Pro Evolution Soccer 2015

Konami have, after a long time, brought themselves back into the fight with the FIFA series with a shout, thanks to a massive improvement over PES 2014 in every possibly way. PES 2015 is probably the best PES game till date.

After several years of seemingly going through the motions, PES 2015 absolutely nails the football side of things whilst making small advances other departments. There is still work to be done for next year, but for now, where it matters most, PES is on the up.

After an extensive rebuilding process, PES 2015 is a series back to its best. It embraces its PS2-era roots while offering almost everything you could want from a modern football simulation. The marketing blurb isn’t just braggadocio on Konami’s part; the pitch really is theirs.

Launching the counter-attack.

While still suffering from a lack of licenses, Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 makes up for it with some of the best simulation style soccer gameplay in gaming.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 is a massive improvement on last year’s edition of the game. The general off-pitch interface is still pretty amateurish and clunky in places and desperately needs a full overhaul. A patch to sort out some niggling AI issues that do become annoying quite quickly would see this gain another point, but even with those annoyances, the quality of the experience generally shines through. There’s a lot to like here and the game definitely has the potential to hook you, as it has us.

So; if you’re in it for the offline solo play, you’ll find an excellent game of football here that’s the best this series has served up in recent memory, with lots of different modes including the ever-present and devilishly addictive Master League. If you’ve got your heart set on competing online, however, I’d advise you to stay far away. I’m torn here, because while the on-pitch action itself is great, the shockingly bad connectivity issues and general feeling that Konami rushed...

This series is back, no doubt. I feel like dirt for caring so much about league licensing and broadcast presentation when the action PES 2015 offers is this intelligent and well-balanced. FIFA 15, after all, did not keep me up to 3 a.m. playing for the Copa Sudamericana, whose participants, at least, are all bona fide. Things like licensing, broadcast presentation and even menu interfaces may not help a game, but they're much more easily addressed if the rest of the game is fundamentally enjoyable. PES 2015 is. I would much rather play soccer in this game than in FIFA 15.

The enjoyment level of Pro Evolution 2015 is down to how you like to play sports games. It’s a lot more tactical than FIFA and feels a lot less scripted at times. Through-balls don’t just automatically work and passes and shots will go widely astray. The different is though, it will mostly be your fault when these things happen. Sure, it can be hard to score at times but it provides for a intense match of soccer and if you’re the type of person who likes to be tactical and perfect your plays, Pro Evolution Soccer 15 should be right up your alley.