PES 2018
Highly impressive. Yet closed-mindedness among the sports-gaming community means that, for many, those opening nine words might as well be written in Cyrillic. FIFA fans insist PES is awful. PES fans do the same in reverse. On this merry-go-round of tedium trundles, year after year, completely ignoring the salient point: right now, both football games are really bloody good.
Konami has earned abundant—and much-merited—praise over the last 24 months for its attempts to reinvent Pro Evolution Soccer. It truly is a revolution that’s been televised; and that, in very literal terms, is the issue for PC players. Rather than receive the Fox Engine-powered version that’s delighted current-gen console owners, they—they, being you—have had to endure lackluster PS3 and Xbox 360 ports throughout that time frame. Finally, for PES 2018, this oversight is corrected. Steam receives a version of Pro Evo that easily matches its PS4 and Xbox One counterparts, and may yet surpass them once the modding community sets to work.
That’s a big deal from a visual perspective, inevitably. I got the chance to play with four club teams (Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool) on a machine running an Inter Core i7-6700 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and in 4K everything looks Champions League quality. Player faces, Barca’s especially, impressively match their real-life counterparts, crowds look like a collection of individuals as opposed to a swampy mess, and—most importantly—the on-pitch action unfolds in a manner which accurately represents the real thing. Sometimes too closely, given the Rottweiler-esque vigour with which Luis Suarez celebrates every goal.
The upgrade brings with it with it a number of subtle, but important changes to the game’s core mechanics, that even a rookie like me can appreciate.
The most important changes related to the game’s on-the-ball gameplay. The first and most notable of these are improvements to close ball control. This is a big deal, and means you're able to do more fine movements while in possession of the ball. Of course, you've been able to do that in PES for a while, but in 2018 the right analogue stick feels like a more precise tool to use alongside touches of the left stick – though be warned it still doesn't feel quite as precise as FIFA's close control.
PES 2018
PES 2018 is said to be the “best quality in a decade”, bringing with it the biggest slew of changes since the game debuted. Among these tweaks is also the inclusion of human racecar Usain Bolt, who will be available for players to recruit in-game. And yes, he has the best pace in the game. Whether his shooting and rest of play is up to scratch is yet to be seen. The team said they met the Olympian at a football match and struck up the conversation to include him in the title, which ended up with them sticking him in some kind of chamber that could recreate his likeness in game. The rest is history. To keep him company, legend players also make a return, including Maradona (who has resolved his legal qualms with the game) and many others.
Visually, once again, PES 2018 looks fantastic. Player likeness is the best it has ever been, right down to the movement personalities of players like Messi and Neymar. Particularly the former’s almost hunched, head down run he uses to weave between players. The overall pace of the game feels somewhat similar to last year. What struck me as odd was that it seems its competitor FIFA 18 has been slowly decreasing its gameplay speed, so the two almost seem to have found some middle ground.
Yet PC already has one cosmetically pleasing football game in FIFA, so it’s the feel of new PES which makes this long overdue upgrade so critical, and which will define its ongoing success. Konami’s focus in recent years has been on fundamentals over back-of-box gimmicks, and sure enough it’s the almost-natural feel of passing, shooting and dribbling here which make it—at least for these first few hours—unputdownable. Variation is plentiful and there’s no magical path to goal; even with a passing side such as Liverpool, I’m able to work chances and score goals with angled passes behind a full back, and/or direct crosses into the penalty area.
Midfield play—for the longest time a congested, if just-about-manageable, mess in both big-name football games—is especially transformative. Here the pitch is noticeably bigger than in last year's PS4 and Xbox One versions; the players slightly smaller; and the dribbling system tighter. Receive the ball in the centre circle and precious split-seconds can be spent assessing options before picking out a team-mate or carrying possession forward, while chains of passes can be strung together without the need for Olympian reaction times and Russell Grant powers of foresight.
Summary
Hands-on with the latest in the beloved football series.
PES 2018 release date
PES 2018 launches 12 September for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC
PES 2018 gameplay - Hands-on impressions
Konami is making big promises about PES 2018, and from what I’ve seen playing the latest build at E3 2017, it looks set to deliver on them.
Having finally upgraded from the slightly dusty Fox engine used on PES 2015-2017, the 2018 football sim feels ready for the next generation of 4K consoles.
The upgrade brings with it with it a number of subtle, but important changes to the game’s core mechanics, that even a rookie like me can appreciate.
The most important changes related to the game’s on-the-ball gameplay. The first and most notable of these are improvements to close ball control. This is a big deal, and means you're able to do more fine movements while in possession of the ball. Of course, you've been able to do that in PES for a while, but in 2018 the right analogue stick feels like a more precise tool to use alongside touches of the left stick – though be warned it still doesn't feel quite as precise as FIFA's close control.
PES 2018
This change works in conjunction with improved ball physics and it interacts with the players. The way the ball bounces off players' bodies and feels much more realistic than it did before, and more predictable as well. When an absolute screamer of a shot deflects off the goalkeeper's hands, it bounces away for a corner in a way that feels like real life.
The players who aren't on the ball and aren't under your control are also more intelligent. They put themselves in the right place and accurately predict where passes are going to come from while also avoiding opponents effectively. I can't think more than one move ahead, but I found my optimistic long-range passes completed more often than they did in PES 2017.
The realism in movement is down to what they called Real Touch+. It’s an improvement on the movement from last game (which was pretty great). This comes into play when you, say, have to chest the ball with a defender at your back, a sweet flick of heel when you receive a high through ball or take on a heavy pass. From this, you have the extremely tight dribbling, which is key when you’re in and around the penalty box. For example, I came in from the wing with Iniesta. I had two players closing me down, so straddled the line with some controlled dribbling and was able to nip past them and onto goal. Being able to dance through players is an awesome feeling. It’s just so nuanced.
The matches I played had a good pace to them. I’ve always found the computer to be quite competent in PES, and this game is no exception. They change up tactics and will quickly close you down, forcing you to abuse your passing triangles, wings, and horizontal play. Getting onto goal is a challenge, and you’re rewarded for it.
That one design decision alone moves human matches from basketball-style, I-attack-then-you-attack sprint-fests towards footballing chess, in which possession is pivotal and final ball placement (and timing) critical. Whether that filters down to cruder sides at, say, French Ligue 2 level is another question entirely, but for now PES’s ability to offer genuine tactical variety among AI teams on the recent console editions earns Konami the benefit of the doubt.
I’m already convinced that this will be proclaimed the purists’ football game out on the pitch, but in the annual face-off with FIFA that’s only part of the equation. Licensing remains an area where Konami openly admits it can’t match EA’s cash reserves, so it’s taking unconventional routes to players’ hearts. One is offering champion sprinter Usain Bolt as a pre-order incentive, for use in MyClub, the PES answer to Ultimate Team. Brand manager Adam Bhatti tells me Bolt will be the fastest player in the game, and with pace deadlier than ever this year—Liverpool’s Sadio Mane is a joy to steer down the right flank—few will complain about a lack of realism once Bolt is charging past opposition defenders on their behalf.
And when you're on the ball, your players will do more to protect themselves from other players heading towards them, making it slightly easier to defend from physically stronger players. This is done, for the most part, automatically, so you can concentrate on the rest of the pitch.
Other minor gameplay changes include a reworked penalty system (that I only tried once so can't really comment on) and new set pieces. Corners and free kicks offer a lot more freedom for both the attacking and defending sides to set a strategy before a kick is taken.
On-the-ball changes combine with significantly better animations for a much smoother and engrossing replays. The transitions between animations are silky smooth, thanks to better motion capture and a greater number of animations than ever before. The game feels on-point, and the players are starting to feel like they operate in the real world, instead of a clunky video game. PES 2018 has come a long way in this regard.
Compared to FIFA 18, PES 2018 still feels faster-paced, but player-to-player contact still isn't as smooth and realistic as it is in FIFA 18, and tackles are much more clumsy, which leads to more free kicks and yellow cards in PES, at least in my experience.
Graphically, things have improved as well. Real-world players look more lifelike than they ever have before, with proper facial expressions that accurately portray what's going on in the game. If they're bursting through the defence and taking knocks, they look suitably intense. After a goal, the smiles don't have a feeling of uncanny valley, and the transitions between facial movements look genuinely quite realistic.
Konami says the PC version has been enhanced, and the developers have worked with Nvidia to use the GPU company's finest graphical eye-candy. The PC version will undoubtedly be the best-looking way to play the game, which hasn't always been true.
In terms of multiplayer, random selection matches have returned, and 2v2 and 3v3 co-op has also arrived. And you can play co-op in the MyClub game mode. If you have mates who play PES, the 2018 edition will be a big step up in what you can do together.
While most gamers make a straightforward choice between PES and FIFA each September, success isn’t so binary for Bhatti’s team: “I constantly get asked, are you ever going to beat FIFA? But we’ve been here for more than 20 years. We’re doing okay, you know? This is a business, and if PES wasn’t making money, we wouldn’t be here. We’re going for realism and simulation, to win hearts and minds.”
Both FIFA and PES are often accused of copying one another, yet Bhatti says the opposite is true, with Konami’s game trying to find niches that aren’t necessarily offered by its “juggernaut” of a rival. “One thing our competitor does really well is presentation, for instance with their licenses,” he admits. “But a lot of that wouldn’t mean anything if the game didn’t look great, or move great. With PES 2018, I feel like we’ve really focussed on those elements, to make you feel like you’re lost in [the game’s atmosphere]. You then layer the gameplay within that: rhythmic, individualistic dribbling; ball physics; the feel of teams and their individual tactics; and so on.”
No question, Bhatti talks an accomplished game. Beautiful, you might say. The challenge now is to make sure PES 2018 continues to play like one – particularly over the internet – proving the old adage that you never write off an underdog.
As a football game non-enthusiast, the battle between FIFA and PES has never been on that's interested me much. Given how different the games feel, it really is going to be down to your own personal taste, as it's always been. I really like PES 2018, though, and with its raft of under-the-hood improvements and multiplayer additions, fans of the series surely won't be disappointed.
For those that have no desire to challenge the AI, there are always the online modes, which have become an increasingly large component of sports games over the past several years. PES 2018 is no different, and last year’s game had an esports tournament with a $200,000 grand prize. There’s PES League in myClub, including Random Selection Matches and online co-op, the latter of which looks intriguing. It’s a new mode for 2V2 and 3V3 co-op play, which you can also team up with your friends to play. There is an online beta for 3V3 coming July 20-31 in Europe, and then for LATAM Aug 1-10.
PES 2018 is looking to be another strong entry into the series, featuring tighter controls, better graphics, and the addition of interesting online challenges I look forward getting stuck into. It’s set for release this September 2017, across PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC (with the PC being touted as much improved).
