(The following donated review by Mike Piazza was moved by Filmtracks to this comment section in July, 2007)

The Game: (Howard Shore) Howard Shore delivers more then enough score to go around with The Game. The Game was probably one of the best mysteries of 1997, but surprisingly didn't do that well in the box office. The suspenseful mystery of the plot was also brought out into the score. What spells suspense more then the piano? Shore knew this well, for his reliance on the piano as one of the main instruments is one of the things that make this score hold-up. His mixtureof the piano and strings is amazing. Now don't take this the wrong way. Some might be drawn away from the score because of his high use of the piano. In other albums, the piano might serve as a back-up plan and is often stereotyped as a score that was shabbily made and used as a quick fix to a hastily made score. The piano is the main suspense builder throughout the score and the movie.

The score, however, is quite long and unless you've seen the movie could be heard as quite boring. It is its effectiveness in the movie is spectacular. On CD however, it is suspense that is never quenched. You expect an upheaval at any moment to relieve you of the anticipation that the piano and long strings conveys upon you, but it never occurs. It being an hour long, it also hurts the score's stature. From track two to track thirteen you are listening to the same up and down scales on the piano, up and down scales, and the random keys played by the pianist to bring out the mystery not only the film encompasses but the score as well.

There is no recognizable theme where as you could place the piano. You could say that the main theme is the random keys on the piano that seem to always be constant in the album. It is hard to find a quite moment without the use of the piano. In the movie, however, his work prevails. On CD, it's hard to reach the full masterpiece, which makes the whole score rather dull, boring and repetitive. I recommend you go see the movie, skip out on the CD, and hope Shore's career will pick up enough to come out with a compilation. Shore seemed to be a rising star, coming out with the scores for Big and then Silence of the Lambs, but his work seems to be diminishing. I hope he can pull himself out of the hole he's fallen into, for his suspenseful work done for The Game, even though not fully shown on CD is something to commemorate.

As heard in film: ***
As heard on CD: **
Overall: ***