FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer are some of the biggest names in the industry, played and bought by millions of people every year. The premium football simulation titles are obviously coming back for another edition, with PES 2019 release on August 28 and FIFA 19 launching a month later. Here in this feature, we’re going to take a look at fifteen total things you should know about both games, eight for FIFA, and seven for PES. Without further ado, let’s jump right in.
ACTIVE TOUCH SYSTEM (FIFA 19)
Year on year, EA Sports continues to makes small but vital changes to the moment-to-moment on-pitch action in FIFA, and that trend carries on this year as well. FIFA 19 will introduce something known as the Active Touch System, which is being touted as a complete rewrite of the systems that govern how a player approaches and receives a ball. The system changes how every player on the pitch receives or strikes a ball, and promises to result in more fluid movements.
50/50 BATTLES (FIFA 19)
50/50 battles is another new improvement that is being added to FIFA 19, and it’s going to determine how successful players are going to be during on-pitch physical battles for possession of the ball, or if they’re even going to be successful at all. This will be based on the specific attributes of a player and their movement at the time on the pitch. It promises to change things up interestingly, because where previous FIFA games often devolved to holding down a button during physical battles until you got the ball, with this new system working behind the scenes, possession battles between players should hopefully be more realistic and dynamic.
DYNAMIC TACTICS (FIFA 19)
Speaking of dynamic, the new Dynamic Tactics system looks to be a major new addition to this year’s game. It will allow players to customize and create their own sets of tactics before a match, and if EA Sports’ words up until now are to be believed, there’s going to be a great deal of control and fine-tuning. In the middle of a match, you will then be able to switch between the tactics you’ve created on the fly, making for a greater and deeper control over your strategies during a match.
TIMED FINISHING (FIFA 19)
Timed Finishing is how EA Sports are adding more nuance and greater level of player control to FIFA 19’s shooting. Essentially, after pressing the shoot button, you will now be able to press it once more, right before your player kicks the ball. The catch, of course, is that the timing for this second press of the button needs to be very precise. If you time it correctly, it will lead to a much better shot, with more accuracy, more power, and more curve. Interestingly enough, though, it’s going to be a risk vs reward system, because if you fail to get the timing of the second button press right, it will lead to a disastrously bad shot.
UEFA LICENSE (FIFA 19)
Of course, the biggest addition in FIFA 19, and the one making all the headlines, is that of the Champions League. While licenses for all UEFA competitions have been with Konami’s PES for a long time now, this year, club football’s biggest competition is making the switch. All UEFA competitions – the Champions League, the Europa League, and the UEFA Super Cup – are going to be included in FIFA 19, and you can expect them to be recreated with the typical polish and pizazz one usually associates with a FIFA game.
NEW COMMENTATORS (FIFA 19)
With the additional of the UEFA licenses comes the addition of a new commentary team as well. Longtime FIFA mainstays Martin Tyler and Alan Smith aren’t going anywhere, of course- they’re still going to be the commentators during most matches. During continental football though (which means, during UEFA matches), the commentary will now be done by a new duo, comprising of Derek Rae and Lee Dixon.
THE JOURNEY (FIFA 19)
The Journey, FIFA’s latest game mode, was introduced with FIFA 17 and returned for its second season last year, and it’s coming back yet again. Alex Hunter’s story will continue, as he returns, this time to battle for the biggest prize- the Champions League. Not much else is known beyond that at this point, but we do know that this is supposed to be the last chapter in Hunter’s story. Meanwhile, we can also expect Danny Williams, Hunter’s best friends, and Kim, Hunter’s half-sister, to make a return, but whether or not they will be playable like they were last year hasn’t been confirmed yet.
NINTENDO SWITCH VERSION (FIFA 19)
FIFA 18 launched on the Nintendo Switch last year, much to many people’s surprise, and apparently, it did well enough that EA Sports have decided to bring FIFA 19 to the system as well. Just like last year, though, there are going to be some concessions made, owing to the hardware’s lesser capabilities. It will run on the same custom-made engine that was used last year, so still no Frostbite, while we’re still not going to see The Journey on the game’s Switch version. Improvements have been promised though, from visual enhancements, to additions in the multiplayer component of the game.
MORE LEAGUE LICENSES (PES 2019)
Konami may have lost the big, coveted license for the Champions League and other UEFA competitions, but they’re making other, less prominent additions to make up for that. As such, Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 is going to include licenses for many official domestic leagues around the world that were not included in its predecessors. These include- the Scottish Premiership, Portugal’s Premiera Liga, Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League, and Sweden’s Raiffeisen Super League.
MORE PLAYER PERSONALITY (PES 2019)
Konami’s yearly strive for realism and authenticity continues with Pro Evolution Soccer 2019, and their focus this year seems to be on making their in-game versions of players more realistic, authentic, and closer to their actual, on-pitch personalities in real life. Konami are looking to give the players more personality to differentiate them from each other and to make them stand out as actual, individual players. How’re they going to do that? Well, they have a couple of things in the pipeline.
IMPROVED MOVEMENTS (PES 2019)
One of those things is a renewed focus on enhancing and improving the way players move in the game during matches. Players are also going to move more fluidly and organically, and improvements have been mode, most of all, to dribbling animations. Part of that is full body touch, a feature that was introduced last year and is going to be built on this year. This is going to govern, among other things, how a player interacts with the ball and how he traps an incoming ball is all based on his positioning, the ball’s speed, and other similar aspects.
NEW SKILL TRAITS (PES 2019)
More personality is also being added by just adding to the list of skills in PES 2019. PES 2019 will include a total of 39 skill traits for players, out of which 11 are going to be new additions. These new skills will be centred on a number of things, from goalkeeper-specific traits, to interceptions, to penalties, to individual aspects of shooting. Some of these, in fact, are even going to be a little fancier, focusing on things such as no-look passes and cross over turns.
QUICK SUBSTITUTIONS (PES 2019)
Quick substitutions was a feature that was added in FIFA by EA Sports with FIFA 17, but Konami weren’t going to let their game lag behind in any area for too long. Quick subs will now be included in Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 as well, and they’ll do pretty much what you expect them to do. Thanks to quick subs, you can now make substitutions during matches while play breaks with just one click of a button, rather than having to pause the action and go into menus.
MASTER LEAGUE IMPROVEMENTS (PES 2019)
Moving on the PES now, the Master League, which is essentially Pro Evo’s single player career mode, is going to boast some neat improvements this year. For starters, the pre-season cup competition known as the International Champions Cup is going to be officially included in the game, and will be part of the pre-season in Master League as well. Additionally, improvements are also being made to negotiations and transfers to make them more interesting and realistic.
XBOX ONE X AND PS4 PRO ENHANCEMENTS (PES 2019)
Konami are looking to make a number of improvements to PES 2019’s visual aspects. While all versions of the games will benefit from things such as better lighting, more realistic modelling, and other things, those with more powerful hardware at their disposal can expect a few bonuses as well. As such, on a PS4 Pro, an Xbox One X, and, of course, a PC, the game will feature support for 4K resolutions. Meanwhile, the game is also going to have HDR support.