‘I tried PES for two weeks and was surprised by…’

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EFootball_2022_graphics_example.jpg

We are in November now so that means Christmas is only one month away. One of the most in demand gifts this year will be the very popular football video game FIFA 22. FIFA isn’t the only football video game, Pro Evolution Soccer, more popularly known as PES, has been FIFA’s main competitor since 2001, when PES came out.

FIFA has always been the more popular of the two football games but PES used to be much more of a competitor than it is now. The popularity of the two video games has never been so far apart with PES even making the decision for the first time to release their game for free, whereas FIFA still retails at £59.99.

I have always bought and played FIFA myself but as PES is free this year, I thought there would be no harm in trying it myself and see the comparisons.

Maybe PES is finally the king of football games? Read on to find out.

An example video of comparisons between the two.

An example video of comparisons between the two.

Graphics - 7

To start with one of the main features to compare was the graphics. Graphics are key to every video game but even more so for football video games as they are trying to replicate real people. Considering PES is free, the graphics really surprised me, you could easily say the two games graphics are about as good as each other really. Although there is one thing to note is PES has very good graphics for the top footballers but the less well-known players graphics I felt were poor but FIFA have good graphics across all the teams and players even those who are not as well known.

Gameplay - 4

Moving onto one of the most important parts of the video game is the actual gameplay itself. This is probably the most drastic difference, unfortunately for PES the gameplay is disappointing. Maybe PES puts so much work into the graphics to disguise from the underwhelming gameplay. When the players kick the ball it just doesn’t look realistic at all, you are supposed to be playing as professional footballers and even one of the world’s best players Lionel Messi cannot kick the ball properly in PES. The players struggle to kick the ball with any real power and lacked accuracy too, although it makes the game harder, it is extremely frustrating, especially when I’ve played FIFA for so many years and the gameplay is so smooth and realistic.

I spoke to Joe Skrebels who is a writer for IGN which is a large gaming news company, asking his thoughts on the game “to be honest I don’t think it will be any competition to FIFA as I do think FIFA leads in every aspect of the game. However, to be fair to Konami, I do not think this year’s PES is a bad free alternative, if you like football but aren’t willing to shell out almost £60, then I think you could do a lot worse than PES. Compared to other free games PES is actually rather good.” So that was a mixed review from Joe there but in the end, was edging towards a more positive rating of the game. I was curious for another person’s thoughts on the game, so I also spoke to Matt Kongo who is a twitch streamer that usually plays both FIFA and PES. He said, “I actually have not bought FIFA this year, as I feel PES is good enough and it is free. I have found FIFA very frustrating over the years and that is a game I’m playing almost £60 for, more with the in-game purchases, I am honestly enjoying PES just as much as I was FIFA and think that is something I will stick to moving forward.” I also wanted to speak to someone like myself who had not played PES before and was trying it for the first time Chris Boyd “I had heard bad things about PES to be honest but I was impressed with how good the game was, especially since it was free. I think people shouldn’t knock it before they try it.”

That is three interviews I had with other people asking about their thoughts on PES and all have spoken very positively on the game, which I found really interesting. Personally, it was better than I expected as in my mind considering my previous experience of other free games, I was pleasantly surprised that PES was as good as it was. With that said though, I am still more willing to pay the £59.99 for the better game as football games are what I play the most and I feel I certainly get my money’s worth out of it. Although if you are looking for cheap well even free alternative to FIFA 22, then PES 2022 certainly ticks those boxes.