Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure Preview

Taking place in New Radius, you play a newbie graffiti artist, known as a toy, named Trane. New Radius is under the control of a corrupt Mayor and the CCK (Civil Conduct Keepers). With all the people of New Radius close minded and in check, graffiti artists enter the scene in hopes of freeing the citizens and exposing the Mayor.

Not only are the CCK out to stop you, but there are also rival gangs that will compete with you and your graffiti. The major goal of the game is to find a sweet spot, tag it, and escape before anyone catches on. The game will have you seeking some extreme tag locations, and that’s where the core gameplay comes in.

While there is some combat, Getting Up seems to focus on creating great art as well as accessing seemingly impossible locations using your surroundings. In the demo I played I had to tag a freeway overpass and various elevated signs, as well as walls here and there. By climbing poles, shimmying along ledges, and jumping gaps I was able to make my way to each tag location.

Trane has the innate ability to sense a good tag spot, so in the game you can make use of this sixth sense to find good places for your art. As you near a tag location, an outline of your upcoming paintjob shows up. Before actually spraying you can change the font and style of your tag. As you progress newer tags will become available, but for the demo I had about 5 different ones to choose from.

To begin painting you hold a button to aim, and then another to actually spray the paint. While holding these two buttons you fill the outline with paint, much like spraying a stencil. Holding the can in one spot for too long will deduct points, because you’ll get collections of paint that drip. Also, if you spray for too long you’ll have to shake up the can.

When facing opposition you have the choice to punch, kick, or use a weapon found on the ground. I even found that when holding R2 I could quickly switch to an inventory item, one just happened to be a long handled paint roller. In combat you can lock on to targets to help keep tabs on who you’re fighting as well as dodge roll. Combat is very fluid and neither hinders nor slows down the flow of the game. It’s not exceptional, but it also isn’t the entire point of the game.

Getting Up will feature 20 levels across 11 distinct areas, as well as graffiti designs from real graffiti artists. Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is set to release on the PS2 in September this year.

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