Pro Evolution Soccer assistant producer Klaus Garner has kicked off this year’s football game PR war by saying that rival game FIFA is ”like ping-pong”. Fight, fight!
PES brand manager Adam Bhatti added; ”FIFA is all about scoring goals, they want to get you to that moment,” suggesting that PES has a more varied, realistic game.
”We have a game that lets you play real football,” explained Garner to Now Gamer, ”you can play counter-attacking, possession, long-ball… which you can’t do in the other title, where it’s more like ping-pong.” He might sound rather cocky for a developer whose game hasn’t always kept a high standard of quality over the last few installments, but it’s actually quite refreshing to hear someone say what they think, rather than blandly toe the PR line.
Both Bhatti and Garner acknowledge that having a reputation as the ‘connoisseurs choice’ hasn’t always helped their franchise, and that they’ve ”made a mistake” by sticking to that label before.
”We still are that,” he explained, ”I think we’ve proved that with our understanding of the sport in this presentation. At the same time as being the connoisseur’s game we don’t want to end up excluding people.”
In particular the PES developers criticise the importance of long through-balls in FIFA, which can dissect pretty much any defence with ease. It’s a criticism I’d find it hard to disagree with. Still, that’s your turn on the stand PES. Come on FIFA, take the mic and tell us why PES isn’t any good.
