FIFA 17 vs PES 2017

FIFA 17 VS PES 2017: WHICH SHOULD YOU BUY?

Here’s a snippet from Max Parker’s FIFA 17 review:

“FIFA 17 is another strong iteration of the iconic series, and one that looks to lay the groundwork for future titles by switching to a new engine. The hyper-realistic graphics are great, with facial expressions finally helping players look more than ghosts.”

"PES 2017 plays the best game of football I've ever experienced, offline. Online it continues to suffer with similar issues to last year's entry, albeit there are improvements across the board but nowhere near to the level I was hoping for. I've been able to enjoy some lag-free matches, but these tend to be the exceptions which prove the rule." – Brett Phipps

FIFA 17 VS PES 2017 – GRAPHICS

EA has changed its graphics engine for FIFA 17 from Ignite to Frostbite, the same tech that powers the likes of Battlefield and Mirror's Edge. The improvements for the most part are subtle, but for the likes of stadium lighting, it’s significant.

The floodlights now emit a gorgeous bloom across the pitch at night with quality lens flare. Replays of the game now bringing realistic depth of field, too.

Some leading players have also been performance-captured to bring even better expression to the game, as well as tripling the number of animations. In the game, however, players look largely the same, albeit a year older.

Of course we also have managers in the game, although they don’t seem to have been given as much TLC as the players on the pitch. In situ they look great, but when the likes of Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp open their mouths, they have a weird goldfish effect and the illusion is broken.

PES transitioned to the FOX engine in 2016 and it offered a huge improvement, with players looking incredibly realistic. Konami has developed this further in 2017, with better lighting effects, animations and a revamp of stadia.

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PES 2017 offers a stunning game of football, with player detail incredible, especially with the officially licensed teams. In motion the game can look gorgeous.

However, PES lacks the detail of lighting visuals that FIFA offers with the new Frostbite Engine. It also doesn’t quite capture the atmosphere of the stadia, primarily because, again, few are official and can deliver a real, relatable experience.

PES 2017 is an absolutely gorgeous looking game, but we’re giving a very narrow win to FIFA here.

Winner: FIFA 17

FIFA 17 VS PES 2017 – LICENSES

FIFA 16 lost a couple of league licenses, most notably the Brazilian league. However, EA has always remained king of licenses, naturally, being the official FIFA game.

Konami, however, has made a very aggressive push to level the playing field in the license game. As well as the likes of Arsenal and Atletico Madrid and the entire Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, PES 2017 will feature FC Barcelona as the game's cover official stars thanks to an exclusive partnership between the club. Messi and friends are all over the game, as are Barca’s kits, stadium and club crest.

Konami also secured licenses with Liverpool FC and Borussia Dortmund. The iconic Anfield stadium and "You'll Never Walk Alone" chant feature in the game along with the Westfalenstadion. As well as visually being able to represent these teams, Konami has gone the extra mile to be able to tactically represent these teams, too. Players will be able to adopt team tactics like Gegenpress – popularised by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp – and Tiki-Taka, Barcelona’s iconic keep-ball style, in the game.

This is, of course, on top of Konami’s continued hold on the Champions and Europa League licenses.

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However, with every license Konami secures, it brings to light the absence of others. The likes of Man Red and Man Blue remain, and this will no doubt be a sticking point for some players, FIFA aficionados especially. However, to compensate for this, Konami has made it easier than ever to download Option Files from other players which include all the official kits created by the community with File Sharing.

The PES community creates incredible kits and badges of all the teams each and every year, and now it’s incredibly easy to download the files and add them to your game (on PS4 at least). TrustedReviews has done it and even written a guide for you to do the same. Click here to learn how to download and install all the official kits in PES 2017 with Option File Sharing. Well, as long as you have a PS4.

However, even with the great lengths Konami has gone to, FIFA is still the license king.

Winner: FIFA 17

FIFA 17 VS PES 2017 – ONLINE

Online proved an enormous flaw in PES 2016. The game of football we got to enjoy locally was massively spoiled when we tried playing people around the world, thanks to crippling lag, meaning a significant portion of the game was lost.

While the experience is definitely more stable in PES 2017, it’s still not good enough to offer a smooth and seamless multiplayer experience. It’s a real shame as the game is so excellent to play, but is still a little hampered online.