Fifa 11 and PES 2011 Review (PC)

[abhaybhegde]

: noobalert : Guys , i am new to this football thing.... never played it . Which is the best one to start off with ?

PS: @ OP Awesome minireview.. repped

 

[Aman27deep]

Guys what is the best price for PES 11 DVD ? and where ? have to get it soon

need to present one to my nephew - for his Birthday

Its not yet launched in India (I think) and if it does it'll cost over Rs. 2,200. You're better off buying him FIFA 11 and he'll thank you for that, lol.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

FIFA 11 is 900 Shipped on Intencity, sweet price

Intencity - Fifa 11 [pc]

 

[GameNome]

Two things i didn't like in PES 2011 are the dribbling which is incredibly cumbersome and the power in passes and shots, its like the players have a cannon attached to their feet.

Only thing that is better in PES compared to FIFA 11 is the crossing, however PES still has the feel of having more freedom to score a variety of goals.

Guys what is the best price for PES 11 DVD ? and where ? have to get it soon
need to present one to my nephew - for his Birthday

get it from shopto.net , doubt its available in India

 

[pinarina]

Have you even played the PC version of FIFA 11 or just making assumptions based on previous games... Just playthe both games and then comment here. FIFA pawns PES on all systems this year...

well, I've told what I felt while playing FIFA 11 demo.

 

[Zloyd]

From a simulation point of view FIFA is prehistoric compared to PES, for people who watch a LOT of football know how the players are in real life what they tend to do better , which foot , all sorts of attributes PES actually tries to make this happen , FIFA doesnt do any of this. All that about individualism etc was typical marketing hype after playing it its the same thing.

FIFA = NFS 2 (you can take many turns without even braking)
PES = GRID

I have tried both games and I really liked FIFA09 a lot when it came out but really after a while its too easy and the challenge of PES calls you back. Put simply you want to just pick up a controller and play then your game is FIFA , you like football like a nutter and you want a challenge, the games PES its been like that ever since the first PES and will remain the same as long as EA spend more on advertising hype than making a game engine like PES.

Im not knocking FIFA, its a game but if more realistic gameplay makes better driving games than PES is clearly the better game.

 

[GameNome]

From a simulation point of view FIFA is prehistoric compared to PES, for people who watch a LOT of football know how the players are in real life what they tend to do better , which foot , all sorts of attributes PES actually tries to make this happen , FIFA doesnt do any of this. All that about individualism etc was typical marketing hype after playing it its the same thing.

FIFA = NFS 2 (you can take many turns without even braking)
PES = GRID

I have tried both games and I really liked FIFA09 a lot when it came out but really after a while its too easy and the challenge of PES calls you back. Put simply you want to just pick up a controller and play then your game is FIFA , you like football like a nutter and you want a challenge, the games PES its been like that ever since the first PES and will remain the same as long as EA spend more on advertising hype than making a game engine like PES.

Im not knocking FIFA, its a game but if more realistic gameplay makes better driving games than PES is clearly the better game.

That would be true if you were talking about PES 5, but the last few years PES has increased difficulty not by improving the AI when the difficulty level is increased but by boosting the stats of the opposing teams players. This year I am playing as Tottenham in the Master league and I find it frustrating when Aaron lennon can't outrun old farts like Stephen Carr or Salgado under any circumstance, Titus Bramble starts playing like BEckenbauer and Nzogbia transforms into Ronaldo on Top Player level. PES just creates a false feeling of challenge when infact most of the AI defending is not intelligent at all, AI postioning is bad everytime they are just able to recover well because of artificially boosted stats.

Also most players have the turning circle of a truck and take a lot of time to accelerate to a decent speed, so the feel of the game is too heavy and sluggish. The only saving grace is the passing/crossing and shooting.

Fifa is at the opposite end of the spectrum because it is sometimes too easy to dribble and players turn on a dime but the AI positioning/general awareness is a lot better than PES. Neither FIFA nor PES are realistic representations of football. A mixture of the best parts of FIFA and PES would make a very good football game.

 

[edge111hussain]

After a 4 day gaming marathon, id have to say without a shadow of doubt, that the PES gameplay rules. Also attributing to the fact is that there is a sense of repetition in Fifa. For eg in fifa, every junior plays a wide fwd finger and keeps playing through balls to him, aka messi.. I have played game after game blocking the wide player and counter attacking. In pes, its not so easy to pull of moves, it comes down to the skill of each player and the players positioning.
I complete agree with Zloyd, FIFA initially looked better, but over a period of time the lure just fizzed off whilst PES keeps making me come back for more..
Anyways, if by some patch pes can get the pes 10 camera back, im going PES this yr too/////////////

 

[Zloyd]

Gamenome I completely agree with you man , ive said it before but PES has its faults , and some are really really irritating especially the defender AI and player switching which drives me nuts at times when im trying to select a particular defender.

PES5 or 6 not sure which one it was but on the PS2 was the absolute best , it had such nice feel , long shots were a joy to get right and there were so many good things about that version that me and my friends played a lot of it in 2008 when we got a PS2 to kill time with. After playing that and PES2009 of that time jeez PES2009/2010 felt like such crap , speed was so overated , ppl just shouldering past defenders , it wasnt a game I enjoyed too much.

They have fixed some of that with this version , the shoulder barging past defender isnt happening , ronaldo messi and other fast players cant just run around ppl THAT easily , it takes a defensive mistake or ideal situation etc its not as simple as it was last few versions where once you get the hang of it nothing short of a 85 rating defender is catching and stopping some of the really good players. Ofcourse this current version could turn out like that only we are just new to it and still figuring out the timing of the dribbles etc.

I used to find through balls in PES an absolute pain and infact it still is , its cause it requires a timing , in fifa just tap the button and poof through ball your winger is stretching the defense and the opponent is at your mercy, it gets boring after a while when anyone and everyone on the team can play near perfect through balls all the time. Also FIFA players showed me a weird shot from out side the D , they que it up do a half circle or something with the right stick and ball swerves like mad and wee nice goal but not realistic and from certain areas good players pull it off all the time.

rant end

 

[sa_ill]

@Edge111Hussain and @Zloyd

Good to see some nice 'real' opinions about the games over here.....keep it going.

 

[Aman27deep]

PES 10

FIFA 10

==

PES 11

FIFA 11

Table has turned, some of you will not understand it though.

 

[edge111hussain]

^^^

V do understand it, but imagine u playing online, and game after game the only thing the opponent does it plays through balls down the wing with messi or anelka or ronaldo to receive em and they run past ur lb or rb with gr8 ease. The pass never misses and the wingers are never around to catch em.

Its become so monotonous that i permanently keep my SW back to make sure i can counter these endless through balls.

 

[Zloyd]

Tell me something what is the diff in mechanics between fifa10 and 11 , it feels like the same thing.

Aman like you most of my friends prefer fifa over pes for the same reason , the passing is simpler and what you imagine in your head is easier to do and thats cool , just for me PES is nicer , the timing of the dribbles are harder and when it comes of , when you get messi to skip past a few players and dart into some space or xavi takes a nice turn and you pop a sweet pass , or you land a cracker with van persie's left foot thats what brings me back to pes the ability to mimic the players real game play style the satisfaction is immense.

Its a game at the end of the day, play what you enjoy more and give other games a chance so you dont get tunnel vision.

 

[Aman27deep]

Tell me something what is the diff in mechanics between fifa10 and 11 , it feels like the same thing.

Aman like you most of my friends prefer fifa over pes for the same reason , the passing is simpler

Won't say no more mate, outta this thread now ^^

 

[channabasanna]

Hey all, want to know where we get the PC version of PES 2011. It is not available in Intencity, wanted to buy it a soon as i saw its price as 500 in the Times Crest edition (bangalore) of last saturday. In the Times Crest he had given a full page reviews and comparisions for FIFA 11 and PES 2011. Any link (EBAY India) or details where i can get it in Bangalore would be helpful.

 

[Gaucho14]

The thing regarding playing Puyol as playmaker and Iniesta as CB works only against the AI.Play wid me sometime...u'll get what i mean.Drogba would just brutally murder Iniesta...infact he murders all the defenders

Was going through this thread

http://www.techenclave.com/gaming/pes-2011-fifa-11-pc-demo-175055.html

and the direction to where the discussions were heading. Though I'd write a mini review to sort the matters out. I have also posted this on the thread above, but thought I'd start a new thread, because the title of thread linked above doesnt do justice to what I want to say.

OK. Here are my mini reviews of both the games, mind you, I'm will only be comparing the PC versions.

FIFA 11

Personally, I've been a little sceptical about FIFA since FIA 99, so I might be a tad little opinionated. FIFA 11, just like FIFA 10, 09, 08, is a game with all the bells and whistles i.e. The Features. FIFA excels when it comes to graphics, a close to reality tele experience, great sound (Pro Evo cant even come close to FIFA on this), commentary, licensing, online play, support etc. Now, what do I have to say about FIFA's trademarked features such as Pro Passing etc?

They just sound cool, but they dont really portray themselves truly into the game, as in, dont justify what they're intended to do. With FIFA 11, the deal is, you play 30 games, and then you'll know exactly how to score, the exact spots from where to shoot. Also, almost all the goals in FIFA 11 look just the same. Its not a game to build up and develop to. You learn the tricks, do them at the right time, bang, you're past the defender, it couldn't get any easier.

Players are not even close to their real life counterparts. Their animations might be exact, but I'm not talking about that. Take Drogba for example, or Ibrahimovic. These players are bulky and swear by their physique for goalscoring. In FIFA, they're not like that. Take David Villa for example, Villa scores through dummy runs, draws defenders, and also through his excellent vision in positioning. Villa in FIFA 11 isnt like that. In FIFA 11, have a player that runs fast, has good shooting stats, and thats it, score goals to glory. See this is all it depends on, stats. Drogba is such a great scorer, but if you have him in FIFA you cant really do much, thats because his Speed stats are low, thus he cant run fast. Now thats something what I call a flawed 'heart'. And theres a reason why I've noticed all hardcore FIFA players use the Sprint button during 100% of the time spent playing. This is what EA can never understand. Look at all their games, they market them through bogus trademarked features with cool names.

Now, the defending. Again, defending is not all about speed, agility. There's a whole lot of tactics and mentality involved in defending. Example: Spain and Barca defender, the young Gerrard Pique, big tall guy, with big feet, defends excellently in FIFA, and he is a good defender in real life. Now, take John Terry for example, John Terry is more of a steal and interception kinda guy, not a one-on-one dogfighter defender. And thats something FIFA cant show in his defending character.

Another major flaw I saw in FIFA 11: I decided to have a little fun with it, with Barcelona as my team, playing against Real Madrid (yes, El Clasico baby!), playing online with this Polish player @Kotikolakraw (5 star rated). He had Real, so he had the advantage of stats, with Ronaldo, Higuain, Kaka, Benzema etc.. I was just chilling, wanted to have some fun. I made Messi my goal keeper, Valdes (originally a keeper) and Pique (DF) my strikers, Iniesta (AMF), Xavi (CMF), Busquets (DMF) and Villa (CF) my defenders, had 2 DMFs, Pedro(WF) and Bojan (CF), 1 CMF, Maxwell (LB), and 1 AMF, Puyol (CB). So here's what happenned during the match: Messi's goalkeeping was totally formidable! I did concede 4 goals, mainly because the opponent was firing high flying curve shots from C.Ronaldo, but Messi did save some 10 shots, diving all over the place. I lost the match, 4-3, but I still dominated possession for most of the game. Iniesta, a thin little man, who'd I swear drop at the touch of fly, was an excellent defender through all times, tackling Kaka till his knees ran out. Puyol, my main playmaker of the game, made some excellent through balls and lobbed passes, setting up goals for Valdes, to score.

See the point? This is what I'm talking about. The FIFA 11 engine failed to differentiate between players in this scenario. Valdes (who is actually a goalkeeper) scored 2 goals for me, one from an excellent bicycle kick, which frankly I find it hard even with Villa or Messi. FIFA couldnt understand this. And this proves that players are not programmed to be how they actually are. Its just certain limited parameters set in the engine and that decides what a player should do. This makes the game scope very limited.

I'm not saying FIFA 11 is bad. It is a HUGE, I mean a HUUUGE improvement over the previous FIFA versions. I never expected to EA to really come up this high. They did infact surprise me. But when it comes to being a close to the real thing, an actual good football 'simulator', nah.

Plus, the heart of the game, is not something you can build and develop yourself on. Soon, you'll get to know the quirks of the game and this will only lead to you winning 10-0 all games even at the highest difficulty. I'm sure ALL, and I mean ALL, of you FIFA players out there have experienced this.
Verdict: Go for FIFA if graphics, sound, commentary, presentation is your main priority. FIFA is something you can show off with. But the engine is undeveloped, and more precisely, flawed. You can enjoy the game now and then, but for long term playing, plus playing with real serious challenge in mind, this game doesnt cut it.

PES 2011

The Japs call their version of the game Pro Evolution Soccer, sounds cheesy, just like everything Japanese, but then again, is deep, and precise, just like everything Japanese. The graphics of PES 2011 have seen an improvement, but still their lighting effects are not something to rave about. The stadium, the pitch, the audience, are all strictly above average. The presentation, I must say, has improved a million strides over last year. Its superb! Plus the tactics menu, is again, brilliant, no-nonsense, and gives you the options you want to fiddle with. There is a hidden philosophy in the PES system, it invites to change the way your team plays, and to try different playing styles, like possession football like most Spanish teams, attacking football like the Dutch, midfield run throughs like the Argentines, or simple through passing tactics like the British.

The player stats are what sets this game apart. They have some 30 various rated stats, like Attack, Defence, mentality, speed, Short Pass Accuracy, Short Pass Speed etc. Each player has these things like 'Pokemon cards' kinda thingys, introduced only last year, like 'Extra Attacker' for Pique, who occasionally comes up front to help score, Incisive Run for Messi, means cutting through the side into box to score, Dummy Runner for Villa, Enforcer for Mascherano, Goal Poacher for Torres etc. This is what makes these players unique.

Messi is Messi, Drogba is Drogba. When you make runs with Drogba, you can feel his physical presence on the defenders, the way he goes through them. He is slow, but that doesnt seem the issue, just like his real life counterpart. You have someone like Darren Bent, sneaking past defenders from out of the box to receive a pass inside and score, and this is actually how he seems in PES. Iniesta, always making a presence everywhere in the pitch, has the Free Roaming pokemon card, and does behaves likewise.

Next, the major improvement in PES 2011, THE PASSING! The freedom to pass the 'EXACT' way you want to with the new passing system, plus some change in the game mechanics here and there, is totally AWESOME! (I rarely use the word awesome but I couldnt resist this time).

PES wants you see the beauty of this game called football. Wants you to find you own style of play, whether wide, narrow, possession, etc, and develop it, and see what works out best for you. This is where its sense of realism comes into play. Its a refined system, built on and improved for years and years, exploring depths which let me tell you, is hard for game developers of any genre to go into, never can you find games this deep in their engine. Some games are, for sure, but PES is something special.

The beauty in the PES engine is unbelievable. Sometimes me and my friends, after a nice long session of PES, just admire and discuss about how deep the game is. The players, the passing, the defenders (which was a weak point a few years back), and the goalkeepers (huge improvement again this year).

In PES, ALL GOALS you score are scored differently. There is no 'sweet spot' to shoot from. Keepers may behave in an exactly similar situation differently from how they behaved before, it depends on countless factors, and this is what actually counts.

Conclusion: PES 2011 is the closest football sim to what one can get of the real thing.

ADIOS AMIGOS.