At the very basic level you can adjust in-game how far up the pitch your defensive line ventures from the goalkeeper. PES, on the other hand, allows you to really get your Guardiola on. While FIFA’s computer-controlled players have a decent tactical awareness, blocking off passing lanes and covering runners, its scope for strategic tinkering is pretty limited, with little more than a few pre-set game plans and nebulous strategic sliders available. There’s also the dynamic weather, which means it can start raining or dry up during a game rather than being the same from the first whistle to the last. It helps with collisions too, as does the fact that referees tend to be more lenient than an internal FIFA disciplinary investigation, so sliding tackles often have a hugely satisfying crunch. The Agueros and Neymars of the game skip and glide across the turf, gently nudging the ball this way and that to keep it just out of reach of the opposition. It’s time consuming (once you’ve uploaded the image files you have to manually assign each one) but the end result comes pretty close to matching that Sky Sports sheen that FIFA fans have always lauded over their rivals.
Console owners can now download patches to update all Pro Evo’s invented kits and badges. Some argue it never has (it did and does). The ‘English League’ continues to be contested by North London and West Glamorgan.īayern, Wolfsburg and Borussia Monchengladbach aside, the entire Bundesliga is absent, and the less said about the Championship the better.īut none of that matters anymore.
Gone are the days of Roberto Larcos and Ronarid but PES still can’t manage a full roster of real team names. And who in their right mind would fail to enjoy that? Still, that does mean it’s often possible to split teams open like Andres Iniesta chopping up watermelons with a hot axe. It’s by no means magnetic - overcook a pass and your team-mate might struggle to keep it under control - although the AI assists on the through-balls are still way too generous. Stringing together first-time passes is a joy, with a feeling of controlled looseness around the way the players move the ball.