Mark Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Yup, that's the full name of the game) is a venture into the gaming world by designer, artist and entrepreneur, Mark Ecko. One could expect that based on the man behind that game that we might see a title which is chocked full of advertisements for his own product, needless shots which show off style and lack any sense of what a game should be. However, early preview builds helped squash those thoughts and gamers were looking to be treated with a title that actually had more in common with decent gameplay than we could have expected, and the final product stuck to those previews.

You play the game as Trane, a graffiti artist who starts the game out trying to get his own neighborhood back into the right hands by eliminating the tags from a gang of artists. As the game moves forward though, soon the enemies that you are trying to fight back against actually turn out to be on the same side as you, rebelling against a freedom stifling government that rules the city with an iron fist. Cameras watch citizens at all times, the quick to attack police force called the CCK patrol the streets with a vengeance that makes the relentless pursuit by the bees in 720 pale in comparison.

Gameplay:

As a rookie artist or "toy" as they are called, you are limited in the number and variety of tags you can leave and are limited to slapping stickers and performing some low level signature signing. As you progress through the game and manage to leave your mark on predetermined locations throughout each section of the 11 missions, you unlock new more complex tags and methods for leaving your mark around town. Your tags are graded on a few factors which create a score which applies to your rank in the tagging world, as well as goes towards the items and additional content you unlock in the game.

There are three main aspects to this title: stealth, fighting and the act of leaving your tag around the city. The stealth while interesting, suffers greatly from a somewhat faulty camera which will lead to you being spotted and sub-sequentially beat down more often than you'd like. The camera also comes into play during fight sequences; again more often than not it is not to your advantage. The fighting mechanics here will feel very familiar if you've played the other games by The Collective, specifically Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each face button is mapped to a different action, be it evade, kick or punch; and not limited to simple kick/punch combos you can unlock additional move like the Insult Kick which stuns your opponent opening them up to a huge haymaker. The game doesn't simply limit you to using your hands and fists, as there is an abundance of items scattered around that you can use as a weapon, be it an empty paint can or a basketball you find lying around the schoolyard. The fighting does seem slightly muddy however with response times to button presses sometimes seeming completely non-existent. When I say I want to kick, I want to kick now not three seconds after a sequence of button presses.

One thing that I felt was done very well here was the actual act of painting your tag around the maps. Rather than a simple button press like Jet Set Radio Future, and staying away from a complex series of button presses or a Simon Says mimicking side game, the game player was in control of the painting process. When using your spray can to do a large mural, you had to use the right analog stick to cover the outlined area in a timely manner. However being quick doesn't always get the job done, you have to ensure that you stop to shake the can to prevent nozzle clogs and don't stay in one spot too long to prevent drips. While it may sound somewhat complicated it's actually quite intuitive and as a result both easy and satisfying to hit a spot up on a billboard with a mural that took over 1 minute of game time to paint.

As a whole though, the game loses some of its magic as the things get fairly repetitive and hunting for all your missing tags can make things move along fairly slowly. While the fighting, stealth and painting segments help break the monotony it's the sheer repetition of the combination of the three that degrades what starts out as a very cool game down to just a cool game.

Graphics:

Getting Up:CUP is a game that relies heavily on style to help immerse the gamer, whether it is the black hoodie that Trane wears to the artwork that you roll, paint or paste onto almost any surface that you can find. Characters who rely on tagging are almost all decked out in great looking clothing that helps set the tone that they are in fact trying to establish an identity for themselves in this Orwellian city, while the police force are a clone army looking group who fit into the conformity of authority.

The graffiti that you perform in the game is very nicely drawn; as you progress through the game you can unlock more detailed and intricate pieces of art. While the mechanic for drawing them in-game is simple, seeing how detailed some of them are makes you appreciate the effort the game artists put into creating unique and authentic tags.

Animations are a mixed bag depending on the scenario you're in. Fighting animations are a little clunky, yet familiar to the fighting in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the painting/acrobatic animations are quite nicely done. Seeing Trane jump from a pipe to a train overpass and back again so smoothly is quite satisfying, even if it's a little unrealistic.

Audio:

When you manage to score the high profile P. Diddy to supervise the music in your game, things should be fairly safe right? Featuring a ton of hip-hop artists and some alternative thrown in for good measure, the music in Getting Up really comes through and shines in what turns out to be a hit and miss audio section.

Voice acting is really subject to a low hit to miss ratio, with the misses coming out slightly ahead of the hits. Trane's character is voiced by rapper Talib Kweli is the high point of the game while other voice work seems to drop off from his character, while the likes of Andy Dick, Adam West and a slew of others seemingly phoning in their voices. I think some of the problem was the game trying t establish street cred by using the slang and language of the tagging world to force the player more into the realm. While I understand the reason for this, it seemed a little too forced.

Sound effects are decent throughout the title with punches and kicks landing solid hits, and the spray and rattle of a paint can sounding quite close to home, especially as it starts to clog.

Conclusion:

Upon starting the game, I was greeted with some great opening cinema sequences and great art direction which gave me a fair amount of hope. Even playing through the first few levels kept my hopes up and my dreams alive with a nice mix of gameplay styles. But as I made it further and further in the game, even the change in story tone couldn't help change the fact that I was essentially doing the same thing level after level.

While a good game, there definitely are some bugs that surfaced as playing. One level in particular I hit a very nasty bug which left me no option other than to restart the mission, thus losing my progress for that level. I was on a raised walkway and I jumped over to hang on the railing, and while moving down the rail I entered the shadows, but never stopped when I hit the wall. I couldn't move back to where I needed to be because I crossed that first wall and it only now decided to prevent my movement, so there I was stuck in the ether - so I jumped. Instead of falling to a floor I floated and could not die. While this was a bad bug in my opinion, it only happened once and I was able to avoid doing the same thing on my second time through that spot.

As briefly alluded to, this game had the potential to pack in more in game advertising and media propaganda as we could have ever seen in a video game. Thankfully The Collective and I are assuming Mr. Ecko himself stayed away from a deluge of unnecessary advertising, and for this I applaud them. I'm going to have to suggest that you rent this game to try it out before taking the plunge. I will say though that this is very deserving of a trial even with its shortcomings, so please head on out and give it a shot. Without support for games which are original, we'll forever be stuck with a severe case of sequelitis with no evolution or innovation in video game industry.