I hate FIFA, I mean I love it but... yeah, everyone who plays it knows the feeling. I'm mainly a career mode player and I've heard PES' career is relatively terrible, it looks like EA is actually making some improvements to career this year so I might stick with FIFA. It's the first year I've ever truly been up in the air though, I played the PES demo and it was genuinely a lot of fun.

I tried the PES demo but the animations and controls seemed very hard to get used to. The speed of the game is also a bit weird but I might play the demo again just to see if I am convinced. I went from playing Fifa 2004 in 2010 for playstation and then when I got an xbox I started with Fifa 12. I don't think there will be that many new changes in the next Fifa and Ive wanted an improved career mode for the longest time. I do have to admit that the Ultimate team is the first thing I play and then after 2 or 3 months I get mad at myself that I keep on loosing games I should have won and that I spent lots on money on cards. This year I might just skip out on soccer games and buy Madden 16 since I havent played it since Madden 06 for PC.

I've been on the PES fence for 15 years and I can't see myself changing. I had a brief foray into FIFA from 2008-2013 but, whilst the animations were greatly improved, I miss the way PES does AI.

Scripting's always going to come into play in sports titles so I'm not too fussed about that. PES on Superstar difficulty, though. Nightmare.

Is there an option to skip them entirely? I don't know what it is, but FIFA went from being a fun game that wasn't difficult to master and have high level play to this MOBA like levels of nuanced and intricacy that you have to spend tens of hours to figure out your best formation, players and tactics. It's still fun when I'm playing 2v2 with a bunch of friends over, but playing 1v1 is just not fun anymore. Compared to Rocket League, which was simple pick up and play, I think I'm done with FIFA entirely.

Rocket League!

I've had at least one of them every year since 2005. Was mostly with PES through the PS2 and early PS3 before switching to FIFA. For the first time this year I'm going to skip both games. The additions have become more and more incremental in recent years which I appreciate as they have reached a level where it's hard to make big changes but leaves me thinking it's not worth buying every year anymore.

I'm going with FIFA, mainly because I play on PC. I tried out the PC demo of PES last year, and it was a terrible port. The PES team hardly acknowledges the PC version of PES 16, so I'm under the impression that it will be bad this year as well. I had PES on PS3 when it was free from PS+, and I think the AI is a lot better than FIFA.

That being said, a lot of the early reports of FIFA 16 have been great, saying that the AI has been massively improved. The guy that runs a popular PES blog has been saying that his early time with FIFA 16 has been great, and it is one of the best FIFA games he has played. I'm looking forward to it.

@brandondryrock: Damn that's a pity. Im a PC guy too! I did notice that they released a demo for all platforms except PC :( Either way, I'll try both games out, but this is the first time im even thinking about PES

@mtfikhan: But that's fun! :D I'm always finding out new ways to stun my friends. Example - learned ground crosses pretty late on, and my friends were like whoaaa (it's a pretty basic move but who remembers to push the cross button thrice?)

@shindig: Do you feel PES has more realistic/ intelligent AI and tactics in comparison to FIFA?

@novadth:I know how you feel. I hate FIFA and love it a lot too :D About the career mode though, I've heard the complete opposite. Apparently PES is going to have a completely revamped "master league" mode, with cutscenes as your manager does conferences etc, allowing you to "live the life of a manager." Sounds pretty exciting, and the kind of stuff EA has been missing. Fifa on the other hand apparently has not made too many changes to its career mode, from what I heard.

Absolutely. Teams in Pro Evo seem to have different styles and will change things up to win a game. Player movement's pretty good so you don't have to goad them into making runs. Teams in FIFA all seem to keep things on the ground. and its a little predicable.

@brandondryrock: The thing the PC port has over the console versions now is how modable that version is. I think the majority of the series' sales have come from the Playstation camp, though which may be why the PC port winds up rough.

@armaan8014: Yeah the tackling stuff drives me insane. They made it tricky enough to actually put in a tackle already, you don't need to make it so I have to successfully tackle someone 5 times before I finally win the ball.

That video didn't even touch on the goalkeeping. They run out in a straight line when you hold triangle so it's so goddamn easy to turn them, plus they make awful mistakes and decisions all the time.

I am bad at Fifa, but I'm straight up dogshit at Pro Evo,

Scripting was the primary factor that made me leave FIFA last year. Weird goals with the a single adversary player getting through my entire defense, full backs running the wrong way, and so on. Not fun when that happens at the last minute of a Champions League final.

After playing the demos of both FIFA and PES 15 for a while, I started enjoying the slower rhythm of PES a lot more. It puts more weight into passing plays, instead of dribbling ones.

All I know is PES had a greatshowing on the Gamespot stage with Danny at E3 2015.

@shindig: Yeah, I've been told about the modding, and that it is really easy to get all the teams in the game through mods. I admit a big reason I go to FIFA is the license. I am a big MLS fan, and it is nice having those teams in the game. I don't think they are PES.

I remember the PES community getting just as irate over scripting, there might even be a quote from Seabass, maybe five years ago, about wanting every match to tell a story, or something like that.

I've played FIFA for the last couple of years and I haven't really seen too much of a change in the gameplay. I find playing the AI dull in single player and the treadmill grind of ultimate team doesn't really appeal to me any more. I might have a look at PES (loved 2011, perfect passing controls), but I'll probably skip this year.

Fifa, because of Ultimate Team.

PES's MyClub mode is basically that. As for gameplay changes in general, its always about minor shifts. Neither side have the time or impetus to make major changes. At best it feels slightly different or you make statements along the lines of, "Well, this year feels like a slow, defensive or whatever game." Sports game development is a dark, evil art and you only get major upheaval if one competitor is being battered or there's new tech available to the teams (FIFA in 2007/8, PES in 2014).

@armaan8014: Sure it is, but it gets ridiculously frustrating when someone does something extremely simple and scores and when you try to repeat it, the games engine just presents something that would never happen.

@mtfikhan: Hahaha yeah I can totally I understand.Still, I hate/love Fifa and think i'll be playing it for some more years still :P

I was a PES player throughout the PS2 era and had the first 2 PES games on Xbox 360 before switching over to FIFA. Konami really seemed to struggle to get their act together in the previous console generation and have been playing catch up ever since.

I've been finding myself more and more disinterested with FIFA with each release and I buy it each year out of habit now purely because it's the game that generally gets played when I have people around my house.

I gave the most recent PES demo a go, and it does seem like Konami have finally got it right. The trouble is, the game is so different to FIFA and this point I can't be bothered to invest the time to get good at it so I'll probably just stick with FIFA again.

I'm really undecided. I was PES from PES2 through to about PES 2009, then got FIFA 11 and stuck with that for a while before progressing to FIFA 15 last year. But I definitely feel like I could go back - I played the PES demo and my initial response was good. I think the passing feels much more responsive than FIFA's, while the skill moves didn't click as easily as they do on FIFA (though that could simply require more time investment on my part to learn its nuances). PES has more of an arcade-y feel because it allows more player control, whereas FIFA tends to be a little weightier and more animation-heavy which makes it look smoother but gives you slightly less control at times.

Presentation wise I still think FIFA looks noticeably better, but PES still has better player likenesses. FIFA's career mode has never grabbed me quite as much as old Master League used to, but when I last played a PES game the Master League had fallen a little out of favour and wasn't quite what it used to be. Hopefully if that's back to greatness then I'll be back in, but I'll wait for reviews on both to decide. It also probably matters a touch which my friends want to play as I'm the guy with the PS4, but I think they'd be fairly happy with either and if I end up getting PES 16 we'll still have FIFA 15 to switch between as we feel like it, so if the games end up being close in quality maybe that will swing things in PES's favour.

I actually really disliked Fifa 15, it just feels so loose with it physics and almost every match you have some incredibly dumb moments, also many clear fouls that don't get called. Career mode is also a complete snorefest, as it never feels different whichever team you meet, facing Manchester City and Crystal Palace is basically the same thing, one has a bit faster players. I also still think the online netcode is kinda crummy and it never feels great.

I haven't played PES since 08, but will keep my eye on it.

@yates: Yeah I'm in the exact same boat!

FIFA 15 has been the first year where I've not put in over 100 hours into it across the whole year, and the reason was simply that I got fatigued of it. Career mode is lifeless due to the AI ALWAYS playing the same way (despite what EA says) and as I play on fully manual controls going online is a non-starter. The early impressions of FIFA 16 haven't really done much to convince me that it will be any different this year. A real competent PRO Teams feature could lure me back, but I haven't heard anything about it (I think it was removed in 15). To be honest, I think I might just skip this year (will be the first year in over a decade I haven't bought one of either PES or FIFA).

I long for the PES 06 days (and a group of mates who regularly want to come round for sessions), but every time I download the new PES demo I find myself impressed but unwilling to put the hours in to unlearn all my bad habits from FIFA and relearn how to play PES.

The funny thing is, last year NBA2K15 was given away on PS+ and despite not having played a basketball game since NBA JAM, I ended up having a great time with that game. Perhaps it was the novelty of it, but 2K really seem to know how to make an engaging single player sports game. Perhaps they could try their hand at our little sport as well?

PES need to do something in career/online to set themselves apart rather than just have rubbish modes that copy FIFA. MyTeam was pathetic last year, worse than the very first year of UT in FIFA 09, and the Master League is just a joke now (I bought two players on deadline day, the game told me they would come in January, the disc went straight into the box and onto eBay). I played a Wii PES with an interesting Master League, where after each game you chose a card to improve your players, like how you got new Personas in Persona 4. (TBF, I'm a sucker for card mechanics in anything) They don't have the licences, so they can literally come up with anything they want for a career mode.

As for actually playing the game, they're both good and bad in their own ways, but the animations in PES just wind me up, while the jankiness of FIFA is quite funny at times.

I don't... think it matters as Konami's servers have always been a little sketchy.