FIFA 18 vs PES 2018: WHICH IS RIGHT FOR YOU

Year after year, these two franchises compete for the best football/soccer game in the world. Pro Evolution Soccer is manufactured by Konami, who have been at it since International Soccer days, changing the name to PES in 2005. For EA, makers of FIFA have kept this name since 94 and the immense development of these is absurd. Try playing PES 4 or FIFA 2002 and you'll understand. PES was winning the battle till PES 6, as FIFA 07 took football game to a whole new level. Since then FIFA has been a dominant force even though editions like PES 2013 gave FIFA a good battle. Which game is better this year. FIFA 18 has the sales but is it really better than PES 2018? Here are five ways these games battle for glory.

Presentation

For neutral football game lovers, presentation is important and both games improved this year. But FIFA 18 has the edge here. EA's acquisition of the licenses of Premier League and La Liga Santander has paid off as they've added the official graphic overlay of these leagues. They also have a lot of stadiums in the game with all 20 Premier League stadiums fully scanned. They however lost camp Nou to PES, after PES signed Barcelona. PES 2018 looks really raw and team names like North London and Man Red certainly aren't attractive. They certainly improved on their 16 stadiums in PES 2017 (42 stadiums now) and they have also paid a lot more attention to stadium details.Trophy presentation in FIFA 18 is better as it has been updated over the years. PES 2018 also has UEFA licensing and it looks really good. Everyone loves a good commentary. All football gamers admit that commentary adds to the feel of the game. FIFA 18 commentary is complete. Its fire. And for PES 2018, I find myself rather listening to music as the commentary is repetitive, gets boring and Peter Drury's over excitement cuts out the fun in scoring. For presentation FIFA 18 edges PES.

La Bombera In FIFA 18

La Bombera in PES 2018

Gameplay

This is where I'm most passionate about. Which ever way you look at it, if the gameplay is wack, it doesn't matter how nice it looks. Both games slowed down the gameplay with respect to the previous year's editions. I love that because it feels more real and you have the opportunity to carefully control your team tactically. But PES 2018 feels very responsive, the second the button is pressed the action takes place. With FIFA 18 is a little less responsive but its better than FIFA 17. And passing, oh I love the passing in PES 2018. Its direct, its fast and very realistic. The tiki taka style works perfectly on PES 2018. Since FIFA 16 I've always had a problem with the passing in FIFA. Its not as fast and difficult to find your player or player runs. Shooting in both games have improved this year, I think FIFA 18 is better though. Goal keeping has improved too, but the Goal keepers in PES 2018 can save a bullet. You need something spectacular to beat highly rated goal keepers and I love it. For gameplay, PES 2018 is better

FIFA 18

PES 2018

Game Modes

I think this category it's  clear that FIFA 18 wins. With the continuation  of the Alex Hunter mode, FIFA 18 is interesting to play (its not on Nintendo Switch, PS3 and Xbox 360, that sucks). The Ultimate team is also a huge feature on its own and has millions of players worldwide.Manager mode has also received a few new features like the transfer negotiation and player presentation, although PES has had this since PES 2013. But definitely looks better in FIFA 18. For PES 2018, the master league has received some changes like the club owner involvement and a few more cut scenes and more challenging transfer negotiations. There is also a random selection where you are given a random squad, trade with opponents and protect important players, and conquering opponents in a match. It's certainly a good addition coupled with the Co-op mode, but FIFA 18 trumps PES 2018.

Alex Hunter The Journey Returns

FIFA 18 Ulltimate Team

PES 2018 Master Leeague menu

Online Gaming

I personally love online gaming, although from where I come from you'd have low network issues and this is frustrating. But when I do get a stable internet connection, its very fun. For PES 2018, online gaming is certainly better, but its still not at par with FIFA 18. It takes longer to find an online match in PES 2018 and the lag has reduced this year(when you have a stable network). FIFA 18 online gaming is better than their counterpart although people are complaining of matches ending abruptly. 

Player Faces and ID

Every football game fan love to see their favourite players perfectly captured in the game and in this year both games did an excellent job. PES player faces look a bit cartoonish but they were able to capture specific features of the face. FIFA 18 did a great at capturing Ronaldo, their cover player exceptionally, and personally this is the closest both games have gone. Messi in FIFA 18 needs and update however but generally they did well. It is also a shame that in FIFA 18 certain players didn't have player faces, players from the big teams. For example Asensio, Bejamin Mendy and even Casemiro had default faces (i think, because they couldn't have been scanned, they're just horrible) whereas PES captured them close to perfect. PES had some old player faces from PES 2016 that also need update. Overall, I think PES 2018 did better here.

FIFA 18 Real Madrid player faces

Marco Asensio comparison

Ramos, Kroos & Ronaldo-PES 2018

Messi & Dembele PES 2018

Menu and Extra (Bonus comparison)

This category is not that significant but it counts too. (Maybe 5%). For FIFA, the menu hasn't changed much since FIFA 14 and looks like they just change the theme colour each year. PES 2018 feels different, even though its similar to PES 2017,it doesn't feel the same throughout the years. With PES 2018 you have the ability to create custom manager face which is amazing (Its been around since PES 2013 if you're wondering) and seeing your custom made coach on the pitch celebrating with players or pre-match conference (yes there is a cut scene for important ones), or unveiling newly signed players, is very satisfying. Cut scenes have always been a hallmark for Pro Evolution Soccer and the dressing room cut scene where the coach gives an inspirational speech before the match is amazing (you don't hear voices though). FIFA 18 also has scanned faces of all Premier League managers as well as some managers from other leagues and this adds a touch of class to the franchise.

So here,  PES 2018 edges FIFA 18.

Overall, both games gave a good contest for neutrals and FIFA lovers and neutrals should give PES 2018 a chance. There are option files and patches that fix the wrong team names and jerseys and you'll be good to go. For PES, the gameplay is their concern and they killed it this year. FIFA 18 is better overall though, with Alex Hunter and the Ultimate team, as well as a good gameplay. If you're looking to enjoying a couple of games on your own in your free time or to relax for long hours, then PES 2018 is your guy. But for online gaming and playing with friends, the you'll need FIFA 18.

Which one do you think is better though?  Comment your thoughts below

Photos: Google images