“PES 2018 should not suck on PC this year,” Alice wrote back in May. She was referring to FIFA’s great rival finally running with current-gen console graphics on our platform of choice, rather than using the previous-gen engine as has been the case for FAR TOO LONG. Well, all the fancy bells, whistles and advertising hoardings are in place, and you can see all of those glorious multi-million dollar haircuts in glorious detail. That’s not to say everything is shiny though because there seem to be seriousproblems with the online portion of Pro Evo 2018. I haven’t been able to test it myself, bit hopefully it’ll be fixed soon given that the game has been out for a day now. I loved last year’s game despite all of its flaws, it’s just a shame that so many of the flaws were PC-specific that I felt the need to (gasp) recommend the console versions. As punishment I wasn’t allowed to have dessert for a week, even missing out on Rhubarb Crumble Tuesday, but I had to report what I knew to be true. PC PES was a bit rubbo. It’s shinier now, but still lacking all of the licenses that FIFA hoards like a dragon sitting on a pile of gold. The PC version is cheating a little bit, by virtue of the fact that it doesn’t really need to brag about any new features thanks to the updated graphics seeming like a new feature. My favourite mode, Master League, has been improved for the managerial types as well, and an ancient feature returns in the form of Random Selection Match. I remember this from a PES game many years ago – you pick a region or league, and the game randomly creates two teams using every player from your selection as its pool. It’s daft and entertaining, with an element of Fantasy Football about it – Fantasy Football if you pick your team while drunk. Most importantly, “special attention” has been paid to “kit fitting and short size”. Now we just need an eighties mode for those super short shorts. PES 2018 is £54.99/$59.99/€59.99 on Steam. A demo is available from Steam too – look for the ‘Download Demo’ button there. Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
