Marc Ecko Presents Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
Score: 80% ESRB: Mature Publisher: Atari Developer: The Collective Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Platformer (3D)
Graphics & Sound: Marc Ecko Presents Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure takes the player to the back streets and alleyways of New Radius as a graffiti artist who has stumbled upon a government conspiracy. The dank and dark underbelly of the city is presented well. Everything from the dirty and graffiti-covered walls to litter-covered floors comes off nicely, but ultimately isn't anything impressive. Getting Up's character models are a bit hit-and-miss. Though your character, Trane, looks nice and everything from his paint-marked "Still Free" hoodie to his blue jeans is detailed, other characters (especially the enemy cleaners) quickly become cookie-cutter and very generic looking. The game's background music and sound effects are fairly bland and are quickly forgotten once the console is turned off, but the voice acting, on the other hand, is superb. Vocal talents like Talib Kweli (playing Trane), Andy Dick (Road Trip), Brittany Murphy (8-Mile) and Adam West are just a few of the name's that The Collective gathered for this title, and the characters' interactions with each other are anything but phoned-in.
Gameplay: Marc Ecko Presents Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure follows Trane, a street smart graf artist just starting out and looking for any way to get his name out on the streets (literally). Trane's personal mission to become the top graffiti artist, or All City King, starts off with a basic training mission that shows you how to tag walls, beat up rival gang members and other tasks that you will have to perform throughout the game. While marking the underbelly of New Radius with his tag, Trane discovers a sinister plot by the city's government. Now Trane's mission is not only to become the top graffiti artist, but to spread the word of the Mayor's plot. As you progress, Trane unlocks new types of graffiti art as well as new ways to paint the town. Trane eventually upgrades from his spray can to a roller, as well as stickers. As your paint equipment increases, the number of tags that you can paint also increases. The sheer variety of tags is nice and I always seemed to find something I felt was aesthetically pleasing for the location I was getting ready to mark.
Difficulty: The most difficult parts of Marc Ecko Presents Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure are the platforming actions that you have to undertake. Combat is fairly straightforward, and once you get the hang of the kicks and punches, you will be able to take down pretty much any enemy quickly. The platforming, on the other hand, takes some practice and patience. While the game boasts some basic, standard platforming elements like jumping from ledge to ledge or balancing your way to a new area, there are plenty of areas that you will have to attempt over and over again, refining your timing each time. Tasks like hanging off of trains and billboards end up being among the hardest goals, but thankfully, these hard-to-reach locations will net you a lot of respect on your climb to becoming All City King.
Game Mechanics: Marc Ecko Presents Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure had a few control issues. I never got really comfortable with the tagging controls. When you have found an area that you can paint on (either by using Trane's intuition or randomly trying walls and doors), you hold down the R1 button and then press the Square button. You can place the tag low, high or in the middle of the area in front of you by tapping the left analog stick (while still holding down the R1), and you select the graffiti tag you want to paint with the D-Pad (again, while still holding down the R1 button). By the end of each game-session, my right pointer-finger always hurt a bit from holding down that one button over and over again. Like I said, these controls got to be a bit of pain and I never quite got used to them. I always found myself hitting the wrong shoulder button or face button, making the experience a bit more frustrating than it could have been. Despite some of its control issues, Contents Under Pressure is still a solid game with a lot of potential and a fairly engaging story. Gamers with a strong platforming history will definitely want to check this title out.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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