Introduction:
Fashion mogul Marc Ecko is taking on the videogame industry with his graffiti inspired action game Getting Up. For half the price of one his T-Shirts you can get yourself a good few hours of hazardous tagging in Getting Up. Read on for more on Marc Ecko's Getting Up.

The Game:
Marc Ecko has been trying to drive the media pumping machine into overdrive with his latest venture which surprisingly strays out of the Fashion industry. Marc Ecko has also come out and publicly criticized the gaming community, and game reviewers. Although the internet is pretty riled up about his comments, the term "pissy gamers" hasn't helped. Marc Ecko is just expressing his outside views on industry he might not understand, everyone has a right to their options, and here are our thoughts on Getting Up.

Getting Up is focused around the underground culture of graffiti art. From the artists, to the pails of the urban city walls, Getting Up ventures into new ground as the first realistic urban graffiti game. You could compare Jet Set Radio to Getting Up since they share the same subject matter, but the way they are portrayed are two different worlds. Other games also feature "tagging" like the recent The Warriors title from Rockstar, but it's not the main focus like in Getting Up.

In Getting Up you put on the runners of novice graffiti writer Trane. Trane is an inspiring artist who wants to become one of the famous. Eventually, Trane falls into the role of the reluctant hero in a larger then life plot full of rival gangs and political corruption. Trane has some tough skin, and readies up for the challenge, now all he needs is an interested gamer to run him through the levels.

The Collective and Ecko have worked with a number of "graf writers" to get the proper realism into the game covering every aspect to real life lighting, handing the cans, and different techniques. In the game you will actually come across a host of real life g-artists who help to teach you in the ways of the spray. Each technique is collected in Trane's "black book" an essential part to any artist, not just graffiti. Painting is executed well in Getting Up, and you gain rep points rated on how fast you completed your piece, and if it's free or errors. For those interested here is a rundown of the graf celebs; Futura, Seen, Cope, Smith, Shepard Fairey and T-Kid.

Besides art, Getting Up features a well in doubt fighting engine. Trane comes to trading blows a fair amount in Getting Up and you'll need to know how to handle yourself in New Radius. Similar to beat em' up game you can kick, punch, grapple, and unload deadly combos. Slow motion, to power moves, it's all included. Getting Up goes for more of the Def Jam feel then the polished style of DOA. The fighting isn't as impressive as the already mentioned The Warriors, but it's good enough for button mashing madness.

The last element in the gameplay is platforming. Now, I'm not a platforming gamer at heart, but I've played my share. If Getting Up needed a tedious game section this is it. You'll be jumping and grabbing a fair amount, call him Prince of Radius. The camera is the biggest culprit in the platforming elements and this area could of used some more fine tuning.

Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents under pressure has moments of getting up and pressure that is for sure. I'm surprised how much this game was fulfilling. Even if you're not a huge fan of this type of culture, or into the illegal act of tagging, you still should give Getting Up a chance. Getting up has a reasonable amount of environments, clever situations you have to navigate around or punch your way through. The twenty missions should keep you busy for at least 20hrs, or 10 if you get bored. Getting Up is a quality game with an involving story that should keep action/adventure fans happy.

Graphics & Sound:
At the end of the Xbox generation, Getting Up holds up with excellent sound, and average graphics. As you can guess a strong point of Getting Up is the 'P-Diddy' hands on hopping soundtrack. The tracks are hooked up by a number of known hip hop stars including one of my old school favorites 'Del the Funky Homosapien'. Considering the subject matter this soundtrack helps brings the world alive, along with boosting your attitude during the game. What else more hip hop then graffiti?

Getting Up also employees a number of celebrate voice overs to deliver on the voice acting. Some of these stars are Brooklyn born rapper, Talib Kweli as Trane, P-Diddy, Michael Berrin, Brittany Murphy, Giovanni Ribisi, Adam West, Any Dick, and a list of other musicians and actors/actresses. It's an impressive list and it definitely helps having some experienced actors on board.

On strange aspect to Getting Up is that you can't design your own designs. A host of other games let you draw your own tags or logos and Getting Up would be the perfect game for supporting creativity, and design. They do give you a minor amount of creative control on the designs, but more would have been welcomed. Another flaw in the design of Getting Up is that it restricts you to certain areas where you can draw. A more free roaming approach would have been more interesting, restrictions are not cool, but unfortunately they are a reality in gaming.

Lowdown:
Overall, Marc Ecko's Getting Up is a fairly enjoyable game, and should keep your interest up for a while. 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.

Game: 8, Graphics/Sound: 8.5, Innovation: 6, Mojo: 8 Final: 8 / 10