Who's the Daddy?
I have always been an EA Sports FIFA Football fan and had never tried Pro Evolution Soccer Series (I think it was because when I started playing FIFA on the PC PES was a console only game). However the FIFA 2004 effort had me spitting feathers with the score from anywhere with ease and the downright neglect in the menu system (they wouldn’t even let you map your own keys…and as for creating your own tournaments, forget it! They weren’t going to let you design your own tournies with Euro 2004 coming up and them wanting to punt a version of that!)
Anyway, all that really mugged me off and I decided that PES4 on the PC would be my first foray into the PES experience at the expense of FIFA 2005. So I loaded up PES4 and immediately saw what the FIFA series had over PES…official Licenses. It was disappointing to see my team described as Old Firm Blue and all the other British Teams (and most of the others) with equally unlikely monikers. So a took a quick look on the PES Forums and soon found the brilliant Wolf Furry Evolution patch that (on the pc at least) restored all the proper names, strips and flags to the teams (all hail Wolf Furry or whatever their names are for taking the time and trouble to produce this excellent patch for nothing…you have made thousands of people very happy!).
Now as a FIFA veteran I was in for a few surprises in the game play stakes. I tried to run up the field skipping past the opposition with a quick press of the acceleration key (no chance). I tried quickly passing it without looking where it was going as on FIFA an aimless pass would inevitably end up on one of your players feet (it didn’t work either!) In front of goal I tried blasting the ball in the general direction of the goalmouth and expected to see it nestling in the back of the net (My Shots went sailing over or wide every time) I tried the set piece free-kicks and corners which, once you had worked it out, resulted in a goal every time on FIFA (It was impossible to replicate the same move every time on PES)
As I played more of PES4 I realised you had to take your time, to build up moves and to be composed in front of goal. As I did the rewards began to reveal themselves - engrossing games that required real concentration. If you played a weaker team and didn’t give it the same concentration as a cup final, they would beat you. Each game was individual – no exploiting the same move for an easy goal as in the FIFA games. I slowly began to realise what the defining difference was between these two franchises - FIFA was about aesthetics while PES was about an accurate simulation of a football game. I had stumbled upon football gold and to think if it wasn’t for the rip-off that was FIFA 2004 I would probably never have tried it – thanks for that at least EA Sports!
As a little postscript I saw FIFA 2005 at a bargain price on the Internet and after reading some rave reviews decided to give it a chance. And to my surprise it was actually quite good with a good tourney construction option (better than PES4’s) and game play that seemed oddly familiar. I soon realised that the boys at EA Sports had been peeking over the shoulders of the PES boys and as a result there were many allusions to the gameplay of PES in the new FIFA game – no more shooting from anywhere or charging through the opposition. If you can’t beat them join them I suppose. However, PES has a jump on FIFA on having the experience in producing a proper simulation and definitely comes out tops overall.
There is a place for the FIFA series of course and those who like all the glitzy razzmatazz with maybe less challenging game play would be well placed going for FIFA. PES is more of a true simulation and therefore a bit more down and dirty. In general terms I think that FIFA would appeal more to a younger audience (say under 14’s) while PES is a more mature game. I am sure there are under 14’s out there who prefer PES and older players who prefer FIFA but generally I think my statement holds true. PES could take a few lessons from FIFA2005 in the menu and options stakes but the boys and girls at the FIFA franchise will be doing most of the note taking for the foreseeable future.
), and I just though "Wow. This is so much BETTER! It feels like real football!"
