E3 2005: Level Up
Eutechnyx revs up Ford Vs. Chevy
Product: Ford Vs. Chevy
Company: Eutechnyx
Date: 05/28/2005
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Of all the rivalries between vehicle manufacturers, there is none deeper than that between Ford and Chevy. Eutechnyx brings this out with the PS2 and Xbox versions of Ford versus Chevy, a racing simulation that pits the two vehicle manufacturers against each other. In the game, you can choose from several different models from each of the car manufacturers, from the modern, sleek versions, to the old muscle cars.

The game features 50 Ford and Chevy vehicles, both classic and contemporary. Each of these vehicles is fully upgradeable, and is rendered with full and realistic damage modeling. To upgrade your car, you can choose from over 20 parts manufacturers, and with over 150 different parts to turn your vehicle into an awesome racing machine. Also, as your car takes damage, the realistic damage modeling causes your car to lose it?s top speed and accelerates more slowly.

Multiplayer functions include a 2 player split screen mode, as well as Xbox Live and PS2 online play, with support for voice. Venues include city driving missions, freeway races, and a competition mode, which has circuit, point to point, quarter-mile drag racing, time trial and slalom modes. Ford versus Chevy also includes a Teamplay Racing mode, which allows you to control the AI drivers on your team.

Ford versus Chevy has all the makings of a good racer ? it has fair graphics, good physics, and pretty fair crash dynamics. The game seems to be put together well on the outside, but when I played the game, it seemed to be a bit sluggish. From a dead stop, it took almost ten seconds for me to bring my Ford Mustang up to 60 miles per hour, which completely wouldn?t do in real life. There are also a few control issues in the game, such as the fact that steering from left to right seems a bit jerky at times. This, however, could be because of my lack of dexterity in some racing games, and not a fault of the developers. Also, of course, I was playing an early version of the game and this must be taken into consideration when playing games at E3.

If those few problems are fixed, Ford versus Chevy could turn out to be a really excellent racing sim. With the Ford and Chevy names behind it, the game could get a good amount of attention in the racing world. Expect to see Ford Vs. Chevy hit the shelves in October of 2005.

Z64freak aka Bret Hall

GameVortex PSIllustrated TeamPS2