Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure Critic Reviews

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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 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.