Enter, the game I am reviewing today, I gotta admit, I have no idea who Marc Ecko is, nor of what Ecko Unlimited is (probably because I am not american), and I pretty much didn’t recognize most of the star cast (outside Adam West), I am bad at recognizing voices, but to be fair, my knowledge of Hip-Hop is mostly non-existent. I had to rely on wikipedia for this info.
What got my attention on this game (back in the day), was something else, arguably, the thing that this game does best, the graffiti.
And, in my infinite wisdom, I decided to play the PC version, cause I remember it having better controls, not much trouble this time (besides the screen resolution I was stuck with), and one crash in the whole playthrough, I did miss not having access to save states.
Aight, I won’t keep you for longer, let’s get on with it, shall we?
Story and Setting
The story takes place in the city of New Radius, where the newly elected Mayor has been doing a little campaign of “city-development,” which consists on gentrification, as well as the deployment of military police all around the city, together with an entirely new surveillance network that would even make a londoner go “Oi mate, that a tinge too much, innit?” At the expense of pretty much everything else, but, don’t worry citizen, its all for your own good.
Our protagonist, Coltrane “Trane” Crowley, lives together with his grandma in the bad side of town, the side which the mayor doesn’t care about and lets his thugs do whatever.
Trane, has high aspirations you see, he wants to get his name out there with The Legends, to become the greatest graffiti artist New Radius has ever seen, yet, his grandma doesn’t want him to go with that life, not wanting to see her grandson be “taken by the streets,” the same way her own son was taken.
Still, Trane decides, to Get Up.
Trane, has high aspirations you see, he wants to get his name out there with The Legends, to become the greatest graffiti artist New Radius has ever seen, yet, his grandma doesn’t want him to go with that life, not wanting to see her grandson be “taken by the streets,” the same way her own son was taken.
Still, Trane decides, to Get Up.
But, it won’t be easy, he must first prove himself, prove he ain’t a toy, and not just get in trouble with the police, but deal with the many crews around New Radius, especially the VaNR (Vandals of New Radius).
Will you help Trane go big? Or, should he go home?
Will you help Trane go big? Or, should he go home?
Presentation
There isn’t much to say about the models, they were going for realistic with them, and of course, as its the nature of such things, they have aged quite badly, the same can be said about levels, with some showing some very blocky buildings in the distance (which actually reminded me of the city travel menu in Parasite Eve 1), although this is the objective assessment, personally, for the most part, I didn’t mind them too much, they look decent enough to get the point across, and they aren’t outright bad.
The pre-rendered cutscenes on the other hand, they look quite good, I’d say some of the best moments in the game, are in some of those cutscenes, I quite enjoyed the artistic cinematography they took with some, and the use of colors, my only criticism is on the editing, in which they decide to go for the disorienting jump cuts (in some, not in all, thankfully), which was the style at the time, even for movies, another thing, is that they are stuck at 4:3, if you think that’s a problem, I can completely understand people not liking them, but, I am biased towards artsy cinematography.
The music, uses a mix of original and licensed music, for the most part, even though rap and Hip-Hop (which is most of the soundtrack) aren’t my thing, I quite enjoyed it, I did like when some rock played every now and then, and some of the most memorable set pieces, include some piece of licensed music, for example, that part in the Tram mission in which Helicopter by Bloc Party plays, is SOOOO good, or the part in which you tag a moving train while Subway Surfing by Talib Kwei (the guy who voices Trane) and Rakim is playing, or… I won’t spoil anymore.
There are some product placements, like collecting Ipods as a way of unlocking music to listen to in the main menu, as well as Trane taking pictures using a Nokia 7710.
There are some product placements, like collecting Ipods as a way of unlocking music to listen to in the main menu, as well as Trane taking pictures using a Nokia 7710.
Voice acting, is all over the place, sure the actors do well enough, some of the musicians are decent, but, since they got actual graffiti artists to voice themselves, well, their bad voice work sticks out like a sore thumb, if anything, they are memorable in-game for the wrong reasons.
Finally, I was saving the best for last, truly the true stand out of this game has to be the graffiti, and, as I mentioned before, including pieces made by some quite renown artists, some of which come in and give advice to Trane, and, you can actually find their work as textures in game, which you seek out as little collectibles that you can later see in the gallery. But, it isn’t just The Legends (as the game calls them), Trane himself has some really good pieces, my personal favorites, being the ones in which he insults the other characters and the cops, they are just some nice little pieces of childish disrespected, I love them so much (not adding screenshots, don't wanna spoil them).
Finally, I was saving the best for last, truly the true stand out of this game has to be the graffiti, and, as I mentioned before, including pieces made by some quite renown artists, some of which come in and give advice to Trane, and, you can actually find their work as textures in game, which you seek out as little collectibles that you can later see in the gallery. But, it isn’t just The Legends (as the game calls them), Trane himself has some really good pieces, my personal favorites, being the ones in which he insults the other characters and the cops, they are just some nice little pieces of childish disrespected, I love them so much (not adding screenshots, don't wanna spoil them).
Mechanics
Lets go over the bad parts first, which in all honesty, are most of the mechanics in this game.
During the entirety of the game, you will be fighting all manner of enemies, from thugs, to thugs in uniform, assassins, and two hidden enemies out to get you, the camera, and Trane’s controls.
The combat, is bad and very unresponsive, although its technically a 2-button affair (not counting lock-on and dodge), it somehow manages to mess it up, you got one button for punch, one for kick, and you can hold either to use meter and finish the string with a heavy attack, it works, in theory that is, with some commands not registering, or some other nuances of combat getting in the way when you just want to do a simple attack.
During the entirety of the game, you will be fighting all manner of enemies, from thugs, to thugs in uniform, assassins, and two hidden enemies out to get you, the camera, and Trane’s controls.
The combat, is bad and very unresponsive, although its technically a 2-button affair (not counting lock-on and dodge), it somehow manages to mess it up, you got one button for punch, one for kick, and you can hold either to use meter and finish the string with a heavy attack, it works, in theory that is, with some commands not registering, or some other nuances of combat getting in the way when you just want to do a simple attack.
You see, there is an attack that is supposed to open the enemy for an humiliation move (which only serves to build meter), which requires you to press move towards the enemy and attack, because most enemies tend to back off, guess how many times you gonna use this move accidentally? Not only that, many late game enemies are immune to this move.
Then, there is the grapple, which is unreliable, but, its the best source of damage if you manage to stun lock an enemy into grapple strings, you first grab them, then wrestle a bit to see if you actually grab them, then hit punch to build meter (useless), kick to hit hard, or dodge to throw them, problem is, you can only land 3 hits before Trane lets go, but, to do the grapple, you must press punch and kick at the same time, many times, your commands will register later, and Trane will try to grapple when you don’t want him to… You get used to it.
Weapons… Are mostly useless, yeah they do good damage, but they always break too fast for them to actually be game changers.
Enemies are just too tanky, boss battles can become quite tedious.
Dodging, well, the geniuses decided for dodge to be the action and pick up button, guess how many times you gonna grab health you didn’t want to waste cause you needed to dodge? Oh, and the camera will try its hardest to make you dodge into an oncoming train, oncoming traffic, oncoming enemies, or down a ledge.
There are some other moves I was never able to figure out, so whatevs really.
Then, there is the stealth, which is tagged on really, you crouch sneak around enemies and cameras, problem comes, from the take down, which requires you to press punch and kick at the same time, due to the jank of the engine, most of the time you will do either instead of the take down, alerting the whole level of your presence in the process… Some of those enemies may call for backup, the restart option restarts the whole level, not returning to checkpoint…
Then, there is the grapple, which is unreliable, but, its the best source of damage if you manage to stun lock an enemy into grapple strings, you first grab them, then wrestle a bit to see if you actually grab them, then hit punch to build meter (useless), kick to hit hard, or dodge to throw them, problem is, you can only land 3 hits before Trane lets go, but, to do the grapple, you must press punch and kick at the same time, many times, your commands will register later, and Trane will try to grapple when you don’t want him to… You get used to it.
Weapons… Are mostly useless, yeah they do good damage, but they always break too fast for them to actually be game changers.
Enemies are just too tanky, boss battles can become quite tedious.
Dodging, well, the geniuses decided for dodge to be the action and pick up button, guess how many times you gonna grab health you didn’t want to waste cause you needed to dodge? Oh, and the camera will try its hardest to make you dodge into an oncoming train, oncoming traffic, oncoming enemies, or down a ledge.
There are some other moves I was never able to figure out, so whatevs really.
Then, there is the stealth, which is tagged on really, you crouch sneak around enemies and cameras, problem comes, from the take down, which requires you to press punch and kick at the same time, due to the jank of the engine, most of the time you will do either instead of the take down, alerting the whole level of your presence in the process… Some of those enemies may call for backup, the restart option restarts the whole level, not returning to checkpoint…
Then, there is the parkour, it is clunky to say the least, use direction keys to either move or rotate (depending on your position), then jump around, the problem comes from the camera, which will rarely help you out, most of the time, you will have to guess when and where to jump, as well as having to guess if there is an enemy patrolling around, god forbid you find a T-junction, and have fun finding out which direction the game and the camera have agreed as forwards or backwards. Oh yeah, Trane likes to automatically climb things, sometimes not wanting to look at the enemy currently attacking him.
Finally, the “good” part, which is the tagging, it isn’t too difficult really, essentially there are 3 types of “big” tags, Aerosol, Stencil, and Wheatpaste, each one has their own little nuances, what you need is to pick the perfect size for the surface, avoid placing too much paint/glue in the same spot too quickly, and do it fast, all for good score which means reputation, which means more unlockables.
Then there is freeform, which lets you do the same but with smaller more varied pieces, which you can do virtually everywhere.
You use “graffiti vision” to find good spots for tagging, and “freeform challenges,” obligatory spots are marked orange, optional are blue, and freeform challenges are a white X.
Finally, the “good” part, which is the tagging, it isn’t too difficult really, essentially there are 3 types of “big” tags, Aerosol, Stencil, and Wheatpaste, each one has their own little nuances, what you need is to pick the perfect size for the surface, avoid placing too much paint/glue in the same spot too quickly, and do it fast, all for good score which means reputation, which means more unlockables.
Then there is freeform, which lets you do the same but with smaller more varied pieces, which you can do virtually everywhere.
You use “graffiti vision” to find good spots for tagging, and “freeform challenges,” obligatory spots are marked orange, optional are blue, and freeform challenges are a white X.
Outside set pieces, most of the big ones are a similarish loop, freeform challenges, are quite varied, but for the most part is tag X amount under Y time, sometimes in Z locations.
The only problem is how limited the selection you can have at any given mission, there is a lot of graffiti to pick from, but you can only have 4 big pieces “equipped” at the same time for missions, for freeform, its 4 pieces per medium (sharpie, aerosol, stencil, etc.).
By the end of the game, I found freeform challenges so tedious I just didn’t do it anymore.
All of them suffer from the clunky controls mentioned in the parkour paragraph.
The only problem is how limited the selection you can have at any given mission, there is a lot of graffiti to pick from, but you can only have 4 big pieces “equipped” at the same time for missions, for freeform, its 4 pieces per medium (sharpie, aerosol, stencil, etc.).
By the end of the game, I found freeform challenges so tedious I just didn’t do it anymore.
All of them suffer from the clunky controls mentioned in the parkour paragraph.
Final thoughts
Despite my harsh criticism of the game in the mechanics section, I quite like this game.
I like the attitude, yes its your run-of-the-mill “down with the system!” And “Fight the Man!” Affair, but, I still find it fun, the game knows what it wants to do, and its very upfront with it.
Each time the game made me angry (read mechanics section) or annoyed (some missions are too long, same with time between checkpoints), it quickly got me back with some really cool set piece.
For the story, most of the stuff not involving Decoy, is pretty hit or miss, a lot of the plot is just there, and I’d say the real game starts when Trane gets in the sights of the Mayor and his cronies.
The music is really enjoyable, but there was quite a bit of repetition of some songs, which I can’t name cause I barely know Hip-Hop.
All in all, this game for sure is an acquired taste, but at the end of the day, I still found it quite enjoyable, warts and all. I have seen myself become more like Decoy as I grow older.
Although there has been talks of a possible sequel, and a movie, nothing of the such has had a follow-up, and, the time of cool media like this, is far behind the mainstream nowadays. They’d probably make some lame game with “isn’t this ironic,” kind of writing, if this was made today.
SFC Represent!
I like the attitude, yes its your run-of-the-mill “down with the system!” And “Fight the Man!” Affair, but, I still find it fun, the game knows what it wants to do, and its very upfront with it.
Each time the game made me angry (read mechanics section) or annoyed (some missions are too long, same with time between checkpoints), it quickly got me back with some really cool set piece.
For the story, most of the stuff not involving Decoy, is pretty hit or miss, a lot of the plot is just there, and I’d say the real game starts when Trane gets in the sights of the Mayor and his cronies.
The music is really enjoyable, but there was quite a bit of repetition of some songs, which I can’t name cause I barely know Hip-Hop.
All in all, this game for sure is an acquired taste, but at the end of the day, I still found it quite enjoyable, warts and all. I have seen myself become more like Decoy as I grow older.
Although there has been talks of a possible sequel, and a movie, nothing of the such has had a follow-up, and, the time of cool media like this, is far behind the mainstream nowadays. They’d probably make some lame game with “isn’t this ironic,” kind of writing, if this was made today.
SFC Represent!
Pros
- + Magnificent Graffiti Pieces.
- + Really Good Licensed Music.
- + Really Cool Set Pieces.
- + Oozing With Personality And Attitude.
Cons
- - Horrid Controls.
- - A Camera That Is Against You.
- - Unfocused Story For Most Of The Game.
- - Many Levels Overstay Their Welcome.
4
Gameplay
There is no way I can defend the many flaws this game has in this department, other than tagging big and cool pieces, everything else is a chore.
8
Graphics
Despite the dated 3D, the Graffiti is really good, and the game shows a lot of respect and admiration towards street art and its artists.
7
Story
Its very hit-or-miss, very dumb (at times) and unfocused, I'd say that the true stand out is everything involving Decoy, and the third act, although I really liked the message overall.
9
Sound
The Licensed Music is very good, the same can be said about the original score made by RJD2, the only negative is on the repetition of some of the pieces of both.
2
Replayability
The levels are either far too long, or very annoying, specially taking into account you WILL have to wrestle with both the controls and mechanics, just skip to the cool set pieces.
6
out of 10
Overall
The game is an acquired taste, you will have to put up with some really bad controls, and a very janky engine. But, if you are willing to look pass that, you are met with a very honest and sincere piece, which gives a lot of love to Street Art. The Story is hit-or-miss but it still holds a very true message which is alive today. The music is really good, which even me someone who doesn't like Hip-Hop enjoyed. And, finally, I cannot say this enough, the set pieces are very cool.
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