Pro Evolution Soccer has finally found its groove again. For years, FIFA has dominated the conversation, but with some time off — Konami opting to skip a PS4 and Xbox One release last year — PES Productions has recaptured the on-the-field action we haven’t experienced with a PES game since the PlayStation 2 glory days.
Every year, the simple question asked is: PES or FIFA? And for once, you have to really stop and think about it, because the games play so differently. PES 2015 is played at a much slower pace, emphasizing a tactical and technical approach. There’s a much heavier emphasis on ball control and formations used to create passing lanes. Strategy is much more important this time around — you can’t just blow by your opponents with fancy tricks and footwork, which for me — as an American — I found to be a hard habit to break.
It’s a much slower brand of soccer. Goals come at a minimum with many matches of mine ending in a 0-0 tie or a 1-0 score. Increasing the match time helps alleviate some of the pressure and panic of having to score quickly, allowing you time to carefully plan your attack. Again, this was difficult for me as an American.
Of course, an emphasis on passing and formations isn’t to say your stars won’t shine. The potential is still there, but don’t expect open goal scoring opportunities from a long string of tricks. The ability of an individual player won’t win you games very often — and that’s probably the biggest struggle I had when playing, recognizing the open lanes and attacking the goal with a sound strategy.
PES 2015 isn’t the same easy pick-up-and-play game that it used to be. I found the AI to be incredibly smart and efficient, though there were some mental lapses at times. Even on the lower difficulties, I had to really buckle down and concentrate. It’s a much more realistic experience that has made me a better overall player.
For newcomers, though, PES 2015 does little to welcome you. It’s a game that has seemingly been designed for veteran players in mind. You’re thrown into a welcome screen filled with boxes that will simply overwhelm someone new to the game. There’s little clarification or explanation for anything. A tutorial or something would be nice, but I get the sense most people buying a soccer game are familiar with intricacies of the game already.
Licensing can also be a problem, especially for avid soccer followers. While team names don't negatively impact how the game actually plays, as players all have the correct names and, for the most part, accurately modeled faces and abilities, the lack of official team licenses does disrupt your suspension of disbelief. Playing as Manchester Utd against “Merseyside Red” just isn’t quite as enthralling as playing against Liverpool, even though they are technically the same in PES 2015.
User interface, player menus, and the overall gameplay presentation have always been a problem for the series and they remain clunky in PES 2015. It’s a jumbled mess of grey boxes and black text that do little to get you excited to play the game. While the graphics are impressive, it doesn’t take long for Jon Champion and Jim Beglin’s commentary to get stale. Again, though, these don't hurt the actual in-game play which I feel will always be top priority.
For the last few years, when people asked you PES or FIFA it was hardly a debate. Now, we finally have some competition again. With gameplay where it’s at now, a little fine tuning and polish — with some marketing to remind us that the PES series is still around — could restore the franchise to the dominance of the PlayStation 2 era.
