Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure

Getting up will take a few days to complete but once your job is done it's time to move on. While I highly recommend playing this game, I also highly recommend renting it as you're not likely to want to paint over old territory.

The end result is an interesting and often-exciting adventure that should be appealing to most action-game fans, but will probably hold extra appeal if you're at all interested in graffiti and the culture surrounding it.

With high production values, good attention to detail and well executed gameplay, it should appeal both to fans of action-platform games like Prince of Persia and people who actually know who Marc Ecko is.

The metaphors and subtext that lay underneath every step you take resonated volumes with me personally.

And even though the game is a bit light in its scope, the treatment of the subject is handled with as much attention to detail as you can possibly imagine, and with a stellar cast of voice actors and a music selection to set the mood, Contents Under Pressure is just waiting to explode on your PC.

The actual painting isn't that interesting — you just hold down a trigger and push a button while moving Trane around — but it is fun to see some of the fancier artworks.

A mediocre action-adventure with an excellent sense of style. If you love hip-hop and spray-paint, you should be playing this game, otherwise, this game is best left on the shelf.

Stylish street art, but lacks substance. [Apr 2006, p.90]

As it stands, Getting Up is a game I like more for its potential than its execution, and that's a shame [Apr 2006, p.114]

By enlisting graffiti legends such as Futura and Shepard Fairey and hip-hop artists like P. Diddy and Talib Kweli, Getting Up presents itself as an immersive experience for those new to graffiti culture. This is where Getting Up shines: It is a game that can provide what no other game has before (no, we won't compare it to "Jet Set Radio").

I appreciate what this game is trying to do. Unfortunately, it can’t quite get the fundamental controls to work well enough.

Game play is like "Jet Grind Radio," minus the roller skates. Worse still, the game's camera wheels around like Flava Flav after quaffing too much Dom P.

As it is, "Getting Up" has some fun and holds a few surprises but may not be everyone's cup of tea.

It's a surprisingly entertaining, well-designed game that stays interesting from start to finish, and if nothing else it'll give you a whole new perspective on those rat bastards who keep tagging your house.

Taken purely as a game, Getting Up works. But whoa, its message is a mess. [May 2006, p.49]

Ever try tagging a moving subway train while dodging obstacles overhead and on the side, all while searching in vain for the designated spot? Not easy.

It's designed for console, so the mouse and keyboard controls are horrendous and the disparate gameplay elements don't add up to a whole hill of black-eyed beans.

Deserves to be banned over here as well. This is wack, even for toys. [Apr 2006, p.91]

I wanted to like Getting Up, but flawed game mechanics and a hip-flop plot send this Trane off its tracks. [May 2006, p.98]