The World Cup isn’t due for another few years, but that doesn’t stop you from whetting your football appetite, does it? You’ve got EPL, UEFA, Champions’ League and everything else alike to keep you hooked. But what about your virtual football needs? Sure, you’ve got a new edition of FIFA every year, but it does seem to become a bit of a drag sometimes.
And that’s not just us thinking out loud – Konami thinks so too. That’s why it comes out with a new edition of Pro Evolution Soccer, or PES, every year. We get busy with Pro Evo to find out why it’s that one football game that you must have on your gaming list!
Sure, FIFA may look better lit, thanks to the almost life-like representation of venues, crowd and players, but PES is on par with the former now. The virtual players show even the tiniest of details, such as hair-dos and skin texture, and the animations are convincingly life-like.
If you move into the post-goal close-ups or an injury replay, you’ll notice that the graphics have gone up by several notches. And that’s a delight. That’s accompanied by very realistic crowd noises and in-game responses from referees, commentators, and of course, the players.
But the main changes are not the immediately visual ones. Pro Evo brings a lot of new gaming modes to challenge FIFA. The main career modes are Master League and Become a Legend, and there are a lot of club modes including AFC Champions League, EPL, UEFA Europa and Champions Leagues, and even Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.
The biggest blockbuster, however, is the myClub mode, which picks up the gauntlet thrown by FIFA’s Ultimate Team mode. We really don’t need to explain what this mode does – the name is self explanatory – but we’d like to mention that it sure needs a lot of work. The scouting and team management mechanics are very confusing, and the interface is a bit awry too.
How does it work? Gameplay has always been Pro Evo’s forte, and PES 2015 continues being exemplary. It gets the balance of serious gameplay and fun just right. You can see a sense of urgency in the gameplay, and the matches are fast paced. If you adopt the right tactics and keep it steady, it is often rewarded by a decent opportunity to attack the goal area. The AI is strong enough to give ample competition. And you know you can’t fool around because a casual run around the wings would have the ball snatched away from you almost immediately. The beauty of the game lies in the way all the positions are built – the mechanics for defence feel way different from offence, which aren’t nearly as good in FIFA.
You know that there are no lucky spots – if you score, it’s because you’ve used your tactics properly and if you concede a goal it only means that your defence wasn’t good enough. It’s pure football, albeit only virtual.
Verdict On the pitch, PES 2015 fares way better than FIFA 2015. FIFA would still offer you better menus and interfaces, and also official goodies inside the game, but in terms of pure gaming experience, Pro Evolution has managed to trump the bigwig of virtual football. It does have a few rough edges, but we’re guessing a little patchwork would fix that by next year.
₹999 (PC), ₹2,499 onwards (consoles)
Love – Gameplay; Graphics
Hate – Not enough choice in clubs, occasional UI glitches