Marc Eck?'s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure is a video game released in February 2006 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows. It was developed by The Collective and published by Atari, Inc. under license by Eck? Unltd. There were two editions of the game, one being a limited edition and the other being the normal release. The game was later re-published by Devolver Digital in December 2013 on Steam.
The game focuses on an amateur graffiti artist known as Trane who uses graffiti and tagging as a way to protest against the corrupt Dystopic city of New Radius, in a future world where freedom of expression is suppressed by a tyrannical, Orwellian city government. The "Contents Under Pressure" title refers to the warning found on most aerosol spray paint cans.
The gameplay is set up like a non-linear fighting game; the story progresses in a linear fashion, without the player needing to complete side missions, as in Grand Theft Auto III, but a certain amount of freedom and open-endedness is available to the player as they complete "Tag Wars" in the first part of the game.
The musical score for the game was produced by underground hip hop artist RJD2.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Development
Eck? has described the challenges of developing the game in interviews. These range from a missed Black Friday release date by saying "The code just wasn't ready.", to communicating his vision to the developers:
"The gaming community has a natural tendency to take anything cool and make it cartoonish. That was a big learning curve."
and the refusal of classification of the game in one market:
"I think it's demonization of graffiti, demonization of technology, the generational disconnect. I think video games are just a misunderstood medium."
On December 12, 2013 Devolver Digital re-released Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure onto Steam after acquiring the rights from the Atari Bankruptcy that year.
Plot
The story begins in the New Radius Slums, where Trane, against the will of his grandmother, runs away from home to establish himself as a Graffiti artist. His first goal was to set himself as a notorious graffiti artist within the New Radius slums. His exploits reveals the state of New Radius, as a result of Sung's attempts at Gentrification of the city to make it look prosperous. He has oppressed the lower class societies by eliminating the budget of liberal arts for more "prosperous" enterprises in the city, using the C.C.K to keep the slums and the city's seedy reputation suppressed through violence. Trane soon butts heads with the Vandals of New Radius led by Gabe who constantly paints over his works. Realizing he needs to make his crew well known, he successfully tags the city monorail which allows him to show his graffiti around New Radius in the face of both the C.C.K and the VaNR and then defeating Gabe in a Graffiti battle which forces an alliance between both Crews.
Soon enough though,Trane is incapacitated by Decoy who tells him about his father's past and how it all connects to Sung's rise to power and the anti-graffiti campaign was a smokescreen to prevent artists such as Decoy from revealing the truth about Sung paying Trane's father to assassinate a rival candidate and Decoy had been tagging posters with the phrase "9/06" which is the day when Sung ordered the murder of Trane's father to cover up his involvement. Taking his revolution to the next step Trane begins tagging upper New Radius, the pristine part of the city which Sung upheld as the bastion of progress. Amongst the tagging campaign however Gabe betrays Trane under the threat of being killed by Shanna, an assassin in the employ of the New Radius News who uses the recent events to make interesting news. This leads to Lower New Radius being attacked by C.C.K death squads and Decoy's death at the hands of New Radius News's assassination and lover Shanna, swearing revenge, he plans a smear campaign against Sung by planting flyers which incriminates Sung for his role in the murder of another candidate. Trane defeats Shanna (although she does not die as she is revealed to have survived the fall from the blimp as a helicopter was waiting for her). While the fight to overthrow Sung has ended, the fight for freedom is never finished for Trane as he continues his tagging campaigns to keep the city of New Radius always in question.
Characters
Still Free Crew (SFC) This is the protagonist's "crew" in the game. It was created after Trane saved Kry-1 from some VaNR crew members. Kry-1 actually had to talk Trane into making a crew and even came up with the name. The name, Still Free Crew, comes from the words "Still Free" on Trane's hooded jumper. The crew members are Trane, Kry-1, and later White Mike. Their base is located at the abandoned art school.
Vandals of New Radius (VaNR) The antagonist "crew" of the game. The members include Gabe, Dip, and Spleen. There are also many other nameless members that the player constantly encounters throughout the game. They worship the New Radius Stunners basketball team, particularly one player, #33:Van "Vandal" Dallister. Their base is in the abandoned section of the meat factory.
Government Officials
Graffiti Legends
Reception
Marc Eck?'s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure received average to positive reviews, scoring 69 out of 100 ("Mixed or average reviews") in Metacritic's average. It received positive press from a few outlets, scoring 87% in GamesMaster magazine, and 8.7 out of 10 on GameSpot. Common criticisms were related to the game's presentation, controls, and camera, although many outlets were impressed by the potential of the concept, and hopes for a more refined sequel. Edge magazine gave that title a 4/10 score and thought it ironic that the game was unpolished, given that it is "based on a culture of reputation, craftsmanship and leaving a mark". Official US PlayStation Magazine was disappointed that the game was "so damn serious" in comparison to Jet Set Radio, a title with a similar premise.
Penny Arcade criticized the game, calling it "God's punishment for an evil world."
In an interview in Metro New York, Marc Eck? was outspoken in his response to these critics, describing gamers as "the guys who got wedgies in high school" and "divas" with a "predisposition to have a bug up their ass for anything urban", who dismissed the game as riding on the coat-tails of Grand Theft Auto solely for having a black character on the cover. The reviewers, he says, are "slaves to the code" and not "slaves to the branding, products, or experience" as he would prefer, and they unfairly compare the game to better-received titles, such as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. He admits that the game was "not as precise as I would have liked to see", blaming the game's failures on system limitations "that people just can't understand", and that the title was "as polished as you can make it on a no-hard-drive console like the PS2".
Awards
- GameSpot's Best Licensed Music Award 2006
- Spike TVs 2006 VGA's Gamer's Choice-Breakthrough Performance award for Rosario Dawson
- Spike TVs 2005 VGA's Best Wireless Game award.
Sequel
On February 14, 2013, Eck? Unltd.'s official Twitter page has announced that there will be a sequel and that it is currently in development.
Soundtrack
The following are some of the confirmed songs for the game's soundtrack
- Talib Kweli and Rakim - "Getting Up Anthem: Part 1"
- The Notorious B.I.G. - "Who Shot Ya?" (Serj Tankian Remix)
- PackFM - "Click, Clack, and Spray"
- Pharoahe Monch - "Book of Judges"
- Fort Minor - "There They Go"
- Mobb Deep - "Shook Ones Part 2" "Shook Ones Part 1" and "Survival of the Fittest"
- Big Mama Thornton - "I Smell a Rat"
- Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song"
- Roots Manuva - "Too Cold", "Chin High" and "Chin High Megamix" (Remixed by Roots Manuva)
- Sixtoo - "Boxcutter Emporium Pt. 2"
- DJ Vadim - "Aural Prostitution"
- Liquid Liquid - "Cavern"
- Bohannon - "Save Their Souls"
- Glen Brown and King Tubby - "Version 78 Style"
- Eddie Kendricks - "My People Hold On"
- Grand Wizard Theodore - "Subway Theme"
- Bloc Party - "Helicopter"
- Polyrhythm Addicts - "Motion 2000"
- Del tha Funkee Homosapien - "Catch a Bad One"
- Eric B. & Rakim - "Follow the Leader"
- Nina Simone - "Sinner Man"
- Rhymefest - "Wanted"
- Thomas Rusiak - "Throne of Redemption"
- Kasabian - "Club Foot"
- DJ Nature - Dulces Theme (featuring Tek-One and Velcro)
- DJ Nature - Bomba's Theme Remix (featuring Tek-One and Velcro)
In August 2006 Marc Eck?'s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure won the MTV Video Music Award for best Video Game Soundtrack.
Marketing
Prior to the release of the official soundtrack, and the game itself, Marc Eck?, Talib Kweli, and DJ Exclusive put together an official mixtape to help promote the game.
Controversy in Australia
The Australian ABC News channel has reported that Getting Up was refused classification in Australia after its initial "MA15+" rating was overturned after appeals by Queensland's Local Government Association, effectively banning its release in the country. The Federal Classification Review Board, responsible for reviewing the game and concluding to refused classification of the game (under a majority 3 to 2 decision), cited that the game promotes, and provides instruction for illegal graffiti and real-life graffiti artists. Marc Eck? stated that he was extremely disappointed with this legal move. Other games heavily focusing around Graffiti, such as Jet Set Radio, have not been banned. Months earlier, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, a game centred around and glorifying illegal street racing, received a G rating. The full review board report, including case-by-case analysis of contentious material, may be found here: [1].
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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