The Concert

On paper, Video Games Live: Level 2 is a concert featuring songs from a slew of recent and past video games. In reality, it’s a one-of-a-kind experience.  Created by video game soundtrack composer Tommy Tallarico, the concert features him alongside the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra performing 16 songs from many of the industries’ greatest gaming franchises.  It includes songs from classic games like Mario, Sonic, Tetris, Megaman, Castlevania and Myst as well as songs from newer games like Halo, God of War, Mass Effect, and World of Warcraft.

What debuted back in 2005 as a project that Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico planned for three years has become a sensation with over 70 shows last year, close to 30 this year, and another 70+ shows planned for next year.  Because this is the first time this amazing show has come home on Blu-ray and DVD, SHOUT! Factory has given us an enhanced experience with this one.  Songs are introduced by title beforehand and mixed in with clips from the games as they are performed. In addition, there are small snippets of the interviews from the special features sections thrown in between. Video Games Live: Level 2 offers something that would be considered foreign to most gamers and combines it perfectly with plenty of aspects we already love.  
 
The show kicks off with the incredible Classic Arcade Medley featuring a clip of Pong that sets the beat for the track.  This exciting introduction immediately got me psyched for the rest of the tune which continued with bits from Space Invaders, Joust, Dragon’s Lair, and Tetris all meshed together.  It sets the precedence for the rest of the show and the crowd gets more excited with each new game addition to the song. 

Not to be outdone in the first song, they follow it up with an eargasm in the form of the show’s greatest performance, the Halo montage.  Mixing all of the Halo theme song versions from one, two, three, and ODST, this track progresses through each of the games not only in their music, but in clips of story elements from all the games as well.  The performance finishes up with Master Chief himself running onto the stage waiving a UNSC flag.  On top of that, the guitar that Tallarico uses throughout the track is the epitome of cool, looking like a steam-punk version of a sniper rifle.

The concert continues with Civilization IV: Baba Yetu and features the concert’s first song with singers included.  That’s followed by tunes from StartCraft II, Sonic the Hedgehog and Advent Rising.  Before the concert began, they held a Guitar Hero contest and the winner, Ethan Shmaltz, is called to the stage to play alongside the orchestra during the Guitar Hero Aerosmith performance of “Sweet Emotion”. Although I think it’s an awesome idea to bring someone from the audience into the show, I thought that this performance was the worst on the disc.  Aerosmith’s classic didn’t carry the intensity level that the other tracks had and it looks as if most of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra sat there twiddling their thumbs during the track. 

The concert continues with tracks from Warcraft, Chrono Cross, Mass Effect, and Megaman before introducing a segment with the father of video games, Ralph Baer.  Video game historians like me should appreciate the mid-concert interview.  He provides some incredible insight on how far the industry has come and he’s excited to witness it all.  They even show off the original (still working) brown box he created with a game similar to Pong.  They allow a kid from the audience to come and play against Ralph on the jumbo screen behind them.  I think this whole segment is another great addition to the already amazing list of content included here. They follow that up with songs from Myst, The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros, and God of War.

Toward the end of the concert, they introduce YouTube star Martin Leung and he plays the original Super Mario Bros tune on the piano, blindfolded. Yes, I said blindfolded. It’s another example of why this concert is incredible.  When finished, he does another Super Mario classic that gets progressively faster as it goes along and then follows it up a Tetris Medley.  The entire concert runs about an hour and 40 minutes and finishes up with songs from World of Warcraft and Castlevania. 

Video Games Live Level 2 Trailer
 

Audio and Video

Normally I expect live performances like this to have a lower quality transfer, but the 1080p High Def widescreen presentation used on the Blu-ray version is top notch.  There’s very little grain and colors really pop.  It really makes the special effects presentations look incredible.  Some of the gaming clips look a little dated but since some of the games are over 15 years old, it’s expected.  The standard def presentation on the DVD version features slightly more grain, but it up-converts well and looks surprisingly similar to its high def cousin.

What’s really most important in a release like this is how the audio stacks up.  Thankfully, the DTS HD Master Audio track is as close to perfect as I’ve heard.  Throughout the entire performance, I couldn’t help but think that I was actually in the concert hall.  If you’re set up with great surround, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better sounding Blu-ray.  The DVD version lacks the DTS HD Master Audio of its high def cousin, but it’s no slouch, featuring a fairly similar experience.
  
Special Features and Packaging
Video Games Live: Level 2on Blu-ray comes as a dual disc collection with both the Blu-ray disc and a DVD disc along with a ton of extras:

• Creator commentary track
• Interviews with composer Tommy Tallarico, ,Ralph Baer, Jamie Lee Curtis and more
• Behind the scenes featurettes on the tour, Tommy’s Guitars, and more
• Game trailers and making of collection

Because the music and audio play such a large role in a production like this, the commentary track almost ruins the experience.  Tommy Tallarico has a good time detailing everything about the concert, but his voice is so overpowering that everything else is barely audible.  In addition to the commentary, there is a huge collection of video games related material here aside from the stuff focusing on the main feature.  The interviews provide more information than the snippets that were tossed in throughout the feature, with each person talking about their gaming and orchestral opinions.  The Ralph Baer interview is the best inclusion.  The trailers are from a bunch of newly released games that were part of the subject material and the making of featurette is from the original Dragon’s Lair.   

The Tommy’s Guitars featurette runs about nine minutes and has the composer showing off his many axes along with their functionality and designs.  Each has its own history and it’s interesting to hear the details surrounding them.  The Pong guitar and the steam punk guitar are by far the coolest. The private party featurette has Tommy introducing various composers through the industry and the games they worked on along with some of the side projects they’re currently absorbed in.  The Joystick Podium featurette describes the podium that the conductor Jack Wall stands on throughout the concert.

Overall

As a gamer, it was very hard for me not to be excited about this release.  It features a collection of the greatest and most well known songs in gaming history and puts a unique spin on them unlike anything ever seen before.  No video game fan should live without this in their collection.  Video Games Live Level 2 is a must have. 

ComicsOnline gives Video Games Live Level 2 on Blu-ray and DVD 5 out of 5 unique gaming experiences.
 

Buy Video Games Live Level 2 on Blu-ray at Amazon.com now.

Buy Video Games Live Level 2 on DVD at Amazon.com now.

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