Customer Reviews

Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This game has been in the minds of gaf heads for some time now, and when the release date snuck up on me, I headed to EB on my lunch break to pick up a copy. I should have read the reviews first. IGN basically bashed it and gave it a very average review, other site gave it acclaim. The game is pretty straight forward, you are Trane, a "toy" graf artist inspiring to be a legend. Your rival are other bombers and the cops (and a special anti-grafitti task force). Even underground subway workers try to tek a oiece out of you. This brings me to the first problem; the game is oddly enough very combat heavy, which isn't a problem (hey, punks jump up to get beat down...) but it is a gripe if the controls suck. Or maybe suck is too harsh a word, lets just say when Trane jumps, it like he' s floating. It's unstable to say the least, and in a game with alot of jumping, climbing, and fighting, thats a no siree. But as wonky as it is (and you will never forgive it), you will adapt or better yet, accept it and move on to the games stronger points, which is sleek presentation, style and graf influence.
Yes, I've bombed before, Im not going to be a dumbass and tell you where, but I was young, into art, and heavily influenced by the colors and style. I still marvel at really great pieces, and have yet to fully grasp the ever evolving 3d nature of the current graf trend. It really is great art when done properly, I love it. Marc Ecko loves it too, and it shows. Unlike GTA where tagging was a mini game, Getting up covers all aspects. One reviewer was pissed that you could put up your own piece, but to me, that was a stupid gripe. How interactive do you want games to be? it would have been nice, but it also would have meant alot of extensive peripheral crap that I dont have i.e. eyetoy and such. So just enjoy the fact that you can pick the styles and colors in which Trane bombs his moniker 'Trane' and be done with it. later, stenciled letters and numbers can allow you to be creative and write your initials and birthdate. see? think outside the box dammit!
The story is quaint, powered by the voice talents of Talib Kwali and others. Rosario Dawson adds her pipes to a very sexy female character who goes out with Tranes rival, Gabe. Charlie Murphy is White Mike, and there are curse words abound, SO THIS ONE IS NOT FOR KIDDIES IN BOTH SUBJECT MATTER AND LANGUAGE. Let them learn about graffitti the hard way, but visiting central booking....wait, that's not right either.
Bottom line....IF YOU DONT ENJOY BOMBING OR DONT CARE ABOUT GRAFITTI ART, INFLUENCE, OR SUB-CULTURE, THIS GAME WILL BORE YOU. Even if you do, it will aggrivate you with the wonkiness of the controls. it's not that the layout is bad, Trane just feels like he's not grounded to wats around him. He david Blane levitates all over the damn place! The interface, and music (Diddy did something right for a change) is awesome. They literally put you in Tranes Tims. you see and experience what he does, and when you bomb a 'heaven spot' it feels cool. some challenges get repetitive or tedious, such as tagging a van eight times....isn't once enough? others require you to take pictures of the tags of legends in order to upgrade you own style, which is sorts nice. I dont know how else to stress the fact that if you dont like grafitti, walk past this one.
The method of tagging a big piece is kinda cool, when you get a drip, it really bugs you. Doing it could have been more precise, but the fact that you are timed helps. I cant see alot of people messing up though, unless they have absolutely no coordination, its easy is what Im trying to say. Graphically, I've seen better and worse. The tags are sweet, Trane's are colorful and vary in style. you can use marker, stencil, and stickers for throw-ups; and latter move on the rollers and wheat paste. Characters are blocky, and the environment is not GTA go wherever the hell you want to. Trane has specific objectives and spots that he MUST bomb. Of course, you can write on most (not all) walls, but it's pointless to do so unless they give you rep points for it. Still, it is funny to see 'trane' written all over the evironment, too bad you cant tag moving cars!

The concept of this game is asolutely great. Anyone living in New York who is keen on urban culture can tell you that graffiti is a lot more than merely painting walls. This game definitely embodies the graffiti vibe. However, despite it's innovative concept and fairly good graphics, the game is somewhat limited.

The graffiti featured in the game is very nice and realistic, but there aren't that many styles for you to choose from. You are also forced to choose a specific set of styles which you can use for a given level. The application of the graffiti isn't too realistic. You move the stick from side to side and the graffiti just slowly appears on the surface. You don't actually outline or fill anything in. You also can't put any piece of graffiti on any surface. You are only able to place the bigger, more colorful burners in certain areas. This really takes away from the game's realism.

There is also a good amount of hand to hand combat in the game. It's fun for a while, but there's really too much focus on it. if the game is about graffiti, the focus should be on the process of putting the graff up rather than getting to the spot where it will be put up.

This game is definitely worth a play just to experience it, it's a very creative game. I feel they could have executed it much better though. If they created a sand-box type mode where you can walk around the city and just paint, it would be great. Otherwise, you have to stick to a strict format. Keep this in mind when buying!

For those who are just getting into the world of graffiti, this is the game for you. Marc Ecko's Getting Up is an excellent mix of the Grand Theft Auto series with the legendary Style Wars movie. Not only does the player get to tag all over the city, but also fight the CCK on his way to becoming a graffiti Legend. Trane, the main character, is exceptionally voiced by the rapper Talib Kweli. This is not a run-of-the-mill generic graffiti game, mind you. With talented figures such as T-KID, Futura2000, COPE2, CES, and OBEY supplying their skills, among many others, this game knows what graffiti is all about.

Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari/PS2) attempts to bring to life one of Hip-Hop's most known and practiced elements. The art of tagging can be found from the streets of New York City to the farms of Iowa to the hills of Europe and Getting Up attempts to bring that to life. The game gives users the opportunity to travel around a fictitious city (similar to NYC) tagging surfaces, and fighting cats, meanwhile building a rep in the process. There are very few, if any, games with a similar premise and Atari definitely has taken "cyber tagging" to a new level with this game.

The story revolves around Trane, a young urban misfit who hopes to get a rep by tagging over rival crews pieces and whatever surface he can get his paint on. He lives in the oppressive futuristic city of New Radius and is ambitious about becoming a star graf artist, but there are a ton of obstacles to contend with. Rival tagging crews and fascist-like police officers called the Civil Conduct Keepers (CCK) are very much interested in stopping Trane and destroying his art. These obstacles are just miniscule parts of missions given for Trane to complete however. While fighting is important, the game is clearly centered on tagging. Each mission will have Trane completing a set number of graffiti-related objectives. The actual play mechanic for laying down your tags is easily picked up and you'll add new ways to apply tags as the game progresses. However, tagging anywhere just simply isn't an option. Even if you want to tag certain areas that look like they'd be perfect locations, the game will not allow you to do it. You'll be guided in your tagging quests by your intuition. In Trane's case, his intuition shows him the way to a sweet spot for putting up his tag.

As previously mentioned, obstacles such as the rival graffiti gangs and the CCK brings us to one of the most important game aspects into play: combat. Here you use punches, kicks and even some impromptu weapons such as paint cans, poles and the like. The combat system is not exactly on the level of say, Mortal Kombat, but it does have and punch combos, grabs, and power moves. The issue is that it seems like a lot of button mashing and senseless fighting. Also, the combat controls just aren't responsive enough to make the fighting really enjoyable. In fact it is almost reminiscent of old Nintendo controls, A, B, A, B.

On a positive note, Getting Up features a very difficult to rival soundtrack, story line and dialogue to accompany game play. However, while all of Getting Up's diverse elements come together as a moderately entertaining experience; it really could have used a bit more polish before it hit store shelves. If you are in to the graf culture then this is the game for you. However, if you're looking for an epic game that requires actual skill, then Getting Up is for toys.

GREAT GAME I USED TO PLAY BACK IN THE DAY , I CANT BELIEVE I FOUND IT ON AMAZON FOR CHEAP I LOVE IT

I had been waiting forever for this game. Obviously i had to get the special limited editiion. I liked all the collectible items such as the Development black book, the silver sharpie and the music cd. The game was really awesome, i liked the way you can switch the outlines and graff you do, and how you can change the colors of the graff you decide to put up in the in-game black book. Another cool part is that a lot of famous grafiti artists and rap artists that helped out in this game. Overall this game really reminded me of myself and made me want to go out and paint! It is also almost like an urban spider man with all the acrobatic moves and fighting you can do.

When I heard Marc Ecko was being involved in a video game I quickly thought this game was not going to be great I've liked the man's past work and clothing line but now he wants to do a videogame? naw. So I decided to give it a try and I have to say this game is really good, it went really past my expectations.

You are Trane and a graf artist and you want to get your name up and get respect. You might think the graffiti is all you do in the game but it is not it has an innovative combat system (if you liked The Warriors you're going to love this one), it has Prince of Persia inspired acrobatics as you try to get to "heaven spots" to get your name up.

As your progress through the game you unlock combo moves and you come across IPOD's laying around the city to unlock songs and the soundtrack to the game has to be one of the best out there featuring Talib Kweli, Pack FM, Jane's Addiction, Fort Minor, Rakim, Bloc Party, and many other great artists it even has Serj Tankian from System of a Down who contributed a remix of Notorious B.I.G.'s "Who Shot Ya?"

The game also has a stellar cast to do the voice acting such as Talib Kweli, Giovanni Ribisi, Charlie Murphy, Brittany Murphy, Andy Dick, and many more.

Overall the game is great it really went over my expectations that i had. Marc Ecko really contributed something great to this game and it's something different than many games out there. Seeing as it displays a Marc Ecko Games logo on the boxart it seems we could expect more great video games from this team and i can't wait.

For those of you who don't do graffiti like myself this is still an awesome game that everyone needs to check out. I bought it and i highly recommend it for the gameplay, the fighting techniques and the soundtrack adds an awesome dramatic elemnt to the game. The concept is so original and it's about time that an original game not based on some comic book or movie comes out. i respect what they are doing and recommend for anyone over the legal age- whatever that is for this game.

Incredible voice acting by Talib Kweli was the first thing i noticed about this addictive game. After gettin the hang of the fun combat system and tagging controls i could not put down the controller. New songs are continually opened up throughout the game from artists like Fort Minor and Rakim (which you can choose on your nifty Ipod that Trane carries). The game takes about 15 hours to complete the first time but requires another run through for most to get all of the secret unlockables which provide for a good long gaming experience. Overall a really solid game with a authentic hip-hop presentation that'll keep anyone busy for hours.

so far i have been blow away by the story that the game has to offer . the whole game is done amazingly well it has a max pane feeling it was really worth my money