
As someone who felt EA had the upper hand in this area last year, I'm astounded at the PES series' progression in such a short period of time. It's not perfect, but minor irritations like strange referee decisions and cursor-switching issues are unable to overshadow the primarily excellent gameplay. Everything from passing to player movement has been enhanced, making the experience feel more fluid and authentic than ever before.

Elsewhere, goalkeepers are a revelation, making huge advances over one of last year's weakest areas. It allows the AI to learn how you play and adapt its strategy over time, requiring you to get involved with some of the more tactical elements of soccer, changing formations and implementing advanced tactics on a game-by-game basis. Not only does it get the basics right, but it captures many of the intricacies and complexities that make the sport of soccer such a captivating game to follow.Īdaptive AI is a good example of this. It doesn't do this through a host of new headline features or a wild restructuring, but via expertly crafted refinements. However, I live and breathe soccer, and in my eyes, PES 2017 offers one of the best representations of my beloved sport since the series' PS2 days, both in a single player and multiplayer setting. It's a shame because, while the game suffers from occasional button lag and slow matchmaking, matches are very enjoyable when a smooth connection is established." "Much has been made of PES 2017's disappointment in terms of online play, particularly due to an apparent lack of dedicated gameplay servers. That said, casual and arcade-favoring fans might actually enjoy multiplayer contests in their current format, offering an abundance of end-to-end gameplay, pacey attacks and regular goal opportunities. The AI begins to suffer too, falling out of position on a semi-regular basis. FIFA 17's online servers are much easier to work with, but multiplayer gameplay only serves to highlight the game's unbalanced mechanics, putting too much emphasis on attack and not enough on defense.

It's a shame because, while the game suffers from occasional button lag and slow matchmaking, matches are very enjoyable when a smooth connection is established. Much has been made of PES 2017's disappointment in terms of online play, particularly due to an apparent lack of dedicated gameplay servers. It feels like it has been developed for CPU play, and there's a lot of fun to be had in that setting, despite the lack of tactical diversity. FIFA's highlights are plentiful, with the game packing incredible goalkeepers, refined passing mechanics, new shielding mechanics and more.

That's not to say that FIFA 17 is a bad game, but a disjointed one. As someone seeking the most authentic football experience possible, I see PES 2017 as the more preferable option of the two. FIFA 17 and PES 2017 are wildly different games from an on-the-pitch perspective.
