Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
The only thing that's getting up is my effin' blood pressure.
Published: February 27, 2006
My first real experience with graffiti as art was seeing massive tag that were almost murals along some of the industrial parts of downtown Seattle that I could see as the buses headed into the underground tunnel system. Even then, I could see that there was something of a respect system in place, though I never really knew how far-reaching it was; the bigger, more impressive pieces of art were never tagged over, and though I've no doubt they're probably gone now, even the property owners that painted over everything else left the striking image of a kid with two spray cans, fingers poised at the ready, all but untouched because it was, honestly, art.
Years later, while working in gaming PR, I was introduced to While You Were Sleeping Magazine out of New York, which featured quite a few pages every month dedicated to simple, full page shots of tagged walls. It was just confirmation of what I assumed myself as I looked out those bus windows: graffiti is art. The culture that surrounds it all is fascinating, and perhaps that's why I found Getting Up's premise so damned compelling. Unfortunately, the game tries its hardest to destroy all that.
It's a shame, really; Getting Up is the first game I've run across that actually nails the whole "urban" theme that seems force-fed and ham-fistedly injected into so many games of late that didn't need or could accept it. The vision of New Radius is New York, just brought under the hand of an Orwellian police state, with just a hint of dystopian and cyberpunk themes, and it's here that the game is strongest. The hero Trane's journey from simple kid trying to make a name for himself to fighting the system through artistic impression is admirable. The game is given enough time to thicken up the world, but sadly just as things start to get interesting, it all begins to fall apart.
Developers The Collective are clearly fans of Prince of Persia, so much so that Trane's moveset is heavily borrowed from the prince; he shimmies along ledges, climbs pipes, pulls walljumps and teeters along beams in an effort to find the perfect (pre-selected) spot to throw a tag up where all can see it.
Actually tagging is done fairly simply; when you hold R1, an outline appears on the proper surface, and with a few presses of the d-pad, the size and design can be selected from Trane's black book, his portfolio of pieces that you can build before you head into a mission. Pressing Square (and later Triangle for a faster but riskier layer of paint) while moving the left analog stick, you essentially just fill in the outline. This goes for tags, rolled pieces, stickers and markers, though the latter two are as easy as just pressing a button.
The more complex pieces are judged on whether or not they can get completed within a time window, have any drips (which appear if the movements while throwing things up aren't smooth or if there are too many pauses in a particular place), are big enough (as space allows), and in some cases, are placed in "heaven spots" that require more complex acrobatics to reach.
All of these factors give you respect, which in turn unlocks new moves, concept art and movies. Finishing off bosses will unlock them in the two-player fighting mode that's included in the game, but then finishing off any enemies -- much less bosses -- is where the game hits the biggest (but certainly not only snag). The combat, frankly, is busted, and while moves are unlocked as you progress through the game, that actual combatants become so controller-throwingly frustrating that it defeats the purpose of having combat at all.
At first, things start off simple. L1 allows you to block, tapping Square punches and Triangle will make Trane kick. Since enemies can block too, holding down either button at the tail end of a three-hit combo will unleash a super move that breaks through any block. It also consumes a chunk of the super meter, which must be refilled with standard attacks.
The three-hit combos are the game's fatal flaw, though. Because you have to at least pull off two full attacks to launch into a block-breaking move, you're left open for two hits, and about halfway through the game, enemies happily begin interrupting your moves, canceling out the progress you made towards blocking their blows before launching into a combo you can't stop and then ganging up and taking turns jumping on your face when you're down. This forces the game into stealth missions, but even stealth kills can become pointless because enemies will just respawn.
Years later, while working in gaming PR, I was introduced to While You Were Sleeping Magazine out of New York, which featured quite a few pages every month dedicated to simple, full page shots of tagged walls. It was just confirmation of what I assumed myself as I looked out those bus windows: graffiti is art. The culture that surrounds it all is fascinating, and perhaps that's why I found Getting Up's premise so damned compelling. Unfortunately, the game tries its hardest to destroy all that.
It's a shame, really; Getting Up is the first game I've run across that actually nails the whole "urban" theme that seems force-fed and ham-fistedly injected into so many games of late that didn't need or could accept it. The vision of New Radius is New York, just brought under the hand of an Orwellian police state, with just a hint of dystopian and cyberpunk themes, and it's here that the game is strongest. The hero Trane's journey from simple kid trying to make a name for himself to fighting the system through artistic impression is admirable. The game is given enough time to thicken up the world, but sadly just as things start to get interesting, it all begins to fall apart.
Developers The Collective are clearly fans of Prince of Persia, so much so that Trane's moveset is heavily borrowed from the prince; he shimmies along ledges, climbs pipes, pulls walljumps and teeters along beams in an effort to find the perfect (pre-selected) spot to throw a tag up where all can see it.
Actually tagging is done fairly simply; when you hold R1, an outline appears on the proper surface, and with a few presses of the d-pad, the size and design can be selected from Trane's black book, his portfolio of pieces that you can build before you head into a mission. Pressing Square (and later Triangle for a faster but riskier layer of paint) while moving the left analog stick, you essentially just fill in the outline. This goes for tags, rolled pieces, stickers and markers, though the latter two are as easy as just pressing a button.
The more complex pieces are judged on whether or not they can get completed within a time window, have any drips (which appear if the movements while throwing things up aren't smooth or if there are too many pauses in a particular place), are big enough (as space allows), and in some cases, are placed in "heaven spots" that require more complex acrobatics to reach.
All of these factors give you respect, which in turn unlocks new moves, concept art and movies. Finishing off bosses will unlock them in the two-player fighting mode that's included in the game, but then finishing off any enemies -- much less bosses -- is where the game hits the biggest (but certainly not only snag). The combat, frankly, is busted, and while moves are unlocked as you progress through the game, that actual combatants become so controller-throwingly frustrating that it defeats the purpose of having combat at all.
At first, things start off simple. L1 allows you to block, tapping Square punches and Triangle will make Trane kick. Since enemies can block too, holding down either button at the tail end of a three-hit combo will unleash a super move that breaks through any block. It also consumes a chunk of the super meter, which must be refilled with standard attacks.
The three-hit combos are the game's fatal flaw, though. Because you have to at least pull off two full attacks to launch into a block-breaking move, you're left open for two hits, and about halfway through the game, enemies happily begin interrupting your moves, canceling out the progress you made towards blocking their blows before launching into a combo you can't stop and then ganging up and taking turns jumping on your face when you're down. This forces the game into stealth missions, but even stealth kills can become pointless because enemies will just respawn.
