PES 2018 Xbox One Review
It’s that time of the year again where the battle for best football game of the year is here….
Will Fifa run away with it or has PES finally caught up and took over? Find out below as we take a look!
First thing to mention has to be the licences, Pro Evo over the years has been adding more and more and while playing as Man Red instead of Man Utd may be to much to take for some players if you can deal with it Pro Evo has so much to offer!
This isnt to say that Pro Evo has no real player names or teams are there are a few teams with full kit, badges, and names such as Arsenal, FC Barcelona and Inter Milan. These also all include photo realistic stadiums which look amazing!
There are 32 stadiums to choose from.
Don’t let the licences put you off because the editor allows users to edit names to whatever they want and get things as close to the real thing as possible. The Xbox one version won’t allow users to download a file to change all this but if you have the PS4 or PC version like last year there are files out there that will get the game as correct as can be without the actual licences!
Don’t worry about the game transfers being out of date there will be a day one patch to update this and the option to keep things updated with updates in the future, this can also be adjusted by the user in the editor allowing transfers to be made between clubs.
PES has been adding more and more licences every year and recently announced partnership with Italian club Inter Milan as well as features legends such as David Beckham!
Putting licences aside how does the game look?
On the Xbox One I’m pleased to say players look fantastic and some of the player faces feature great detail!
Graphically on the pitch is where I felt Fifa was slightly stronger especially on Xbox One, players and movement can at times look a little fuzzy but this is by no means bad and the flow of football more than makes up for it, the gameplay was smooth and users also have the ability to speed it up or slow it down depending on their preference.
As I said above the stadiums look fantastic and feature individual animated fans as well as grass that has detail in every blade!
PES gameplay how we expected?
Onto the most important thing now and that’s the gameplay! First things first as always with PES it doesn’t disappoint, it feels fantastic to play! It’s not perfect by any means with the occasional glitch here and there but it really does let the football flow and doesn’t feel quite as scripted as Fifa. PES really makes the user work for the goals and that is far from easy! The difficulty in my opinion is spot on (Well for me anyway) I constantly found myself struggling to score and scrapping 1-0 wins as well as losing a few as it’s very easy to get punished for every mistake as the AI counters at speed leaving you wondering what actually just happened!
Tactics will play a major part this year and getting it right will be the difference between winning and losing! Player selection is key, it’s no good just building a team of players that are quick, I found it essential to have players such as Matic in the team to break play up and and get the ball moving forward to build an attack!
Players all feel different to use as well, some will be powerful and hold up the ball well while others will be quick and tricky causing opposition defenders an absolute nightmare so choosing the right balance is really important in PES this year!
Has the old Master League still got it?
Take control of your chosen club and decide if you really fancy a challenge and use a team of players that noone has ever heard of or choose to start with a club full of star players, making the challenge easier, the choice is yours!
If you are after a highly realistic football manager experience then Football Manager 2018 would be the way to go because some of the transfers are shocking, especially considering the real life market prices! Players can be picked up so cheap it’s unreal and that’s where the master league lets itself down as even Fifa is better, players seem to have low release clauses leaving you frustrated as a player you never wanted to sell goes for next to nothing and nowhere near their actual value but remember this does work both ways so there are some real bargains to be had!
Controlling everything including the clubs finances to training make this feel slightly more real but you can’t help but feel disappointed with the madness in the transfer market!
As well as the Master League there are plenty of other modes available to keep players coming back for more such as the fully Licenced, Uefa Champions League and Europa League modes, these allow the player to take on the challenge of winning one of world footballs biggest trophies!
As well as these offline modes PES offers the online My Club mode, basically Pro Evo’s answer to the popular Fifa Ultimate team. Sadly at the time of writing this mode couldn’t be tested as the servers are not live until the game is released but check back as the review will be updated with a look at Pro Evo’s online features.
Lastly onto the sound, commentary in matches was ok not great but did the job, things have improved from the past but still room for some massive improvement, fan noise in the stadium did a great job to get a sense of immersion across.
The in-game menus have a decent selection of music which include tracks from artists such as Linkin Park and Clean Bandit to name a couple. Each track can be selected and turned on or off depending on the users preference.
Verdict:
Challenging AI and plenty of modes make PES a great addition this year as well as having fantastic animations and some breathtaking graphics, where PES has really stood out this year is where it matters and that’s the fantastic fluid game play on offer here! Konami has gave everything a little tweak this year and you can really feel it the game feels far more polished and a real challenge to play but in a fun way. Add the full licences next year Konami and we may just have the perfect football game on our hands!
Score:
8.5/10
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PES 2018
Pros
- Visuals
- Fluid Gameplay
- Some Licensing
Cons
- Not fully licensed
- Commentary