Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure

Maxim Online

Luckily, the smooth controls guarantee that all you'll have to worry about is dribbling paint and bumbling cops.

AceGamez

Getting Up is like a breath of fresh air, never before seen in the games industry and implemented to a degree that should make it a must in any gamer's collection.

Cheat Code Central

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.

GameSpot

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.

Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)

A new concept in gaming that works brilliantly. We're already pining for a sequel. [GamesMaster]

TeamXbox

The story is engaging, the action is more than varied for this genre, and the gameplay does offer up something both solid and new. It may not hold up to repeated finishes, but at 20 levels, and at least 15 hours of gameplay, the experience is worth the price of admission for gamers looking for this type of fix.

Pelit (Finland)

A solid piece of action, but lacks the necessary ambition to be truly terrific. More inspired puzzles and a more engaging fighting mode would have been nice. [Mar 2006]

Xbox Solution

You may need to be open minded to enjoy it and the story is a little far fetched but interesting. Overall, not a bad game.

G4 TV

The game is more than the sum of its parts, offering a surprising amount of flexibility in how you accomplish your objectives, even if those objectives don’t change much from level to level, in a series of memorable environments.

Official Xbox Magazine

The perfect way to approach it is to shelf your hardcore gamer pride, download a walkthrough to get your through the annoying bits, and just wade into its rampant creativity with both eyes wide open. [Apr 2006, p.77]

GameSpy

Graffiti connoisseurs will love the real-life taggers that make cameos, as well as the actual art that Trane puts up. The game also features a fantastic soundtrack, as well as one of the most impressive collections of celebrity voices in recent memory.

Kombo

If you're a fan of graffiti art, or good music, this is a must buy. Just make sure you get the Collectors' Edition. Otherwise, rent it before you buy it.

GamerFeed

It could've used more in the two-player mode, as well as a customization feature, but it's still a game that clearly gets its message across, and doesn't hide behind an artistic license. Respect!

Computer and Video Games

It's this very quirkiness and unpredictability that makes Marc Ecko's Getting Up what it is - not like any game you've played before. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]

Jolt Online Gaming UK

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.

MS Xbox World

Getting Up could be described as "Jet Set Radio" without the cartoon flavour and minus the roller blades but maybe that’s going too far as really the only thing they have in common are the exploration element and graffiti.

Extreme Gamer

Getting Up has its shortcomings, most noticeably not giving enough creative control, and some awkward camera angles. Push those gripes aside and Marc Ecko's Getting Up is a valiant effort in bringing graffiti culture to the gaming community.

BonusStage

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

Game Chronicles

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 Xbox.

The New York Times

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.

GameCritics

Even if the game can't provide a consistent level of excellence, there are enough great parts to recommend the whole package, as hit-and-miss as it may be.

Gamer 2.0

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.

Game Informer

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]

Talk Xbox

Getting Up is incredibly easy. There are plenty of health power ups scattered throughout the game and I only died one time (due to a cheap move I didn’t expect) during the final boss fight.

Worth Playing

Unlike just about every other "street life" game that's come down the pike since GTA: San Andreas, Getting Up shows tremendous potential, contains gameplay that isn't mindless, and overall, doesn't go out of your way insult your intelligence with its premise.

1UP

The janky camera makes combat tough during crucial moments and makes things increasingly difficult when you're racing against the clock to lay down an aerosol tag. It makes you wonder if the game would have been better off in first-person view, but on the other hand, you would lose the immersion of being Trane.

Gamezilla!

Simply put, there just isn’t enough here.

Games Radar

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.

IGN

But I really wish there was some way to import my own art and paint that all over New Radius. That element alone would have given this game so much more substance.

Gamer's Hell

Clearing a derelict building of rival graffiti artists through seemingly relentless hand-to-hand battles and then spraying amusing taunts over their interrupted ‘work’ is strangely appealing, and to simply ‘get in’, ‘get up’, ‘get out’, and get away with it is always a perversely winning combination.

Game Over Online

Getting Up is a solid game, but not spectacular in any way outside of the tagging interface. It also does a lot of things well, but features a disturbing amount of product placement that takes you right out of the adventure while also needing some fine-tuning with its controls and camera.

ZTGameDomain

With all the small flaws aside Mark Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is certainly far from being unplayable, in fact the game excels at almost everything it sets out to do.

GameShark

While all of Getting Up's diverse elements are to varying degrees lacking, the game ultimately comes together as a moderately entertaining experience.

Stuff

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.

Console Gameworld

Features a fresh storyline and a great soundtrack along with excellent cut scenes. Unfortunately, Getting Up is also plagued by terrible gameplay.

Play Magazine

It has its moments but it's a bit buggy and surprisingly flat in the paint department. [Apr 2006, p.63]

eToychest

Hopefully, if a sequel is made, we’ll get more Prince of Persia and less Grand Theft Auto, or at least an amalgamation of the two that isn't so mind-numbingly dull.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

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.

Detroit Free Press

But while freedom and revolution are the game's overarching themes, the gameplay in "Getting Up" falls well short of those lofty ideals.

Gaming Age

The clumsy combat engine and the somewhat frustrating platforming elements keep Getting Up from being nothing more than an average video game.

Electronic Gaming Monthly

A bargain-bin throwaway dressed up like a million bucks. [Apr 2006, p.93]

RewiredMind

At times, things look great and play well, but this is all too rare. For the majority of your playing time, you’ll be doing the same things over and over again, whilst wandering through what’s fast becoming the stock set of urban environments.

GamePro

Frequent glitches and game engine freak-outs contribute to an overall less-than-mediocre graffiti/fighting/platforming hybrid.

Digital Entertainment News

If you like biting your controller and being frustrated at a game that freezes after you've failed to save it for 8 missions, it's for you.

Edge Magazine

The possibility of this all coming together in a more flexible and engaging manner is still a welcome one. But, for a game based on a culture of reputation, craftsmanship and leaving a mark, Getting Up is one that’ll pass by largely unnoticed. [Mar 2006, p.86]