Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure [PS2]

After a legion of games which claim to be "street," gamers are rightfully skeptical whenever a new title appears claiming to represent the art and culture of urban America. Getting Up is arguably the first true street game, with a pedigree to prove it. Thanks to heavy input from former tagger and fashion designer Mark Ecko, plus appearances by underground luminaries like Shepard Fairey (the lad responsible for plastering Andre the Giant's face in every urban center of the globe) there's an air of legitimacy missing in other titles.

But making a game about graffiti is as difficult as it sounds, and Getting Up, well, never really gets up. Despite loads of cool art and cameos, the gameplay is no different than a legion of other third-person action games, and the street art aspects feel superficial rather than integral.

The hero is Trane, a graf artist in repressive New Radius, where cops resolutely crack the skulls of vandals and rival gangs have to be impressed or evaded. Trane literally climbs up out of the depths of the city, and uncovering the conspiracy at the heart of the story requires a lot of acrobatic climbing, jumping, and exploration.

What Getting Up really becomes, then, is Prince of Persia with graffiti. That doesn't sound too bad, but sorely lacking are the challenge, refined control, and characters of Ubisoft's masterpiece.

The biggest crime in New Radius isn't the graf, but how easy it is to lay down. Dropping a marker tag is a pushbutton affair and the only problem when laying down a larger piece is keeping the spray from dripping. Trane earns rep points for successful tags, but every large piece goes only in a predetermined spot, which saps the thrill of finding a unique spot to decorate.

Several games have approached street art before. Jet Grind Radio got it partially right with controls that twisted the analog sticks; The Warriors recently offered something similar. A game built entirely around graffiti should further develop systems we've played before or offer something new. But the spray action here feels just like disarming a bomb in Splinter Cell or hacking into a computer in a dozen other games. This is the definition of playing it safe.

The only real challenge about laying down a tag is getting to the right spot. In each level Trane has to hit certain walls, trains, and other illegal canvasses. Many aren't exactly at ground level. That's where the acrobatics come in, and he's got all the skills of a Persian prince. Trane's intuition (available at the touch of a button) will show off most of the areas that can be tagged, and by climbing pipes, jumping from wall to wall, and balancing on ledges, players can eventually get to all of them.