Pro Evolution Soccer back on the field

Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 has returned to challenge FIFA for the throne of best soccer game.

Since last year, the gameplay has been improved, animations are more fluid, and the physics have been updated. The AI is brilliant and the visual appearance of each team is faithfully reproduced.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 offers excellent details like players looking like the athletes they’re based on and immersive, atmospheric stadiums.

Competition for everyone

Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 has multiple game modes: friendly matches, international competitions, online multiplayer, Master League, Become a Legend, and the new My Club which is like FIFA Ultimate Team.

The game has licenses for major international leagues like the Champions League, Europa League, and European Super Cut. National leagues are included, but are unlicensed.

For beginners, Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 includes a training mode through skill games that teach you the techniques needed to succeed at the game. Many of these games feel similar to FIFA though.

New feeling of gameplay

There aren’t big differences between the controls of 2015 to PES 2014, but the updated animations provide better responsiveness.

Player animation is more believable, but there are still some times when they move clumsily. Ball dribbling looks a lot better and the speed of players on the field is convincing.

Ball physics are much better, replacing the the heavy bowling-ball feel that the game previously had.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2015’s pace is more reasonable than FIFA’s and allows you space and time for better strategy with the team.

You can use its system creation and management system to create tactics for matches. These can be applied at specific times during matches which gives a game a more dynamic tactical flow.

The AI is more believable and rather than following predictable actions, it adapts to how you play to make games more challenging.

One of the things I liked most is that PES 2015 was able to reproduce the play styles of big teams. FC Barcelona is known for being possessive, Real Madrid exploits speed, and Bayern focuses on strength and unpredictability. It makes playing Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 feel like a real match.

A stadium in the living room

PES 2015 offers better graphics. The physical resemblance of famous players is amazing and smaller details are also impressively shown.

Stadium atmosphere is great, crowd noise is realistically modeled, and the intensity of the crowd audio is based on how the match is going. The audience participation contributes a lot to the realism of the game.

Is FIFA dethroned?

PES 2015 is a great soccer simulator.

Konami’s steps are remarkable in the improvement of the game. The game isn’t perfect though because of a smaller number of official licenses, the dated looking menus, and not all the animation has been improved.

These are small gripes against an otherwise really fun game though.

The gap between FIFA and PES is even smaller and Konami has gained a lot of ground with Pro Evolution Soccer 2015.