Graffiti isn't often something taken at face value by the general public, with the art form more likely to be seen as trashy or immature rather than an actual expression of creativity. This phenomena is what makes Getting Up's existence a little baffling. A high-budget, fully featured adventure game focusing around a street artist's rise from obscurity wasn't exactly tapping into any existing markets that video games often find themselves falling into. Either way, there's been almost nothing like GU, before or since, but uniqueness does not always equal quality.

The first thing any player's going to notice about the game is the sheer beauty of Getting Up. While the game is still visibly a 6th generation title, the console is pushed to it's absolute limits with remarkably detailed environments and impressive animation work. Every wall is plastered with others' street art, lighting effects such as cop car lightbars look exquisite, and the game truly 'enjoys' urban decay in a way that few games do. While most other titles would have levels set in abandoned buildings and grimy subway stations to simply avoid having to put too much personal detail on one level, Getting Up revels in the little things, finding beauty in the ugliness of long-forgotten school buildings and back-alley shortcuts. This is all complimented by a solid voice cast and an excellent soundtrack that blends rap with RnB and alternative rock seamlessly.

Unfortunately, Getting Up is a game too, and it's not a very well-playing one at that. The gameplay is split into three parts; parkour, stealth, and combat. Of all 3 aspects, parkour is the least offensive, being passable if stiff. Stealth feels incredibly underbaked, with vague indications of your undetected status and a stealth attack that seems to roll a die to determine if you actually commit your intended one-hit kill takedown or instead just standing up to commit a regular attack. It cannot be overstated how bad of an idea a two-button prompt for context-sensitive stealth kill is. Combat too, is stiff and underbaked, but also frustrating to boot. Enemies will often instantly interrupt attacks, knock you to the ground and continue to get in free hits while your character refuses to get up, and take a noticeably long to incapacitate. Add in a camera that often refuses to cooperate alongside inconsistent checkpointing, and I would honestly not blame anyone for turning on cheats.

It really is a shame that Getting Up has so many flaws, because nearly every aspect sans gameplay is both stylish and high quality. It's a further disappointment that the cultural time capsule of this game has passed, because a game like this is begging for a second-pass remake from a more competent developer.