Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure Review
18 May 2006 | By Simon Priest
Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure has great gameplay, great rhythm and an even greater story
Defacing public property with pretty colours in the name of freedom and expression never felt so great! Rarely does a game ensnare me with its storyline, let alone its gameplay so [insert long funny name of game here] really gives out buckets of value.
Now this title is all about visuals as after all graffiti isn’t the aspiration for those with impaired sight. With that in mind, Getting Up delivers both a rich textured World of New Radius city and graphics you’re proud to enjoy. At times it does come across as a console port to PC and yes that does mean no extra special sparkles in terms of configuration settings. For the lovers of 1280x1024 resolutions you’ll be disappointed here, sadly the game also doesn’t support any real tangible options for taking the graphics card for a spin.
Diving into the game you’ll soon forget all about tweaking those finer visual points. You’re pulled into New Radius, a city under the elected care of Mayor Sung and his newly formed CCK force. He plans to “Revive, Rebuild, and Renew” the city, to clean up the streets of crime and a host of all other social ills. Of course something stands in the way of this utopian vision …enter the Graff scene. When I said cleaning up the streets, I meant that in a literal sense as the CCK is on the frontline against New Radius’ graffiti artists and their crews.
This is where our character Trane enters the fray, with his “I just wanna get up” outlook on life. Soon beset with rival crew setbacks, the CCK and a wild (and actually interesting) conspiracy – Trane does both a lot of “getting up” and knocking down. When thinking exactly how to describe the gameplay nothing really can, you have to experience it yourself to understand it. However I can say with certainty that this carries the tagging craziness of Jet Set Radio and requires the kind of moves even Lara Croft would find trialling.
The mechanics have been well balanced, you’ll get through a lot of scraps with enemies of all creed but you’ll get to bomb (in graffiti terms) sweet spots from street-level walls, highway overheads, a bridge and of course everyone’s favourite …the blimp!
So how does one 'bomb' a wall? Well prepare for the one really bad point about the PC version here. The controls are not entirely your ally, you must hold one button to enact a kind of “spraying mode” and then another to actually begin spraying but also at the same time moving Trane to cover the spot. Plus if that wasn’t enough, you also are timed for additional rep for you to earn as well as your ability not to drip on your masterworks. This can actually all be accomplished for the most part through the trusty mouse but it is quite awkward to adjust to at first.
But who said spray paint was the only method for getting that message across? Later in the game you’ll be slapping up posters, stickers and the best part is that you can choose. If you prefer the spray over the paste then fiddle away in Trane’s Black Book, here you can select the style he’ll apply.
Well everything maybe nice and colourful but what’s the verdict for our delicate ear drums? I cannot find fault with the audio what-so-ever, both in all the sound effects from spraying paint, beating down a rival crew to the hollers of oppression. Then there’s the music, which fits beautifully in the background and brings the scenes alive. They can add desperation as well as a sense of retribution to the air and you can easily find yourself pumped up ready for the challenges. A slight caution for younger players, some tracks do contain their share of naughty, bad words.
Cussing aside, I couldn’t help but just love the unique menu for Getting Up either. A subway is the scene for the entire menu system and it’s a fantastic job which each level launched from the train itself.
Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure has great gameplay, great rhythm and an even greater story. I enjoyed this so much it’s all I could think about till I finished it, and I’m a player (since GTA) who must accomplish every little speck a game has to offer.
The legacy of Trane in New Radius looks set to continue in a sequel and if that’s true, it’s going to drive me crazy until I get my chance to “get up” once more!
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| Don’t look down Trane | Your friendly neighbourhood watchman |
Now this title is all about visuals as after all graffiti isn’t the aspiration for those with impaired sight. With that in mind, Getting Up delivers both a rich textured World of New Radius city and graphics you’re proud to enjoy. At times it does come across as a console port to PC and yes that does mean no extra special sparkles in terms of configuration settings. For the lovers of 1280x1024 resolutions you’ll be disappointed here, sadly the game also doesn’t support any real tangible options for taking the graphics card for a spin.
Diving into the game you’ll soon forget all about tweaking those finer visual points. You’re pulled into New Radius, a city under the elected care of Mayor Sung and his newly formed CCK force. He plans to “Revive, Rebuild, and Renew” the city, to clean up the streets of crime and a host of all other social ills. Of course something stands in the way of this utopian vision …enter the Graff scene. When I said cleaning up the streets, I meant that in a literal sense as the CCK is on the frontline against New Radius’ graffiti artists and their crews.
This is where our character Trane enters the fray, with his “I just wanna get up” outlook on life. Soon beset with rival crew setbacks, the CCK and a wild (and actually interesting) conspiracy – Trane does both a lot of “getting up” and knocking down. When thinking exactly how to describe the gameplay nothing really can, you have to experience it yourself to understand it. However I can say with certainty that this carries the tagging craziness of Jet Set Radio and requires the kind of moves even Lara Croft would find trialling.
The mechanics have been well balanced, you’ll get through a lot of scraps with enemies of all creed but you’ll get to bomb (in graffiti terms) sweet spots from street-level walls, highway overheads, a bridge and of course everyone’s favourite …the blimp!
 |
 |
|
| What it’s all about | Timing can be critical |
So how does one 'bomb' a wall? Well prepare for the one really bad point about the PC version here. The controls are not entirely your ally, you must hold one button to enact a kind of “spraying mode” and then another to actually begin spraying but also at the same time moving Trane to cover the spot. Plus if that wasn’t enough, you also are timed for additional rep for you to earn as well as your ability not to drip on your masterworks. This can actually all be accomplished for the most part through the trusty mouse but it is quite awkward to adjust to at first.
But who said spray paint was the only method for getting that message across? Later in the game you’ll be slapping up posters, stickers and the best part is that you can choose. If you prefer the spray over the paste then fiddle away in Trane’s Black Book, here you can select the style he’ll apply.
Well everything maybe nice and colourful but what’s the verdict for our delicate ear drums? I cannot find fault with the audio what-so-ever, both in all the sound effects from spraying paint, beating down a rival crew to the hollers of oppression. Then there’s the music, which fits beautifully in the background and brings the scenes alive. They can add desperation as well as a sense of retribution to the air and you can easily find yourself pumped up ready for the challenges. A slight caution for younger players, some tracks do contain their share of naughty, bad words.
Cussing aside, I couldn’t help but just love the unique menu for Getting Up either. A subway is the scene for the entire menu system and it’s a fantastic job which each level launched from the train itself.
 |
 |
|
| You decide Trane’s artistic flavours | Some friendly advice is always on hand |
Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure has great gameplay, great rhythm and an even greater story. I enjoyed this so much it’s all I could think about till I finished it, and I’m a player (since GTA) who must accomplish every little speck a game has to offer.
The legacy of Trane in New Radius looks set to continue in a sequel and if that’s true, it’s going to drive me crazy until I get my chance to “get up” once more!
MARC ECKO'S GETTING UP: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE VERDICT
Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure has great gameplay, great rhythm and an even greater story. I enjoyed this so much it’s all I could think about till I finished it, and I’m a player (since GTA) who must accomplish every little speck a game has to offer.The legacy of Trane in New Radius looks set to continue in a sequel and if that’s true, it’s going to drive me crazy until I get my chance to “get up” once more!
TOP GAME MOMENT
Hitting those sweet spots while casually leaping from tram to tram, avoiding the CCK choppers.
