As regular as clockwork, that time has come again where football fans the world over must make the call on which simulation of their favourite sport, FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer, to invest in. For the better part of this decade, the choice has been quite easy with Konami’s PES providing a far superior gameplay experience. But this year EA and their FIFA game have made some great improvements to their title that has rattled the faith of even the most hardened PES fanatic.
Gameplayer’s Editor-in Chief Chris Stead, a PES veteran, still fancies Konami’s effort despite the inroads made by FIFA. Official PlayStation Magazine Deputy Editor Mark Serrels is also a long-time PES player, but this year has found FIFA to be the game of choice. Why? Read on…
Chris Stead: I really wanted to like FIFA this year. I’ll happily admit being a huge fan of Pro Evolution Soccer and would have easily played more of that game in the last decade than any other… times ten. But Konami has treated their fans like shit of late. Last year’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is probably the worst in the series’ history. Yet I stuck with it. For all its glorious graphics, screens-worth of modes and licenses out the ying yang, FIFA’s gameplay speed just didn’t cut it. And in the end that’s all I truly want, to play soccer like the world’s best stars, not play like the world’s best star’s grandmothers. And while FIFA has again moved forward significantly from its 2008 iterations, it’s still second in the most important compartment - gameplay.
Mark Serrels: Any other year I would be agreeing with you, slapping you on the back with good grace, and inviting you for another ‘smashing old time on the Pro Evolution machine, old bean’. If this was 2007 you’d be right on the money – FIFA, despite looking like a million bucks dipped in honey and stuck over Scarlett Johansson’s buff naked body – didn’t really play to the same standard. This year, however, the worm has turned my friend – FIFA’s physics based animations, and awesome momentum system pushes it past Pro Evo into pole position, and without the gameplay edge, Pro Evo is lagging worse than it’s shitty online play…
Chris Stead: There is no doubt FIFA has tuned the animations nicely to provide a more free flowing experience than previous games. In particular I was impressed by the speed of the first-touch, and the physicality in the collisions. But PES has also sharpened its game sweetly. The frame-rate in particular – one of my biggest frustrations with last year’s iteration – is now far smoother which merely acts to enhance the already blistering pace of the gameplay. And characters look less like sprites, and have a more organic feel about them which gives the action an authentic feel, even if by comparison to FIFA it’s visually more like vegemite gunked on Sigourney Weaver’s gut than you’re prick-tickling imagery.
