well duh," I know people buy the book because they like the game and the book itself is just a way to capitalize on the folks who are dumb enough to buy it.  And yes, that's how these big businesses make more money.  But the tie-in doesn't have to be so flat and uninspired, does it?  It feels like the makers of the product are walking away with your money and saying to themselves: "suckers" (insert evil laugh here).

  

At least Force Unleashed is better than much of the sub-par fan fiction still moldering in shallow graves about the internet.  I don't know if this cover image is for real or was made to represent bad fan fiction, but... well I've read a smattering of the stuff and most of it is just plain bad.  / Source: funny-pictures.picphotos.net

"Ok," you say, "but why is it so bad?"  I've told you it reads like a video game, but is that the only problem to found in The Force Unleashed?  No, I'm afraid not.  And here is where I will jump all over this book.  So again, if you're a fan of it, best to turn your eyes away.

Hmmm... where to start?  You know, while reading The Force Unleashed, I kept thinking to myself, "I can't wait for this to be over."   So bear with me as I point out the flaws I found most offensive.  Then I'll get to what almost saved the whole thing, and then I'll wrap this puppy up.  Sound good?

 - So... Darth Vadar, what does he do all day?

 - We have this really powerful Sith apprentice guy, Starkiller.  My question: Why isn't he out ruling the galaxy or something, if he's so awesomely powerful?  The guy is routinely doing stuff other protagonists only wish they could do.

 - The thrown in celebrity characters from the movies who are here only for legitimacy.

 - Our robot companion character, Prox-C (how's that for a "clever"... uh-hem... name), doesn't die on the Core Mind's world.  How convenient.

 - All these Jedi who made it through Order 66?  What's up with that?  The more Expanded Universe fiction I read where Jedi survived Order 66, the more I start to think that the nascent Empire was run by half-wits.

 - The girlfriend character is so thin as to be really almost one-dimensional.

 - Hey, what's with all the resurrections?  How come Starkiller gets to survive stuff nobody else ever could have?  Of course, if this was a video game adaptation in which there must be some level of forgiving re-start when you screw up and get eaten by a Rancor that even your grandmother could have seen and avoided...

 - Why do we need to put Bail Organa, Iblis and Mon Mothma in such melodramatic danger?  It's just silly to all silliness.

 - Oh how the climactic battles abound.  The one with Emperor and Vader at the end was so climactic as to stray right into the region of the ridiculous.

Even the Dark Lord of the Sith needs to update his profile now and then. / Source: thenextweb.com

 - Hey, why doesn't anybody notice this rogue Sith/Jedi/Whatzit running about?  You'd think somebody, somewhere, somehow, would say "Hey, somebody just tore up this place and left no survivors to tell the tale.  Better call the local Imperials and get things sorted out."  And don't they have any sort of word-of-mouth news?  I mean, yeah, we can say Starkiller is like James Bond and anything he does is white-washed by the government.  But still.  This guy is making too much of a mess for it not to come up at the water cooler somewhere.  Especially if the Jedi/Sith are such a hokey old-timey religion thing now-a-days.

 - And speaking of the Jedi/Sith, why is the Force such an odd subject to people in the early Star Wars movies when it is so common in this book?  In the original trilogy, people act like "The Force?  Oh yeah, I remember that?  Hey Dave, didn't you have a cousin who was a Jedi?  No?  He was a pastry chef?  How's I get those two things mixed up?  Ah well.  Not that big a difference, really."  What I'm saying is that you'd think by the movies that the Force was gone out of the Galaxy, but in this book we have this guy using it like it was cheap and plentiful.

 - Tell me, why the gimicky scenes?  They were too video game-ish for words.  For example, the Sarlac battle, the giant robot with the Jedi master inside, the Star Destroyer brought down by the Force, etc...  And here again we return to my gripe that somebody would notice some of this stuff.

 - And you know, it really annoys me that the Rebel Alliance can't form organically of its own volition.  We gotta make it so Vadar has Starkiller incite rebellious factions into joining together.  Sorry... uh... should have yelled Spoiler Alert, I guess.  But you know, this is one of the prequel trilogy's problems.  The story of Anakin Skywalker was interesting enough, if somewhat clumsily executed at times, but there were some details Lucas just couldn't present in such a way that they didn't come across as either supercilious, or... well, down-right boring.  I point to the gripe over Midichlorians, which is dumb because it takes the wonder out of the Force, or to the issues with Galactic administration that seem as exciting as doing your Grandmother's taxes.

 - Did I mention there are too many resurrections in this book?  Not only does Starkiller come back at least three times I can recall, but Prox-C even comes back at least once.  And General Kado once too!  Nobody really gets hurt in this thing.  Life in a Galaxy Far, Far Away must be pretty sweet if nobody has to worry about dehabilitating injury or death if they screw up.

 - Speaking of death and dismemberment,  what's with the "Starkiller places himself between the Emperor's lightning attack and General Kado?"-thing?  And lives through it like it has no affect?  Ok, he's already fallen from a cliff in a previous scene and not broken so much as a bone, but now he can take the Emperor's Force lightning and just stand there, without being burned to a crisp?  I'm starting to think Sith Lightning is as harmful as a stray static electricity discharge you get after rubbing your hand on the carpet and then touching somebody else.  Annoying, but not really harmful (unless that person gets mad that you shocked them and turns around and smacks you, that is).

 - And speaking of that Kado guy...  why do we need a Jedi general in the early days of the Rebel Alliance?  He breaks the whole uncertainty factor about the Jedi.  I mean, Lucas goes to efforts to show that the Jedi are extinct and people kind of distrust them like they distrust droids (the beginning of the canteen scene in A New Hope?), and then here we act like Jedi are no big thing.  Yes, the heads of the Alliance are cool with Jedi because many of them were around Jedi during the Clone Wars, but it still seems so jarring for the novel to all be so: "oh, he's a Jedi Master, that's cool."  Yeah, and I have a pet unicorn who takes me to Happyland every weekend...

 - The novel's constant referring to the lightsaber techniques was annoying.  So this guy uses this type of stance, and this other guy counters with this particular kind.  So what?  Tell me, are you really trying to make lightsaber combat boring?  Instead of saying that so-and-so uses this form and his opponent counters with some other kind, tell us what happens when they do.  SHOW, don't tell.

Alright, I think I've beat this one down enough.  Sure, there are other gripes I could make, but the ones noted above will suffice to make my point, I think.  It's too bad this book is so weak, as I think I saw plenty of talent shining through from the author.  But the old saying: "crap in, crap out?"  Yeah, that seems to apply here.



Though I do try and avoid what might be considered sexist humor (yes, I do try - I've even got it in writing now, you see), I couldn't pass this one up. / Source: saberforum.com

Wait, before you go!  I said there were some good things in The Force Unleashed.  I did like the creativeness of the settings, even though the re-use of them smacked of video game artists who said. "gee-whiz, we got such a great game environment here, it'd be a shame not to use it at least twice!"  The TIE Fighter construction scene sounds cool, as do the outer surface and inner works of the still under-construction Death Star.

The meditation visions idea, though over-used, was cool.  So many Star Wars stories seem to almost be bereft of the Force unless it fits a needed plot point.  This story uses the Force like crazy.  It really is the Force Unleashed, I guess you could say.

The ambiguity of the use of the Force is a double-edged lightsaber, if you'll forgive the pun.  On the one hand, this guy Starkiller goes about killing everything in his path, which seems very dark to me.  Even when he's working for the good-guys, he still kills like crazy!  It doesn't seem to fit the duality of the nature of the Force that we've been taught previously.  Starkiller's so powerful, he can just do what he likes and get away with it?  On the other hand, the fact that the character uses the Force so naturally is nice, and makes it seem really organic to the story.

The origin of the Rebel Alliance's symbol is kinda cool, I suppose.  The fact that it was Starkiller's family crest and all.  But again, this isn't something we needed explained.  What's next, they're gonna explain how toilets in Star Wars work?  I mean, come on!?

One of the all-time greatest video game adaptations of Star Wars is, in my humblest of opinions, The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600.  I could - and have - played that one for hours.  And hey, this video taught me something I didn't know!  Time to put those Imperial Walker destroying skills back to the test.

And the whole part about using the Force to divert the Star Destroyer so it crashes where he wants it to was a bit iffy - not that it couldn't be done, but the writing was a bit belabored in places there, I thought.  But the scene before that, where Starkiller goes about using the mass accelerator to destroy the orbiting ship construction site, was pretty cool.  A clever idea.

You know, on the whole, there were some clever ideas in The Force Unleashed, but the fact that they were attached to game mechanics made them a bit hard to swallow.  So to sum up my diatribe, this thing is only recommended if you are a die-hard Star Wars fan, or have nothing better to do.  Or if you want to sit and poke holes in the plot, to pass the time.

Learn more about Star Wars - The Force Unleashed, by Sean Williams, on Amazon.com

The parting comment:

Source: pintrest.com

Yoda (fingers extended): "Was in the form of a question I think, hmmmm?"  Trebek (scowling): "Your Jedi mind tricks won't work on me, little green muppet."  Yoda: "Perhaps a lightsaber duel?  Prove which of us is the Master, it will."  Trebek (igniting his lightsaber): wosshhh-sizzzz  "Any time you are ready to get schooled."