The two titans of football gaming PES 2020 and FIFA 20 will be going head to head this September but which one will be right for you?
The 2019/2020 season is finally up and running, and that can mean only one thing. It’ll soon be time for the release of the two juggernauts of football gaming, FIFA 20 and eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 which is such a ridiculously long title that I’ll be calling it Pro Evo from here on out. Each year these two go head to head for your money, and each year they promise to deliver so much but have, on more than one occasion if we’re honest, not always followed through on these claims.
With no real hands-on experience available, outside of the PES 20 demo and whether or not you were lucky enough to get on the FIFA 20 Beta (which I wasn’t), a lot of what follows in this guide is going to be conjecture. However, there is more than enough information out there for me to make a big enough educated guess on what parts are going to be owned by which title. So with that in mind, come with me as I take you through a preview look of both FIFA 20 and PES 20 and try to figure out which one is going to be better for you.
PES 2020 vs. FIFA 20
Presentation
Verdict: Pro Evo
The one thing that Pro Evo has had to hold over FIFA these past few years is the fact that graphically it looks a lot better, at least when it comes to player presentation. This might very well be down to the fact that FIFA has a huge amount of characters that have to be rendered every time, whereas, PES doesn’t. So, there are going to be those that don’t get the loving treatment that they deserve but having spent a fair bit of time playing the Pro Evo demo I can confirm that those that take to the pitch do look just like their real-life counterparts. Even if Messi does look a little cross-eyed at times.
Gameplay
Verdict: FIFA
Now, this might seem like a strange choice as I have already openly admitted that I’ve not had a chance to play through FIFA 20 yet in any capacity, but there is a method to my madness here. The thing is that PES 20 is pretty much more of the same, has it has been minor improvements here and there for far too long now. Don’t get me wrong, it still plays brilliantly, but with the only real innovation being that they’ve used both Andrés Iniesta and Ronaldinho to help get dribbling and ceratin flair moves right, it means that it just hasn’t done enough to win out this year. FIFA, on the other hand, promises a whole host of new features such as improved AI defending, better 1-on-1 shooting, and as well as all-new penalties and free-kicks systems for you to get to grips with and that’s just naming three additions that EA claim have been tweaked.
Licenses
Verdict: FIFA
Can we all agree that this one is a no-brainer and move on? No? Okay then. Let’s look at the facts, FIFA has the FIFA license; Pro Evo has Merseyside Red. Yes, I’m a little pedantic here, but it’s so obviously FIFA that this entry is a tad pointless. It doesn’t matter that’ll be able to download an update that changes all the teams to the correct names on day one when PES is released. Also, it really doesn’t matter that you’ll have to put in the Juventus name yourself when you boot up FIFA, the fact remains that with thousands of clubs to choose from and millions of players, FIFA wins this by a country mile.
Career Mode
Verdict: Draw
Even though neither game has covered themselves in glory with their career modes over the years, I usually would’ve just given this to FIFA. If for no other reason than it gives you far more choice with where you choose to start your rise to glory. Want to be the money bags of Man City? Then off you go. Fancy a challenge and decide to manage in the back end of Russia? Then you can do that as well. Add into the mix that EA has promised that this mode has been given a lot more than a facelift, with press conferences, and interaction with your squad members affecting morale, then it seems that FIFA should win this outright. But there’s a big part of me that’s intrigued by the new interactive dialogue system that PES has implemented into their game. The fact that it’s supposed to change your story as a manager as you progress could be a brilliant move by Konami. Or it could just end up being the same question and answer rubbish that we’ve had to deal with in Football Manager for the past decade.
Online Mode
Verdict: FIFA
There is no doubt that Pro Evo has a great variation of online modes and with the change of title to eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer it’s guaranteed that Konami is going to be making that part of the game even more critical as they go forward, but the fact remains that FUT in FIFA is a monster. It makes EA an obscene amount of money every year, and there is zero reasons to think that that will change with the release of FIFA 20. PES may have the brand new Matchday Mode, ready to unleash upon the world, but FIFA will crush it as fans scramble to give them their credit card details, on the off chance that that brand new pack of rares will be the one that pushes their team over the top. Add into the mix that Volta Football will also be playable across the internet and this is easily going to be another year where FIFA come out victorious.
Overall Verdict
Winner: FIFA
If you’ve read through this to this point then you’ll see that I think FIFA is going to be the better of the two in the battle of the football games but, if I’m too be honest, it’s going to be a lot closer than most people think. PES is on the rise again, and that makes me happy for a lot of reasons. One being that I’m still convinced that EA is the Devil and the second being that if we get two games that are competing on the same level, year in, year out, then, as consumers, we can only benefit as neither company are going to want to slip up and lose ground. This will, hopefully, mean they keep improving on their product with major tweaks each time out. At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal choice. If you’re a dyed in the wool FIFA fan, then there is nothing I can say about PES that’ll make you jump ship, and if you’re a bonafide PES head, then the same applies. As for me, I make no excuses about the fact that I’ll have both of these in my collection over the next month, just because I have friends that play one but not the other. I also make no excuses for using yet another picture of Virgil Van Dijk to finish this guide off as I’m a Liverpool fan and I love him and want to have his children.
