Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure Review (no fat)

Game Description

In Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, you control Trane, a teenager living in the chaotic city of New Radius, who wishes to become a renowned graffiti artist. To achieve his objectives, his hobby involves tagging every wall he can find, even if that involves clearing out others’ work and thus making a complete nuisance of himself to everybody. There’s also the fact that, with both corruption and oppression running loose in New Radius, it’s hard for a nobody like Trane to achieve fame without first encountering an array of vicious obstacles in the form of jealous rivals and obsessed police officers.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Gameplay

As Trane, you will explore the whole city while being on the look-out for appropriate walls to tag. To do so, you rely on your Intuition, which involves hitting the buttons to create vapors. These vapors, which exist in four different colors, will then guide you to your next location. It is then only a matter of cautiously following them until your target has been revealed. As such, you are able to roam about freely and jump on ledges to reach higher locations. Unfortunately, Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure suffers from a poor camera. This alone often suffices to render the exploration part rather frustrating.

Upon reaching your next target, you can choose from the graffiti styles you have so far and start spraying to rack up a handful of reputation points. While you start with a laughable number of styles under your belt, which is understandable given your rookie status, you nevertheless learn more as you progress through the game. Unfortunately, the inability to create your own styles is rather puzzling and definitely hurts the whole game. You can however make certain graffiti bigger, which results in more points. Since your reputation is determined by how many points you’ve managed to earn, it is primordial to come up with bigger graffiti as often as possible.

You can only tag in preset locations, which drastically limits the game’s replay value. Indeed, while you can freely explore New Radius, you aren’t actually allowed to draw your graffiti wherever you want. Thankfully, this is made up by the fact that you have several tools at your disposal. These include the mandatory aerosol can and even a marker for the more basic styles. You also need to complete your graffiti within a certain time span, or you will get paint all over your arms, which will hurt your reputation.

The inclusion of real-life graffiti aficionados is also impressive, and adds a glamorous touch to the game. You’ll meet them as you cruise the town, and can even get them to leave their prowess in your black book. The latter is actually a book that serves two purposes. You need it for practice so you can hone your emerging skills, you can also get your idols to add their creations to it. Moreover, the other artists are also here to help you, as they will give you valuable hints.

Your actions aren’t limited to merely tagging, as Trane regularly needs to fight against his opponents. You can thus punch and kick like any rebellious youngster, but can also pull more demanding moves such as a grapple and a life-saving block. Contents Under Pressure goes further by adding its own combo system where you can rapidly get rid of a vile cop. The combat system is made even more diverse by your ability to literally push your enemies into road traffic when you’re not just throwing them into pits.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure – Controls

While Contents Under Pressure uses a radically simply control scheme, the poor response times unfortunately hurt the game. You will thus find yourself mashing the buttons instead of actually taking the time to perform a combo. The same can be said about the various actions that often fail to be properly registered, and this rapidly gets annoying.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Visuals

The game has a realistic atmosphere with New Radius accurately portrayed as a gloomy city with superbly designed backgrounds and a clear animation. Trane and the other characters also benefit from accurate character models, and have a particularly striking hip-hop attitude around them. The graffiti was actually done by long-time artists, and this obviously shows throughout the game.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Sound

Trane is voiced by underground artist Talib Kweli, who does a splendid job in spite of the often weird script. The main highlight is assuredly the soundtrack, which consists of songs from experienced hip-hop artists such as Mobb Deep and Homosapien. With sich a track no surprise that Contents Under Pressure benefits from a fitting soundtrack that alone gives the game a gripping and unique atmosphere.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Overall

Contents Under Pressure benefits from unique ideas, but is however marred by its unresponsive controls and poor camera. There are several excellent elements throughout the game such as the presence of popular graffiti artists and the superb soundtrack. However, the lack of replay value and the frustration incurred by the poor execution of most features make Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure an average title.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Cost

The game currently retails for $49.99.

hich will hurt your reputation.

The inclusion of real-life graffiti aficionados is also impressive, and adds a glamorous touch to the game. You’ll meet them as you cruise the town, and can even get them to leave their prowess in your black book. The latter is actually a book that serves two purposes. You need it for practice so you can hone your emerging skills, you can also get your idols to add their creations to it. Moreover, the other artists are also here to help you, as they will give you valuable hints.

Your actions aren’t limited to merely tagging, as Trane regularly needs to fight against his opponents. You can thus punch and kick like any rebellious youngster, but can also pull more demanding moves such as a grapple and a life-saving block. Contents Under Pressure goes further by adding its own combo system where you can rapidly get rid of a vile cop. The combat system is made even more diverse by your ability to literally push your enemies into road traffic when you’re not just throwing them into pits.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure – Controls

While Contents Under Pressure uses a radically simply control scheme, the poor response times unfortunately hurt the game. You will thus find yourself mashing the buttons instead of actually taking the time to perform a combo. The same can be said about the various actions that often fail to be properly registered, and this rapidly gets annoying.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Visuals

The game has a realistic atmosphere with New Radius accurately portrayed as a gloomy city with superbly designed backgrounds and a clear animation. Trane and the other characters also benefit from accurate character models, and have a particularly striking hip-hop attitude around them. The graffiti was actually done by long-time artists, and this obviously shows throughout the game.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Sound

Trane is voiced by underground artist Talib Kweli, who does a splendid job in spite of the often weird script. The main highlight is assuredly the soundtrack, which consists of songs from experienced hip-hop artists such as Mobb Deep and Homosapien. It’s subsequently no surprise that Contents Under Pressure benefits from a fitting soundtrack that alone gives the game a gripping and unique atmosphere.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Overall

Contents Under Pressure benefits from unique ideas, but is however marred by its unresponsive controls and poor camera. There are several excellent elements throughout the game such as the presence of popular graffiti artists and the superb soundtrack. However, the lack of replay value and the frustration incurred by the poor execution of most features make Contents Under Pressure an average title.

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure - Cost

Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure currently retails for $49.99US.