Review: GOOD GAME LIVE

As always hosts Steven ‘Bajo’ O’Donnell, Stephanie ‘Hex’ Bendixsen, and Gus ‘Goose’ Ronald are hungry for a good game, but this time it was live from Sydney Town Hall. As Bajo explained, Good Game Live was essentially a “trivia event… but with a video game twist on it”.

Guest stars were split into two teams with Hex and Bajo charged to lead them on their quest for victory. On team Bajo was Jordan Raskopolous (from The Axis of Awesome) and the notorious Michael Hing (comedian and radio host on Triple J). Hex brought with her an entourage of unpredictability with Andrew Hanson (The Chaser) and Nich ‘NichBoy’ Richardson (Goose’s Brother, and host of Good Game Pocket). You’re probably wondering where this leaves Goose? Well, he was the adjudicator for the evening, responsible for keeping the gang under control, when he could.

Celebrating Good Game’s 10th anniversary, the “crappy kid’s birthday party” theme was lathered with embarrassing party games. The night was elevated massively by guest stars Tripod, who with their love of gaming and extreme musical talent added to the show’s comedy through game themed songs and a montage of video game sounds.

My favourite part would have been the tribute videos that Hex and Bajo made for each other, sealed with quotes and anecdotes. “[This is the] coolest job ever, [and Bajo is] best friend I could have hoped for” said Hex. Bajo added: “[My] favourite part of my day is reviewing video games with Hex.”

The truly sweet video package was a memento of all the years they’ve spent together. This was closely followed by another favourite when the teams played ‘Tag Team Talking Totem’, which opened up for naughty jokes as the contestants were asked to say a one-liner about if video game characters were on Tinder, Twitter, Facebook, etc. One particular comment that I LOL’d at was from Jordan, when she said: “My name is Sonic, I only wear shoes and I go really fast.”

On that note, this bring us to the party break, ‘Pass The Parcel’. Winning items included bubble wrap, anniversary t-shirts, signed autographs, and more bubble wrap. This segment was soon followed by the final team scores, Team Bajo: 26 and Team Hex: 23. “CONGRATULATIONS!” By this time everyone had completely fallen out of control, a sort of organised chaos, and the winners went nuts hitting a pinata with Bajo’s face on it.

Even with the best of things, there’s still room for improvement. It still felt like I was watching them behind a screen. I think it would have been better had there been some more interaction with the crowd. Although it was intentional, I was still disappointed they didn’t review or play a game at all. But was it what I expected? Yes. Was I impressed? Certainly. Would I go again?  ABSOLUTELY!

These guys are really just normal, relatable, comedic, eccentric gamer type dudes, and I think it’s safe to say that we ALL love them.
They love you too, and Hex has a message for all the viewers: “Thank you for watching and supporting us for 10 years, tune in online.” (JC)

Good Game Live The Anniversary Edition was at Sydney Town Hall on Apr 24. You can watch Good Game on Tuesdays at 8.30pm on ABC2 or any time at abc.net.au/tv/goodgame/ or find them on YouTube.

BY JERRY CRAMER