FIFA vs PES – The demo’s compared

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Once upon a time there was PES (Winning Eleven) the all conquering football game that anyone, who knew anything about football and gaming chose. It saw Konami win all the accolades with a confident swagger. FIFA’s offering still had its fans, possessing all the official licences, but the developer, EA, seemed to think that was enough. They were wrong.

And then something happened, in combination with the arrival of Peter Moore from Microsoft, EA raised its game and 2 years ago FIFA’s offering was better. They way it looked, the way it played. Not only did it challenge the mighty PES it overtook it, offering a better experience for the player. PES was still okay, but it was looking and feeling its age, built on the same engine with nothing new to offer. And FIFA built on this success with last year’s offering and the surprisingly excellent World Cup game which could have so easily been a simple port.

But that was then, this is now. It’s nearly October and the latest incarnations of PES and FIFA are ready for launch. And with any launch comes the Demos, both released for Xbox, on the same day.

So what do I think? Well trying to determine the strength and weaknesses from a game after a few plays on a demo is never easy but here are the things I did notice.
I played FIFA first. And it’s FIFA of the last two years. Maybe slightly more polished but everything you expect is still there. The commentary, the stadiums and the official licences. Passing is same, through balls, chips and tackles all present and correct. It’s still a very polished, adept piece of software, fast paced and mostly exciting. It still has a tendency to get bogged down in midfield but all in all…well its FIFA, and that’s not a terrible thing. There is an option to play as the keeper, but this is only in the arena on the demo. It’s a nice little touch but is it more a novelty than an actual step forward.

It been a couple of years since I played PES and the last experience had left me underwhelmed and disappointed. But straight away I could see the vast improvement. The game felt more expansive, I had more time on the ball, players moved into space as I expected. One game in and I was certainly impressed and once it had finished I wanted to step back in. Except I couldn’t because Konami insisted on showing me a video of all it can do. That annoyed. Eventually I stepped back in and played another couple of games (there would have been more if they hadn’t played the video every time) and I discovered I really liked what I was playing. Directions of balls need to be thought about and correctly weighted, long shots are more rewarding and dribbling feels natural. It felt and looked like football. However it’s by no means perfect. Sometimes it felt as though the game was confused as to whether you were attacking or defending when the ball fell lose. Every foul/offside was rewarded with a free kick and replay, missing the free flowing football introduced by FIFA. And the dreaded, classic cutback (which guaranteed a goal (against me!) nearly all the time) is back! There were other issues niggling at me but I need to play more to know what they really are.

What will I do this October? I like both games but the single player experience has never been the most important thing. For me football games are about the multiplayer experience. This used to be about getting your mates around but, with the rise of broadband, it’s all about online. I know that EA delivers here offering an online experience second to none. Konami’s online offering has been poor in the past.

The question I need to ask myself is, “Is PES significantly stronger than FIFA to persuade me to return?” At the moment the answer has to be no BUT I know there are others who don’t agree.

I will read the reviews an continue to play the demo’s but I’m pretty sure I will be buying FIFA come October 1st and then rely on other people to persuade me that coming over to Konami Online is a worthwhile exercise.

At the end of the day these are just demos and deeper more prolonged play is required. I suspect I will eventually own boht there games. And I’m happy to be persuaded either way.

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