Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is a game I don't believe many hard-core gamers would pick up. Lets be honest, this game does not feature weapons, exploding grenades, or a rock-hard storyline to offer some crazy RPGing amongst your friends. However, lets also be honest that this game wasn't made for the typical gamer. This game is obviously aimed at a certain audience, an urban subculture of graffiti artists, and a great story of being somewhat of an underdog trying to rise up against a crowd that doesn't want you. Getting Up focuses on this culture. Better yet, it doesn't stick to the confines of a typical game.
Storyline
You star t off a nobody. Like moving to a new school you are fresh meat to everyone. But its choice, you can get beat down, or move your way to become significant. In this case, you play as Trane, a thriving graffiti artist trying to make his way up. You are a rebel in the city of New Radius which has become overburdened by the rising rates of graffiti, and "filth". As Trane, you are amibitous to become the top of the chain - you want to become a legend of graf. Battling his way through many obstacles such as rivals and the very opressive police force called the Civil Conduct Keepers (CCK). Its not easy defacing property when the "pigs" are watching. You travel around various parts of the city, in search for the best places to stick your tag for people to see and give you respect for. However its tough to gain respect because Trane often tags over other legend's and rival's marks, just asking for someone to give him trouble.
Overall the story is something very authentic. Playing the game I felt immersed in the world of a graf artist and it really gives a reason to understand the urban lifestyle. The story is not necessarily made up - most if not all of the artists featured in the game are real, and it is a huge tribute to them. This game allows you to play through a story that hasn't been done before. Its unique, and offers some new grounds for future games. As I've said, the story isn't typical save-the-world, its much more real and as a player of the game, you will be immersed.
Gameplay
The point of the game is to tag the city with your name. Either by using stickers, paint, posters, marker - anything that you can leave a mark with - you are free to put "Trane" anywhere you wish. Its simple, you select your tool and then press X. However, many times you will have an opportunity to paint a masterpiece, which is basically a large graffiti of your name. This requires more than then the simple press of a button - you must move the bottle of spraypaint up, down, left and right to completely fill your masterpiece remembering to avoid dripping paint or going over an allotted time for the most rep points. The game also features a unique fighting system that is based on varying moves. Much like your typical fighting game, you can do button combos to achieve different punches or kicks. You can even taunt your enemy when they are on the ground. Many times, you are in the reach of a blunt object - bats, wood from broken benches, among other things you could imagine would be laying around. I say the fighting system is definately unique for this type of game - executed greatly and is automatically a stronger point of the game. It also makes a statement about not using guns and making random acts of violence around the city. You are not able to weild or use a gun, just like you can't beat up random people (contrary to Grand Theft Auto-like style of violence).
While the fighting system is just as good as tagging the city of New Radius, I felt left hanging. For such a culturally-deep game, I felt that there should be more to the game as far as doing things. While the game is about being free, you are often not free to do much of anything but follow a loosely linear path of gameplay. "Tag this, do this, go here" gets a little boring after a while, even though there are attempts to counter this offering "freestyle challenges" here and there and having hidden areas where you can unlock new things for your character or a game feature. Freestyle challenges, such as "Tag this object as many times as you can", aren't too varying.
Graphics
Since this is a late-blooming original Xbox title I expected graphics that would be something worth-while and easy to look at. However I was disappointed at the outdated look of most of the game's areas. This game simply did nothing for me when it came to graphics. Unimpressive compared to earlier titles, and generally unimpressive for what the Xbox is capable of. While the graphics aren't a total eye-sore, they could have put more time in creating a more visually pleasing environment. The game is based in the city so there is a lot of environment to be seen and a lot of senses that could have been sparked but weren't. There was nothing special in the graphics of this game, in comparison to what we should be seeing at this point in time - even for an original Xbox game.
Audio
The audio in the game is rather good, at least the soundtrack is. I found the voice-acting to be a bit lame at times and quite average. The soundtrack was great, it complimented the feeling of the game and had some upbeat hip-hop tunes - I can't complain. The soundtrack adds a great layer of experience as you play the game. It features the great talents of hip-hop artists Talib Kweli, Mobb Deep, Pharoahe Monch, Del The Funky Homosapien, Eric B, and Rakim. Sound is always an important part of any game, and this game's tracks were pinpointed perfectly.
Replayability
As I said earlier the game progesses somewhat linearly, so its right to say that the game's replayability is limited. Although you are free to tag almost anything and do "freeform challenges" this game simply wasn't made to be played more times than you may have to. Further making a point, you aren't able to import or make your own tags to stick. This ability would have been great, and might have changed a lot of things for the game. Although this wasn't incorporated, lets hope they make room for it in a next-generation sequal. Another thing that I found was missing from the game is the ability to connect to Xbox Live. There is no feature to download content or even check your friends listing.
In Conclusion...
The game isn't terrible, but its nothing over the top fantastic. There are some points I felt that could have been improved or even ideas incorporated into the game. But putting that aside the game was fun to play. It was a unique look at an entire culture, and a unique way to play a game with a different approach. The game was made to approach an audience of the urban society and those who follow it. Graffiti isn't appealing to everyone, and I know most hard core gamers wouldn't bat an eye at this game simply because of its content. However the non-typical hard core gamer would certainly find this game fun to play as I did.
And the Scores...
Gameplay: 3
Graphics: 3Audio: 4Story: 4
Replayability: 2
Overall: 3/5
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