For me and to be honest none of the two games simulates real football, both games excel in different aspects of the game but also fail in some.
Below I will give my honest opinion about the two games especially after spending many hours playing both online and offline since launch.
I will focus on the most important aspects of the football game and if both games have managed to replicate it into their videogame by marking out of 10 each aspect so that we can have a clear idea on which game does offer the best "footballing experience" to date. I will also talk separately about modding for PC users and how it does help improving the gaming experience of both games.
Tactics, passing, shooting, dribbling, runs with and without the ball, players positioning, defending, skills, graphics, presentation and licensing are the aspects I believe are more important in modern footy video games.
TACTICS:
Forever has been one of konami's key features but didn't improve since pes2018, meanwhile EA with FIFA20 just built one of if not the best playable tactics footy game, by not only copying dynamic tactics from Pes but improving it, very effective and vast.
**Tactics Rating**
PES 2020: 8,5
Fifa 20: 9
PASSING:
When it comes to passing execution, PES is by far superior but the lack of variety makes it boring and repetitive in the long run which balances this aspect in favour of fifa specially in situations where in real life some players like Firmino, Reus, Alcantara, Isco... uses their flair and skills to open gaps. It's annoying that we have no control what so ever on when to use some of the flair passes animations in PES, they are executed randomly which take out the decision making aspect from the player to the hasard, where the IA decides for you.
I broke the rating to two major points in order to have a fair general mark on passing.
-Raw passing: (execution, basic)
Pes 2020: 10
Fifa 20: 7
-Variety of passing: (flair, animations, total control and decision)
PES 2020: 7
Fifa 20: 10
**Passing rating**
PES 2020: 8
Fifa 20: 8
SHOOTING:
Just like passing, the execution of the shoot and the weight of the ball in PES is a treat but the luck of animations just makes it boring and predictable, there are players in real life that can score screamers from akward situations like Rivaldo, Guedes, Beckham.. and that's because their body structure and ankles agility.
-Raw shooting:
PES 2020: 10
Fifa 20: 8
-Variety:
PES 2020: 8
Fifa 20: 9
**Shooting rating**
PES 2020: 9
Fifa 20: 8
DRIBBLING:
Again, when it come to basic movements and if we judge each animation separately and not in sequence with another animations, PES will win because they perfected the basic, but that's not the case, the lack of transitional animations makes Pes players look like robots and conditions the smoothest of the gameplay, plus the inexistence of manual shielding of the ball makes dribbling in PES a gamble rather than control which most of the time results in frustration, and the new finesse dribbling system is a downgrade of the system used in pes2019. In the other hand fifa dribbling visually is conditioned to the type of screen and frame rates, it looks like ice-skating on 60hz as the frames are locked to 60fps and smoother and more realistic when played on 120hz screen with free fps, I will rate my experience on 120hz. Dribbling in fifa is also conditioned to the difficulty of IA when playing offline and the defending skills of the opponent online, it looks like fantasy football and favours speedy players when good player play against weak one, exemple: when playing divisions the matches results are usually high and easy to score solo goals by dribbling the whole team but the higher the division the more difficult the dribbling and less effective speedy players with less ball control and balance, just like in real life, give Neymar time and space to think and he will run through all team, but the Neymar who plays against teams like le havre o Nantes is not the same as the one who plays against Juve, Madrid o Liverpool because of the quality of the opponent.
I love the freedom in fifa where the gamer skills is what makes the difference, while in PES dribbling is a constant struggle between the gamer and himself, lack of freedom, random reaction of the players and hazardous ball shielding plus over powered defensive second player support (I win the ball back most of the time with the player I'm not controlling) just kill the game for gamers that prefer deferent type of football.
**Dribbling rating**
PES 2020: 8
Fifa 20: 9
RUN WITHOUT THE BALL AND POSITIONING:
Konami favours defenders over strikers and short passing over long passing when it comes to one vs one and reaction, which explains the luck of strikers positioning and runs behind defenders (as if the strikers are stuck in the mud sometimes), Pes 2020 is an excellent one dimensional tikitaka football experience offered by konami, but real football is not just that, and fifa 20 this year managed to improve and balance attacking and defending skills, where strikers makes cutting small runs to lose the marker and the good defending system based on gamer defending skills allows the gamers to feel the need to be totally focus throughout the whole game, mistakes are really expensive in fifa 20. I use manual long passing and when combined with ability to manually ordering the player without the ball to make runs to the empty spaces (it's possible in PES too but less effective) and good individual instructions in tactics menu, all results to more dynamic, varied and realistic gameplay when playing FIFA20.
To me this is the aspect where fifa 20 shines over PES.
Rating:
PES 2020: 7
Fifa 20: 9,5
DEFENDING:
No need for explanation here, fifa kills Pes in this aspect. In PES defending and tackling is assisted where u don't really see or notice the impact of the gamer skill, the IA does most of the dirty job, the tackles made by supporting player are more effective than the player who has the cursor. In fifa 20 defending is a skill, you need to defend in zone and blocks which explain some of the unrealistic goals in YouTube where a good gamer go against a novice and starts abusing the skill moves to create content, because if they go against their match (same level) they won't be able to score goals like that nor perform the sequence of 10 skill moves in a row.
Defending rating:
Pes 2020: 6
Fifa 20: 9
SKILLS:
Both games offers good amount of skill moves, the difference is in the execution, more difficult and less responsive doesn't mean more realistic, konami prefers it that way. I prefer the approach of EA, easy and responsive to execute but hard to apply in game when playing high level against legendary IA or higher divisions online.
**Skills rating**
PES 2020: 8
Fifa 20: 9
GRAPHICS:
PES 2020 doesn't fail in the basics, the level of details when it comes to partner teams stadiums and faces is second to none, players modelling and ball physic are better than fifa's, fifa though uses less gigas to create double the content!! Anyway without linking graphics to presentation PES wins here.
**Graphics rating**
PES 2020: 9,5
Fifa 20: 9
PRESENTATION:
I will go straight to the rating because it like day and night.
**Presentation rating**
PES 2020: 6
Fifa 20: 10
LICENSING:
Both games allow modding on PC, I don't play on consoles, so my opinion is based on what I'm experiencing as a PC gamer.
PES are lucky to have one of the most loyal and hardcore community in the industry, konami relays on the community to spread the OF and mods to cover up the luck of licenses, I will rate the community will and not PES2020 it self, because if not it unfairly affect a lot the overall rating giving that licensing is not a game breaker.
**Licensing rating**
Community of PES: 10
Fifa 20: 10
OVERALL RATING:
PES 2020: 8 (PC experience)
Fifa 20: 9
CONCLUSION:
Overall and after setting in mind that both games are not a real simulation of real football and giving that they are the only close experience we have to real football, I find that fifa 20 is closer to reality than Pes 2020 as a whole, yes PES is better when it comes to the simple things and basics but that's not enough, real football is a mixture of skills, speed, power, tactics, flair, bit of fantasy, tricks, focus, mistakes, atmosphere.. and not just passing and shooting.
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