FIFA 10 Vs PES 10, Which Game Is Worth Your Cash ?

Ever since the playstation era began, football fanatics have been arguing which is the best football franchise in the world of video games.

In the past, EA sports never had any serious rivals to worry them, but with time, Konami created what would be one of the greatest video games of all time, Winning Eleven, a game that didn't have half the teams, any license or any decent music at all, compared to FIFA, but it had one thing FIFA lacked at the time.

And that was gameplay.

With time it became known as PES all around the world, except for Japan, where it is still regarded as Winning Eleven.

PES won the fans over, it never had the English Premier League license, it only gets the license of 2 teams a year, and this year, just like last year, the teams are Liverpool and Manchester United.

PES was the dominant force in the PS2 era, without even a contest, it was well ahead of FIFA despite all the license, reward system, and efforts put by EA.

EA eventually did the inevitable and copied most of the game play from PES, and it still couldn't keep up with PES.

The PS3 era however, was a completely different story.

Konami made PES feel more like an arcade game than past iterations of the game, while FIFA tried something different all together.

They went for realism.

Where PES had you dribbling through an entire team making them look like fools without the slightest of problems, FIFA didn't let you sprint your way through, if you even thougth about sprinting through, you'd be a dead man.

Where PES had you shooting from distance and you were almost always guaranteed to have your shot on target, FIFA went for the realism in your positioning and made it hard as hell to score from thirty yards out.

FIFA felt harder, and closer to real life than any football video game before it.

FIFA 08 for the PS3 had the better advantage, and the fans and critics agreed.

FIFA 09 won the race with ease last year, mainly due to the fact that PES 09 was more of a step backwards, while FIFA 09 was a step in the right direction.

Seabass, the man behind PES, stated that they went back to the drawing board after the unexpected reactions they recieved from critics and fans alike.

He apologised to the fans for the many inconsistencies and glitches that the game had, and promised that PES 10 would, unlike PES 08 and 09, be worthy of being called PES.

True,  FIFA had a few glitches of it's own, but it was a more consistent package overall.

So now, even though the 2010 demos for both games have been released, most people didn't get a chance to play both, simply because FIFA was only on the NTSC systems, and PES was on the PAL systems.

My PS3 is an NTSC, but my cousins system is PAL version, I got to play both demos dozens of times, and I can safely say that both games, did not disappoint.

First things first, I used to be a PES fan all my life, but FIFA 08 won me over, so I'm a FIFA fan now, but I still wanted to see what Konami had in store.

The demo doesn't represent the full game, but it shows the most important aspect of it, the gameplay itself.

My impressions:

PES 2010 is by far, the best PES game on the PS3, PES is finally back.

Why?

Because quite simply, they did what FIFA did back in the day, they blatantly copied FIFA, just like FIFA copied them in the past, and they're all the better for it.

The moment FIFA announced 360 degrees control, PES copied it right away, the player position system in the susbstitutions menu is an exact copy of FIFA's, and the gameplay is more realistic and a little less arcady this time around.

Is it better than FIFA 10? No, but this is the PES game that the fans have been waiting for, less glitches and more realism, Konami has made a huge leap in the right direction.

Why is FIFA a better game? For the following reasons.

PES copied so many things from FIFA, that the mistakes it makes are almost identical to FIFA 09, if you pass the ball to player and a team-mate is in-between, it hits him and bounces to the opposition, resulting in a counter attack out of thin air.

FIFA addressed this issue, and now has the player letting the ball go through all the time.

When it comes to audio, the commentators from PES are the same as last year, meaning terrible commentary, while FIFA changed their past and instead of giving the Martin Tyler and Andy Gray notes to read, they let them say their own lines.

PES's soundtrack this year is by far the best soundtrack in any PES game to date, meaning that you'll actually get some of them stuck in your head.

The graphics in PES are better than past games, but they're not even close to the graphics in FIFA 10, the moment I saw Ballack's face in FIFA, I was sold.

The player attributes in PES are dumb at best, I have no clue how Henry is an 88 overall, while Torres is an 82, and Messi is an 84, and even though PES copied FIFA's style in player position, if you put Messi as a SS, he's an 84, but if you put him as a RW, his original position, he's a 69! Apparently PES doesn't believe he's a winger, but at least we can take comfort in the fact that you can edit the attributes from the edit mode, unlike FIFA, which doesn't let you edit them, if a player sucks, they'll always suck, I hope they fixed that this year.

There is also an annoying thing in FIFA, and it's that when a player retires in manager mode, that's it, he's gone for good (in manager mode only, of course), but in PES, they are reborn as 18 year olds with lesser attributes, you can play with them and make them reach their peak again.

And the most important advantage that PES has over FIFA, is the national teams.

PES has Netherlands, Ghana and Cote D'ivoir as all fully licensed teams in the game, FIFA has only the fake Netherlands and thats it, no Ghana or Cote D'ivoir, no Egypt or Japan.

PES has 78 National teams, a number that I find greatly impressive.

PES also acquired the license and real names of Germany's national team, and the Champions League, along with the Europa League, however for some reason they don't have the Bundesliga or even Bayern Munich, which they had in the past.

FIFA 10 has more than three times the number of clubs that PES has, however, few would play with teams in the Korean league, but such leagues will help FIFA outsell PES globally this year.

The gameplay itself in PES has been made to look a lot like FIFA's, but the PES feel is still there, but sadly, PES this year is a notably slower game than in past years.

You can easily tell that there is a difference in speed right off the bat, and the buttons respond a little slower, again it felt like FIFA 09.

FIFA however, made the game a lot faster, the game was so fast, it was twice FIFA 09's speed on the fast setting, I told myself to make FIFA 10 on normal, and to my surprise it was on normal, when I turned the speed on fast, it was ridiculously fast, it was faster than real life, I have no clue how EA was able to improve the graphics and the framerate, but I'd recommend the game be played on normal.

The online was always better on FIFA, however I truly hope that Konami finally makes a decent online system, so that the PES community can have bigger and better online matches.

I also hope Konami had already taken a few pages from EA in the online modes and hope that they are implemented well in the game.

Overall, the difference between the two games is now smaller, thanks to PES making a few right choices that will help them greatly this year.

I used to despise my friends who would refuse to try FIFA simply because they hate EA, but this year, if any PES fan is too stubborn to look at FIFA, I won't be surprised.

It seems strange to say this, but PES this year is a very good game, FIFA is still the better game, but this is the first time in a long time that PES actually had a few advantages against FIFA, the National team, Champions League and Europa League are a few good advantages to name.

Which ever game you buy this year, it probably won't disappoint you.

Note: This just in, FIFA has acquired the Netherlands National team license.