There is no right way to enjoy a Video Games Live concert as an outsider, a bystander. To isolate the barest meat of Saturday's show—popular video game songs performed by a talented orchestra—would result in a fine thing to attend, gamer or no, but that's not the show VGL puts on.

Theirs is a show with Guitar Hero competitions, cosplay contests, games videos, men in costume running around the stage, and emcees telling the crowd to whoop and holler in response to whatever they see or hear. So be it—this is for purists, loud, proud and excited by gaming tunes and Zelda T-shirts.

But nerd purists tend to give whatever slack they can in a live concert setting. I've seen it two years running at PAX, where droll bands like Freezepop ride their nerd cred to mountains of applause (and solid acts are treated like rock lords). But those are small, independent bands. What could a years-old touring company pull off with game tunes? Would it need the slack?

On Saturday, VGL's introductory '80s arcade medley gave me hope, picking great melodies out of games' old, synthesized graves. The symphony emulated every bit of the original Donkey Kong—even the stomps—and the room exploded (or maybe Steve Wiebe stood up in the back and waved, who knows). The intro's only issue was that it never took its time with a classic refrain before skipping to the next. A few songs later, in a weird aside, a solo pianist cobbled together a manic Final Fantasy medley, slamming ten songs into each other and improvising atop their popular melodies. Full Japanese orchestras have done up FF for years, but not like this guy.

The rest of VGL didn't deliver on its promise. Video Games Live—the name infers that we're at a concert, but it's also about the music and sounds while we're in the act. When VGL nailed this, a piece of music would remind me of good memories with a particular game, and by nature, this stimulus-response relationship is more potent with games than any other entertainment. But most cuts from VGL were intro pieces, the ones I hit "Start" to skip so I can get on with the game. The sweeping introductory score from Mass Effect; the tribal song that plays in Civilization 4's introduction; the song that plays during the opening video for World of Warcraft... thanks, VGL, but I've never gamed to these melodies.

Before VGL's intermission came Metroid, the spacey Nintendo classic whose Close Encounters-inspired soundtrack is exactly what this concert should tackle—take bizarre, nostalgic tones, and spin them into symphonic gold. That didn't happen. After a brief dalliance with the original theme, the orchestra tore into some generic John Williams shit from the most recent 3D Metroid. Huh? Instead of a compelling re-arrangement, they ripped the already-orchestrated bit from last year's title and replayed it with old game images on the screen above.

At the other end of the intermission was a rock band as bad as its name: Splitting Adam. The band, made up of EA game developers, played a song from the nobody-gives-a-crap 2008 game Need For Speed Undercover. The result was half-baked mid-'90s alterna-mope, complete with a lead singer—wearing sunglasses indoors, no less—who would turn his head away from the mike after every sung line for a dramatic pose. I can only hope EA paid the VGL guys to tuck this into their concert in a promotional effort; if VGL chose the song out of free will, I might be more disturbed.

In the end, much like Guitar Hero is a bastardized way to get kids into classic rock, maybe VGL was just a bastardized way to get kids into classical music. Yet the focus on songs from M-rated games like God of War, Halo, and Metal Gear Solid kaboshed that angle. What remained, then, was a talented group of musicians and a polarizing setlist—too nerdy and cheer-filled for bystanders, yet rock bands like Minibosses have put out far more inventive takes on game music.

...Splitting Adam. Jesus. I want to hear the band names that didn't make that cut.