What PES has and FIFA "can't get" is simply that you're used to it. FIFA 08 is not just any FIFA, its gameplay is so deep I can't believe it's not a PES. The problem with that is that you cannot try it "a couple of days" and make a decision. The game deserves to be tried at least a couple of months. How would you treat a FIFA fan that tries PES for "a couple of days" and says it's not good?
I can score like nothing in PES, but in FIFA 08 it took me a long time to actually make a goal (we're talking highest diff. setting here), and when I did score, my goals were very similar. At first this disencouraged me, thinking that there were only 2 or 3 ways to score in this game, as is the custom with EA's title. But then I remembered that I had a similar experience when I switched from FIFA to PES back in '98. I could play rather well, I could even hold my own in ML, but my offensive possibilities were very limited.
Considering the possibility I just SUCKED at the game, even though I could defend myself, which I think is the problem with a lot of people here, I decided to give it another extended go. What I found was that FIFA can be as varied, fulfilling and entertaining as PES, and that despite their initial similarities, playing one of them is a completely different experience than playing the other. Apparently, FIFA is even more fulfilling than PES, cause I haven't touched PES 08 in a while now. Granted though, FIFA 08 is far from perfect, with the issue of responsiveness at the top of the list.
2009 will surely see me buying the two games. I'm sure FIFA 09 will be worth at least an extended run by all of us, just to see what it can offer. It's weird to say this, but the guys at EA have worked very hard and they deserve it, while KONAMI have been cheap lazy asses. The only downside is that getting used to the other title can take a while. You don't dribble as in PES, your don't shoot as in PES and you don't defend as in PES. Hell, you don't even move as in PES. It takes a while to get a hang of it, but there's a very rich game underneath.
I feel a lot of people haven't even tried FIFA, or done so for one or two days, and are just repeating the same stereotypes like a mantra, as if we were still in 2001. Nowadays, you can't say that PES is so much more realistic than FIFA or that FIFA is just the graphics and licenses, because there's more to it than that. Why don't you really give it a go? At worst, you'll have 2 good football titles to choose from.
PS: PSM3 magazine (UK) tag line for FIFA 09 on the cover (June issue): "EA's latest silences its sternest critic...yes, us." Being hardcore PES fans, this magazine's staff has scored PES 2008 much higher than FIFA 08 and Euro 08, so reading that tag line was a bit of a shocker.
And from Official Playstation Magazine: "Whisper it, but we're so impressed by EA's latest that the phrase 'Pro Evo beater' is being bandied around by OPM staff."
I partly agree with you in that EA Sport's FIFA is no longer behind PES, not because FIFA has drastically improved, but because PES has only improved for the worst. PES 2008 is plain boring, anyway you look at it, it's all about the "Pace" and the "Shooting Power" of a player.. FIFA 2008? Its not that bad, but there are still plenty of things to improve; off-the-ball movement, defending, passing and dribbling to name a few.
I still don't see a clear difference between Riquelme's passing, and Cristiano Ronaldo's passing. We NEED more Passing skills (stats). Only one type of "sliding tackle", we should have different types of sliding tackles for different types of situations, and again we NEED more defending skills. I still don't notice a clear difference between players like Riquelme -who are masters at positioning themselves on the pitch- and Robinho (who relies more on his dribbling skills to create space). We NEED a skill for "off-the-ball movement". And finally, dribbling, the dribbling in both games is not that bad, it is actually good for players with average dribbling skills.. However, Robinho, Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Joaquin, and players alike should have better movements, faster and more responsive movements, and their dribbling tricks should be much more effective as well as easier to perform.
But anyways, I gave FIFA plenty of tries; FIFA 2005, FIFA 2006, FIFA 2007, FIFA 2008, I gave them all a lot of time, and after playing them for awhile I always end up with the same opinion - "FIFA sucks, end of story". FIFA just feels like an RPG game, everything is predictable and slow, there are no surprises, you're practically obliged into playing long-balls instead of attractive football, and I could always manage to score whenever I wanted. Honestly, the only thing I enjoyed about FIFA was dribbling through entire defences via the right analog stick.
On the other hand, the old versions of PES were just more enjoyable and much more addictive, it was more about passing and movement, it was possible to defend effectively, you could also play the long-ball style played in the EPL (and in FIFA 2008, PES 2008, and Euro 2008), the dribbling was simple and intuitive, and it had a great feeling whenever you managed to score a goal. This are things that are missing in all the so-called Next Gen Football games.
So Bottom Line is that FIFA 2008 is bad, PES 2008 is bad, and Euro 2008 is a decent football game. By the way, EA Sports has actually done less work than Konami, Konami had to start from scratch, while FIFA just tweaked FIFA 2007. FIFA 2008 is FIFA 2007 with a few -very minor- improvements. This kind of explains why FIFA 2009 is already impressing some people in the gaming world, I suppose EA Sports is actually sorting out the game instead of just tweaking FIFA 2008. I'm not getting my hopes up because after PES 2008.. well, I don't want more unexpected disappointments -but- I really hope someone -either EA Sports or Konami- makes a breakthrough.
