Buy it... if you're an established collector of Bruce Broughton's scores and seek all of his ambitious fantasy and adventure writing.

Avoid it... if you expect your video game scores to boast a fully robust orchestral presence, for this early entry is sparse on power and performance quality.

Broughton

Heart of Darkness: (Bruce Broughton) Created by Amazing Studio in 1998 and distributed by Interplay for Windows PCs and Sony PlayStations, "Heart of Darkness" was several years in the making. First conceived in 1992, the purpose of the game was to mimic a Disney-style adventure while the player controlled Andy, a boy who lives a normal life until he blasts off in his tree house spaceship during a real solar eclipse and lands in the treacherous Darklands. There, he has to rescue his dog (along for the ride) and battle the Master of Darkness on his way to finding the Heart of Darkness portal back home. While little Andy navigates these linear levels of activity, cute "amigo" creatures assist him, and if you're not careful, your little boy could be crushed, devoured, incinerated, or drowned in surprisingly graphic fashion. The portrayals of death are among one of the more interesting aspects of "Heart of Darkness," with the killing of children under the control of the player becoming quite rare in the evolving days of content ratings. Also of note is the fact that "Heart of Darkness" was the first computer game for which an original orchestral score was recorded. While the album release of the music claimed that the score was recorded in 1990, this fact is impossible given that the game's development was first undertaken in 1992. Several years of delays make a recording date sometime in 1996 more realistic, competing that year with Joel McNeely's "Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire." But despite the many years of delays in finishing the game and then securing a distributor, "Heart of Darkness" can claim to have the first ever orchestral score for a video game, regardless of the fact that other games with orchestral music beat it to storefronts. As mentioned before, the creators of the game wanted it to feature the same qualities of a Disney product, and it's fitting that Bruce Broughton was hired for the assignment. The game received positive reviews despite a shorting running time, though it was never a success with the general public.

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Broughton admitted at the time that he had never encountered a computer game before, and under such circumstances, his efforts in recording music for one are quite impressive. There was enough money to hire 55 members of the Sinfonia of London, a group with which Broughton was familiar. The sparse depth of their performance is the score's greatest weakness (along with a few blatant errors in the brass section early on the album), but considering that most games at the time featured crappy electronic MIDI nonsense, this was definitely a step up. Still, the recording is nowhere near Michael Giacchino quality, and subsequent orchestral game scores would put "Heart of Darkness" to shame. The structure of Broughton's score includes four major themes over its 35 minutes that span the distance between evil and comedy, heroics and fear. The title theme isn't as full as many of Broughton's others, yet it is still adventurous enough for the imagination and journey of the main character. The initial theme on album (over the main titles) is that of the villain, and it adequately portrays the mystery and magic of the Master of Darkness. It falls one step (or minor chord) short of becoming a gripping villain's theme, though the primary themes together undoubtedly work wonders in the game. The other themes represent secondary characters of the story and adopt a light-hearted, fluffy, and comical attitude. These sequences, with the cute performances of the tuba and French horn, will remind of the middle sections of James Horner's The Land Before Time. The bouncing tuba and marimba theme for the amigos in particular will leave the most lasting impression. Overall, however, it is difficult to truly appreciate this music outside of the experience one would get by playing "Heart of Darkness," for the recording isn't robust enough to stand well on its own. It is still a momentous effort for a video game, of course, and Broughton collectors will surely be impressed by the opening cues. Its enhanced features, including a demo of the game, only worked on PCs (Macs would eventually get their revenge in other ways). It's a fun, noisy, and refreshing score, but a bit underwhelming when put in perspective. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Bruce Broughton reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.3 (in 10 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.23 (in 3,620 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.