I gotta admit, it was weird playing PES the other day after playing FIFA for so long, it is clear in mind that these are two different animals, it's amazing, they play the same sport yet they play totally different, PES has the edge in the freeness of gameplay, where pretty much if you can think it, you can do it, whereas FIFA is still alil' stiff so IMO PES wins hands down, which is just an incredible feat for PES but sometimes that isn't always good, it becomes more about the user than the players attributes displayed which takes away from the individualness on the pitch BUT Fifa has a different type of freeness, it is more about the player's attributes than the user, which by itself isn't good either, at times it can become frustrating and feel like you are not in total control, but if they can find that median with PES style and stay true to FIFA, it will be EUPHORIC! because you can clearly see 11 individual entities all with strengths and weaknesses on the pitch, I love the AI in this game, you can distinctly feel the differences in players attributes, Cannavaro is freakin' impossible to get by, Grosso is all over his zone and Ronaldinho is almost impossible to stop, not to mention Ronaldo is at times greedy and a one man show on the field but pesky as hell just like in reality, this game clearly captures the inner essence of the players like no game I have seen before, it has the sort of freeness PES doesn't in that in PES over 60% of my passes I make with my back towards the oppositions goal but in FIFA it is so easy to turn around and challenge the defenders or create more space for yourself or your teamates to pass to just by merely holding on to the ball, you have more space to work with gives you time to catch your breath and strategize but the games still keeps a fast pace and flowing, how is that?, I can actually see plays developing, there was a time when I was getting burned like hell on the through balls, breakaways splitting my defence, but now I can see the holes forming in my "D" and I would respond by plugging it or I can actually maually play the offside trap, now I would average allowing 1 or 2 breakaways a game, you have to be patient on defence, everybody keep to their assignments, if you play PES style you will get burned whether it being creating holes in your "D" or just running your team ragged and don't have enough juice by the second half, this game is a true sim in every sense of the word, You can acutually feel momentum in this game and even feel the shift, you can see and feel your teams get tired, they get sluggish, passes aren't as crisp, not as fast, tired defenders start to make mistakes (10 foot one touch passes, not a good idea), therefore it forces you to become strategic, changes your game, you can feel the difference in a really good teams from average teams from the pass accuracy to the way your strikers disappear on the field. I absolutely love this game where it's the 70th minute and I am down by 1 goal just finished patiently defending and now got the ball back, I feel like a general marching down the field with his troops looking to tie the score. I love that feeling. The animation IMO is not good or great, it is absolutely spectacular! not given enough credit, very underrated at times, to say the animation in this game is "good" is a travesty, every game you swear you saw a new frame of animation, it's just that great, almost everything you see on the real pitch you saw in this game, I love when you have the ball and you beat a flatfooted defender and seeing his little leg sticking out as you skip by him, sometimes clipping you or not, Some of the hard fouls are awesome to watch and shooting in this game is absolultely sweet and smooth as a baby's behind.
FIFA IMO has done a great job putting the intricacy of football into this game, it is far from perfect, such as dribbling can be a tad easier but not like PES, I love FIFA's way you have to have a good dribbler where technique and strategy is involved, get your man out of position or flat footed. but all in all it's a great start.
