Pro Evo vs FIFA

Well it's time for the annual comparison, yet much earlier this year thanks to the wonderfulness that is Sony. The PS3 is region free as I've mentioned before so I imported PES2008. The PS3 and the 360 are such different beasts (duh). Microsoft wants to lock everything down and make it impossible to share roster files and you have to buy a seperate memory card to do so, while the PS3 is region free and only needs a plain old flash drive to transfer rosters. The PS3 is an amazing machine short of the online service (ugh :( )

As far as my comparison of PES vs FIFA, here goes.

Graphics

Advantage FIFA

I'm no graphics whore (my love of High Heat Baseball from 99-2005 proves that) but PES still looks like a PS2 game IMO. FIFA's graphics are much richer and bolder and the players look more lifelike. FIFA wins this category hands down.

Controls

Advantage PES

The Controls in PES are still much more fluid and responsive than FIFA though FIFA has improved markedly this year.

Online

Advantage FIFA

PES came with a CD key type system to play online, plus it's on the God Awful PSN. Granted, I don't know how PES plays on the 360 thanks to Microsoft and their "region lockdown" but as of now FIFA plays better online

Sound

Advantage FIFA

Martin Tyler is a God among Commentators IMO. I've listened to him on Premiership Live and other programs for years and he is among the best. The two announcers for PES are horrid and I've turned down the commentating. FIFA wins this one hands down

Gameplay

Advantage PES

I'm playing PES on Professional as well as FIFA. The gameplay of PES is just more fluid and has the "fun factor" that FIFA doesn't seem to have. It seems like the roles have been reversed this year. In the past, it was always much harder to score in WE and much easier to score in FIFA. It's just the opposite now. I'm seeing more fouls in PES as well as more cards than in FIFA, plus the computer substitutes as well. PES is not without it's faults. The gameplay is too fast and the rubberband catchup AI that has been in every single PES/WE for years is still there. You still really have to turn on the D in the last ten to fifteen minutes of a game to stop the catchup AI.

Other modes

Advantage :FIFA

As much as I love the arena player section of FIFA, I'd love to have a practice mode to practice free kicks and corners. I have that in PES and enjoy it. As far as franchise modes, there's nothing better than Manager Mode on FIFA IMO. It completely blows the master league out of the water. I haven't played the master League on PES in years. You can't set the leagues up properly. It's time for Konami to ditch this mode and copy FIFA's manager mode. It really can't be beat as there's nothing more satisfying than taking a lower level team in England to the top of the Prem

I love both games, but have to give the nod to PES for gameplay and FIFA for most everything else. Don't get me wrong, I love FIFA's gameplay as well, but it's just not as fluid as PES. FIFA is catching up really quickly. Here's my plans for the rest of the year as far as both soccer games

Season mode PES: Valencia and some Italian team

Manager Mode FIFA: West Ham, Borussia Dortmund, and Celtic Manager modes