Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure

I went in half-expecting a forgotten licensed curiosity and came out genuinely impressed by how much personality is packed into every level. Getting Up casts you as Trane, an amateur tagger in the dystopian city of New Radius, where Mayor Sung's CCK police force treats a spray-can like a weapon of mass destruction. The premise sounds thin, but the game commits to it completely, and that earnestness carries you through its rougher edges. The core loop pulls from three directions at once: parkour traversal, brawler combat, and graffiti tagging. The traversal is the strongest leg of that stool. Climbing pipes, ledges, and bridge supports feels genuinely satisfying, with urban architecture reconfigured into vertical obstacle courses that reward exploration. Each level has primary walls you must hit to progress, secondary spots that earn rep points, and timed freeform challenges like bombing a roll-up door with marker tags before the clock runs out. The intuition mode, which briefly marks targets on screen, keeps pacing tight without holding your hand for too long. The tagging mechanic itself is tactile: you hold a button and move the stick to lay paint, with different tools like rollers, stencils, and wheat-paste adding variety. Linger too long in one spot and the paint drips. It is a small thing, but it grounds the fantasy. Combat is where the game stumbles. The brawler sections are functional but rarely exciting, and critics at the time noted that more inspired encounters would have lifted the whole package. The camera can work against you during climbing sequences, and the PC port carries some console-conversion baggage: limited graphics options, compressed audio tracks, and missing weather effects compared to the Xbox original. The Steam re-release by Devolver Digital added widescreen support and modern compatibility fixes, so it runs, but a wired gamepad is strongly recommended since the controls were clearly designed around analog sticks. Keyboard and mouse work in a pinch, but you will feel the friction. What saves Getting Up from being a footnote is its culture. The musical score, produced by hip-hop artist RJD2, ties the atmosphere together, and the art direction involves real graffiti artists whose work fills the walls of New Radius. The story swings between genuine conspiracy thriller and mid-2000s action-movie excess, hitting some awkward notes along the way, but the enthusiasm behind it is impossible to dismiss. Trane's arc from street-level toy to reluctant revolutionary is told with a conviction that keeps the 13-to-15-hour campaign moving. If you grew up with Jet Set Radio and want something more grounded, or if you just want a third-person action game that does one very specific thing with real commitment, this delivers. Manage expectations on the combat, grab a controller, and lean into the world.

Alex · Scout Team

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