Preface: I go into this review having watched the first two episodes (three have been broadcast so far). I may or may not watch the third and successive episodes, I'm not really sure yet.
Oh man, this show. I really wanted it to be good. And I guess you could say it's alright. But when I first heard of the show, I was hyped. Games are coming back to TV? And it's like Gamesmaster? And it's celebrities we know playing against each other instead of having to listen to two-bit (or should I say 8-bit) hack journalists giving emotionless and charmless reviews like games TV has basically been this entire century? Sounds great!
The basic structure of the programme is that two celebrity guests come on the show and play a few games against each other - a couple that are picked by the show itself and the guests get to pick their favourite game each to play. The celebrity guests are assisted by their team captains who are there every week and may play together with the guest or it's a case of rounds with celeb vs celeb and captain vs captain.
The first main problem is just what I mentioned - the captains. They're fairly annoying and just not very funny. From what I read the show actually came from them - Go 8 Bit was actually their little show at the Edinburgh Fringe, so I guess they kind of have to be on there. I just wish they weren't, or they could get two people with a bit more charm about them.
Another issue is the fact the show doesn't need to be an hour and ends up with a lot of filler to try and make this time. It would be much better suited as a half-hour show. Cut out the pointless sequence where they ask the audience who they think will win before every game and the significant amount of unfunny "banter" between Dara, Ellie, the guests and the captains before they play the game.
The third issue is during the playing of the games themselves - a lot of the events that happen during them just feel really fake and scripted for the camera, like Susan Calman not being able to jump in Chuckie Egg despite it apparently being her favourite game and that she's also using a joystick which only has one or two buttons. When there are two different screens that need to be shown for the separate screens it's often too small and hard to see what's going on.
The show, despite all these criticisms, has its moments. Ellie Gibson telling you about the history of the game they are about to play is often quite entertaining, and there are some genuinely exciting moments during the gameplay. However, the solid concept behind this show is let down by too much pointless fluff - get rid of the unnecessary stuff and get on with the games, and tighten up certain aspects when they actually play the games and it could be a really solid, entertaining show. However, at this point it's little more than an average, inoffensive show somebody would put on in the background while having dinner like Would I Lie To You or something along those lines.
