Besides being a front-runner for 'most unnecessarily-wordy title', this game also might be up there under 'most impressive celebrity cast for its budget', but regardless, Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is a quintessential mid-2000s sixth-generation video game. It just has such a style and sensibility that feels like a time capsule of 2000s cool, from the fashion to the dialogue and the admittedly great soundtrack, featuring everything from Kasabian's 'Club Foot' to Nina Simone's 'Sinnerman'.
However, being a mid-2000s sixth-gen video game, it's also a relic of its time in less favourable ways: camera issues abound, half-baked mechanics that never really feel fulfilling and pacing issues with its campaign. It's not a bad game, however; far from it, it just has a lot of jank despite the charm of its premise and art direction.
Combat in particular is pretty lacklustre from start to finish, though the foundation they set up is decent enough as a combo-based button masher. However, when tougher enemies show up, it can be all to easy for them to trap you in a combo with not much of a window to escape it.
As said, the camera can also get stuck on geometry that can mess up combat at times, but more crucially, it can make platforming (especially in tight corridors) more of a slog than it needs to be.
The story and dialogue are... okay. Very much a product of their time in a lot of ways, with a corny 'tough-guy' protagonist, admittedly voiced pretty well by the great Talib Kweli, with a tone that's unsure at times if it wants to be serious and grandstanding or light and fun.
Honestly, the platforming and graffiti parts are really the best part of the game, which is good since that's what the majority of Getting Up is. However, there's not all that much variety mixed in and that can really start to become apparent with the game's pacing issues as the story drags on longer than it maybe should.
Still, its undeniably a fascinating and pretty fun romp from 2006 that stands as a testament to why the sixth-gen of games and consoles are still so cherished.
6/10
However, being a mid-2000s sixth-gen video game, it's also a relic of its time in less favourable ways: camera issues abound, half-baked mechanics that never really feel fulfilling and pacing issues with its campaign. It's not a bad game, however; far from it, it just has a lot of jank despite the charm of its premise and art direction.
Combat in particular is pretty lacklustre from start to finish, though the foundation they set up is decent enough as a combo-based button masher. However, when tougher enemies show up, it can be all to easy for them to trap you in a combo with not much of a window to escape it.
As said, the camera can also get stuck on geometry that can mess up combat at times, but more crucially, it can make platforming (especially in tight corridors) more of a slog than it needs to be.
The story and dialogue are... okay. Very much a product of their time in a lot of ways, with a corny 'tough-guy' protagonist, admittedly voiced pretty well by the great Talib Kweli, with a tone that's unsure at times if it wants to be serious and grandstanding or light and fun.
Honestly, the platforming and graffiti parts are really the best part of the game, which is good since that's what the majority of Getting Up is. However, there's not all that much variety mixed in and that can really start to become apparent with the game's pacing issues as the story drags on longer than it maybe should.
Still, its undeniably a fascinating and pretty fun romp from 2006 that stands as a testament to why the sixth-gen of games and consoles are still so cherished.
6/10