FIFA 18 Vs. PES 2018: Which One Should You Buy?

Football is one of the most popular sports in the world, played across every continent. The sport is a home to some of the biggest rivalries of pop-culture, such as Ronaldo vs Messi, England vs Germany; and such rivalries transfer to the digital world.

In the real world, we have City vs United. In the gaming world, we have FIFA and PES.

But which one is better?

Presentation

This year, there is no question. FIFA beats PES in presentation.

EA’s FIFA 18 really works in a lot on the atmosphere of the beautiful game, providing a more realistic football experience. PES, on the other hand, has problems with how players look and the menu’s aesthetics are exactly the same as last year; which seems a bit lazy.

Definitely we can assure you that FIFA wins the presentation round. You also can’t escape the fact that PES does not have full licensing of teams. I mean who really wants to play with Manchester United as Man Red?

Gameplay

What is most important in gameplay for football video games? The way the game flows: The way it feels when you pass, dribble or shoot. You also want to see how your defence and attacks are working, and how goalkeepers react the counter attacks or on corners. You want to feel like you are playing a live football match, where everyone is working as a team.

With that in mind, in the battle of FIFA 18 vs. PES 2018, we can say that PES is better.

FIFA still has problems with shooting and dribbling, although they have improved on FIFA 17. PES provides a much more fluid experience, and avoids some of the frustrating scenarios that leave you with broken dreams (and a broken controller) that FIFA has become synonymous for.

Gaming Modes

In FIFA’s career mode, nothing has changed, except transfer negotiations. Now you can set up sell-on percentages and you can add release clauses to contracts of players. You also have FUT, which is basically EA’s winning, money-making formula rehashed again. Nothing new here.

PES, however, has seen some changes.

Let’s start with Master League. First, they’ve enhanced the menu items, which makes it much easier to use. They have also improved transfer negotiations and added a new Challenge mode, which makes controlling your team that bit more tense. This is a really interesting feature, and leads to unexpected scenarios; like when players want to leave for greener pastures. There are still some problems with low budget and unknown youth players, though. 

PES also returns with the Random Selection Mode from Pro Evo 6, which is an amazing way to play. Essentially, you select a league or nationality, and the computer creates a random team of players based on your selection. It adds a great dynamic to the game, mixing players you’d never normally get to play side-by-side. 

Definitely, we can say that PES wins out in the modes competition. They’ve brought something new. Not a statement we can say for FIFA. 

FIFA 18 vs. PES 2018: The Final Verdict

Overall, football fans will enjoy both FIFA and PES.

They both offer superb virtual footballing experience, but the devil’s in the details when it comes to separating them. If you prefer a game that flows well and offers top-quality gameplay mechanics, PES is your game. However, if you like things to look and feel realistic, and focus on how the game is designed, then you need to choose FIFA.

Remember, at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. When you play it with your friends, every time somebody loses they’ll just say the other game is better.

This article was brought to you by Mark; a huge fan of football. He plays both PES and FIFA every year and really enjoys them both. Outside of playing football video-games, Mark has a passion for foosball. A previously professional player, he now runs a blog about all things foosball.

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