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Good: Voice Acting, Soundtrack

Bad: Everything Else

If you like Graffiti: Watch Style Wars instead

Revolutionaries come in all shapes and forms. Thomas Payne was a journalist, Ghandi a barrister and Trane, the star of Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, he's a Graffiti artist.

The beginning of Getting Up finds Trane just trying to get his name out around New Radius, but after a run-in with a rival gang, the VaNRs, leads to the formation of his own crew Trane shifts his focus from the competition to the New Radius government, taking it upon himself to liberate the citizens through the power of his aerosol art form.

This is done by traveling through several New Radius cityscapes, tagging specific targets and defacing various government propaganda. The tagging element of the game is quite fuctional, allowing you to chose the size and design of the piece from the designs listed in your Blackbook. Once you've chosen one the left analog stick is used to apply the tag to the surface. Since lingering too long on a single spot will lead to paint smears continuous movement that ends up feeling like brush strokes is recommended.

Tagging is the best gameplay element of the game, mainly because the other three (stealth, combat and platforming) are broken.

During the platforming areas Getting Up feels like an urban Prince of Persia. Trane trightropes across scaffolding sidles awnings and even wall jumps to hit those hard to reach tags sites. Trying to make jumps with the game's floaty controls feels a lot like driving a bumper car-once you've propelled Trane in one direction trying to readjust or compensate is fairly difficult.

Another issue with the platform bits is the camera. Anytime you make a jump or reach a new area it shifts to position itself directly behind you. Moving during this time isn't a good idea because the direction your character goes depends on the location of the camera, making it possible to move in a completely different direction than desired. Unfortunately there are situations where time is a factor and you can't afford to wait for the camera to slowly readjust. The result is a blind leap-often leading to death.

Other times when an area is fortified with VaNR gang members or CCK (the New Radius police force) the game's stealth mechanic is employed. When this happens the goal is to sneak up behind your unsuspecting prey and bash them in the head with a spray can. This would work except for the fact that your enemies respawn constantly. Again, the camera is an issue. Often pivoting into solid objects, making it impossible to see the location of your victim.

If spotted (and you will be) hand-to-hand combat is the order of the day. The third leg of Getting Up's triple threat of frustration, combat is clunky, unresponsive and just plain cumbersome. There is no way to lock on to enemies and the game focuses on the person closest to you, not the person you're facing. There were countless times where I had an enemy on the ropes when, out of nowhere, Trane changed directions mid-combo and attacked some guy who was behind me, leaving me completely open to attacks from my first target. The combat system does score some points for adding moves as you progress through the game, but compared to the amount of frustration created by the controls, iffy lock-on feature and, again, the atrocious camera it's a moot point.

Aside from the maddening camera and gooey controls, there are flaws in Getting Up that should have been addressed after the first round of play testing. In one area I got stuck in a fence as I rounded a corner. Unable to get out no matter how furiously I pounded the buttons and cursed at the TV I was forced to restart. Another time, during a boss fight I threw my opponent through one of the game's solid walls, leaving me unable to attack him and sealing from re-entering the area. This also forced me to restart. In one of the game's stealth areas the spotlight effect for an enemy watchtower broke down. Determining the location of the beam was impossible-until I was riddled with bullets.

So with all this in mind, what's there to like about Getting Up? Well, the soundtrack's solid. Beat maker RJD2 creates several of the instrumental tracks while in the area of licensed music, Getting Up sees appearances by the RZA, Pharoah Monch, and Jane's Addiction among others. Voice acting is solid too, with Talib Kweli voicing Trane while Adam West, Giovanni Ribisi, Rosario Dawson and Charlie Murphy fill in the bit parts.

The best thing Getting Up has going for it is Ecko's creative vision. All the landscapes of New Radius are eerily similar to New York. Trane is a deep character that changes both physically and emotionally as the story progresses and something has to be said for an action game that's willing to commit to a story as slow-burning as this one. It's obvious that Ecko is a big fan of the Graffiti art form (the game features appearances and artwork by classic Graf artists) and that translates into the game completely.

Unfortunately for Mr. Ecko it takes more than a winning soundtrack, great vocal talent and a strong commitment to vision. A crappy action-platformer is a crappy action-platformer no matter how well it's dressed up with high production values.

Graphics: B

Sound: A-

First Play: D

Last Play: F

Gameplay: F

Overall: 48 % F