By: Ahmed El-Refai and Yara El-Hemaily

In the realistic world of football, there are always two poles in the eyes of the fans. For example, you will find Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, River Plate and Boca Juniors in Argentina, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund in Germany, and of course Ahly and Zamalek in Egypt. In the realm of virtual football, the idea of the two poles isn’t absent, either. For football PlayStation or Xbox fans there are two poles: FIFA and PES.

*Prices listed in this article are the ones provided at the time of its publication, and are subject to change according to the supply and demand of the market.

FIFA

It is one of the most successful video game chains in history. Its name resembles FIFA or Fédération Internationale de Football Association. In 1993, EA Sports (the company producing FIFA game) managed to acquire the official license from the FIFA to produce a video game with its name and officially display its contests. For years, this hasn’t changed, and in 2017, the step it took 24 years ago remains the strongest competitive advantage of the game.

PES

Pro Evolution Soccer is one of the most popular video games in the past two decades. Earlier, it was called Winning Eleven, and even though the name is still commonly used in Japan and Asia, since 2007 it became known in Egypt and Europe as PES. The game is a part of a long series of video games produced by the Japanese company Konami, which is a comprehensive entertainment company. Regardless of video games, Konami produces playing cards, cartoons and some Japanese science fiction movies. We first knew this company in Egypt through “The Japanese”, the first Konami-produced football game to earn big success in Egypt, during the period when PlayStation 1 was widely used.

Whether you are excited about FIFA or PES, Yaoota will offer you a quick comparison of the latest 2017 version of both games in terms of graphics quality, career mode, what is new regarding licensing and legal rights, and ultimately and most importantly, playstyle.

Before digging into details, we should inform you that this short article and rapid review of both games is not expected to persuade you to change the game you have loved and been used to for years. It only aims to provide you with some notes about the latest version of both games in order to benefit whoever is going to buy a newer version of their game or whoever is planning to change their game. For those who do not play football on PlayStation or Xbox, this article may not be the best for you.

First: Graphics

FIFA changed its graphics engine from Ignite to Frostbite, and the latter is used in war games like Battlefield. This hasn’t changed the stadium’s night lighting much; in fact, it became much more realistic with this engine. The details of the pitch (whether the reserve benches or the audience seats) became more accurate than before.

On the other hand, PES started using an engine named FOX Engine starting from last year, which helped it to make huge developments in graphics specially reflected in the faces of players. In 2017, the development continued more and more precisely so the features of the players became very realistic. Although the same applies to FIFA players, some favor the features of the of PES players to FIFA’s.

The disadvantage of PES is that it deals evenly with all matches in terms of presentation. It does not distinguish an important and a less important match. The presentation is always the same and does not have any individuality and does not offer a separate story for each match. This is opposite to FIFA, which is much better, according to many people, in terms of the ways of commenting on the match, commentators, the benches and the special personality of each stadium. In addition to this, the most popular coaches are presented through graphics in the game and you can see their reactions inside the pitch while they are giving out instructions.

The accuracy of the details is largely due to the rights acquired by FIFA from the International Federation and clubs, which enables it to transfer the atmosphere of each club opposite to the case of PES, which cannot do so except with a limited number of clubs that will be discussed in the following section.

you can check out FIFA Game here.

Second: Licensing and Legal Rights

When we talk about an official license, we mean the rights to display tournaments with all its details starting from club logos, names, club uniforms, official and reserve uniforms, official championship name and so on. In this specific point, FIFA cannot be competed, as it holds an official license from the International Federation of Football since 1993 and the contract was extended until 2022. The license allows them to produce a special game for the World Cup and use the Brand of FIFA and all its tournaments. In addition to this, FIFA obtained the license of the English and German Leagues. This is why you will find the teams of the English League with slogans, names and uniforms different than reality in PES game. That is because FIFA is the only game that has these rights.

If you look at the picture below, you will not see the real logos and names of the English teams in PES, except for Arsenal and Liverpool.

On the other hand, PES is trying to reduce the dominance of FIFA in the field. In the 2017 version, PES has signed agreements with Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, Arsenal and the French League (Ligue 1). As a result, if you play with these teams, you will be able to live the atmosphere of the stadiums of each club. For instance, if you choose to play with Liverpool FC, you will be able to see the Anfield Stadium and hear the famous song “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

One of the most important steps PES managed to achieve was a partnership agreement with the Barcelona team to transfer the atmosphere of the game, team logo, basic uniform, team tactics and stadium. This step had a slight impact on FIFA, where you won’t find Barcelona’s Camp Nou Stadium in the 2017 version. Besides, PES holds the legal rights of the European Champions League, Europa League and the European Championship, which PES produced a game for in 2016.

In general, however, FIFA is incomparably superior in terms of licensing and legal rights for major periodicals, which gives it precedence and privilege in a more precise and enjoyable presentation than its counterpart, PES.

you can check out PES Game here.

Third: Career Mode

The career mode is one of the most influential points in football games. It is a system in the game that allows you to manage a certain club from all aspects, whether finances, buying and selling players, discovering new talents, playing under the club’s name in different tournaments and so one. The most important need for the excellence of the system is the realism and challenge. When you take over the task of managing a club, you need to follow in its footsteps. When you manage a club in the game, it is the same as what happens in real life. You have a long season to play a lot of tournaments, conduct many agreements, achieve profits and evaluate your performance and results at the end of the season.

Back to our two games! For PES, there has not been a significant change in the Career Mode. Become a Legend did not change from the last 2016 version. However, Master League did change slightly. The transfer of players became more realistic and you now have a limited number of days to complete deals in the transfer market.

FIFA developed Career Mode significantly after developing a new system called “The Journey”, in which you follow in the footsteps of a young player called “Alex Hunter” who graduated from the Academy and became a professional English player. Some people were completely excited about this new system and others were rather indifferent, but everyone agreed that this mode had increased the depth and simulation of the game and broke out the boredom. In the Journey, there are spectacular scenes of the challenges faced by the young person and his dialogues with other players during his various stages of development. The new system is not a substitute to the career mode of players or coaches; it is an addition to it. As for the Ultimate Team competition, no changes have been tracked since last year’s version.

Fourth: Playstyle

The playstyle is the decisive point of choice between the two games, but at the same time, this point is not sufficiently objective; each fan may be biased when offering opinions about their game.  Mohammed, 24 years-old, thinks that FIFA is very slow when building an attack, the players movement is heavy and it lacks dynamism. On the other hand, Youssef, 23 years-old, thinks PES is so fast to an extent that makes you feel it is unrealistic, unlike FIFA, which makes the games dependent on tactics and patience in building attacks.

Actually, the two opinions confirm that PES is faster than FIFA, which is true. The former does not depend on your ability to acquire the ball and build the attack in an orderly manner, but on the speed of moving the ball from your goal to the opponent’s goal, which is an advantage. You will not find someone in full control in PES, but you will find threat to both goals. Besides, passing the ball and evading players is easier. And this is, for sure, opposite to FIFA, with the slow movement and difficulty of evading the ball, the game entirely depends on the acquisition of the ball building the attack and the way players stand on the ground and the teamwork. This is why if you are not used to FIFA you might feel bored and you might feel that the game is in one direction. It is possible for one team to control the game from the start to the end. Despite all this, FIFA supporters think that this adds to the realism of the game, as in real life, players are not as quick as they are in PES.

All of the above are notes rooted in the mind of football PlayStation players and each person would determine the style they prefer, and hence the suitable game for them, because, in fact, there is no better style than the other.

In its last version, 2017, FIFA changed the way the corner strikes were made, adding a yellow marker in the penalty area to determine the position and the possible direction of the ball after being shot. This has helped increase the accuracy. In addition to this, FIFA adjusted the method of shooting free kicks and penalty shots so that you can control more freely the way the player approaches the ball and the position of his body when shooting. Also the game in its latest version focused more on the physical strength of the players and their methods of ball acquisition.

On the other hand, PES did not change much, but it has sought to instill excitement in the games by means of quick attacks, fine quirks, ease of scrolling, rapid transition from defensive mode to attack mode and greater choices in the strength and accuracy of the shot. In addition, the tactical changes could be easily found and easier to use than the last version during the matches (such as the defensive lines, the players’ position and the level of players’ dispersion in the field). These changes are clear in the main page of Plan and Team’s formation changes, so you will not need to search for them inside the multiple choices.

Fifth: Other Sides

Another points of comparison between the two games can be playing online. And even though this point might not benefit many people, many fans of both games use playing on the internet feature at home. In this aspect, there has been a general agreement that FIFA is better than PES. First, it can be easier to find opponents, but the most important point is that there is no lagging during matches, especially if your opponent has a reasonable internet connection. There is consistency in the connectivity of the server in FIFA, unlike PES, in which the delay causes you to lose matches many times. Although there is a significant development in online play at PES, FIFA is still ahead of them.

Check out FIFA Game here.
Check out PES Game here.