Opponents do seem to adapt, too: after scoring from two swift, direct counter-attacks as Real Madrid, Liverpool managed to cut off Cristiano Ronaldo’s supply line, and it took a scrappy last-minute deflected strike before he earned the match ball. There’s no one sure-fire way to win, and while there are a few sweet spots (a corner hit with just above medium power into that corridor of uncertainty between ‘keeper and defence was quite a reliable source of goals for me) you’ll rarely be able to rely on the same tactic twice. You’ll need to identify not just your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, but your own, plugging gaps, and modifying your attacking style. If you’ve got a slow centre-back pairing, then you’ll see plenty of attempts to play pacy strikers in behind you, either via slide-rule through-balls or high passes aimed into space. If a full-back gets a yellow card, you can bet a smart opponent will try to exploit that booking, focusing their sorties down that side of the pitch. You won’t just see that intelligence in your own teammates, either.
It’s important because it means that any time you lose the ball, any time you concede a goal, it’s hard to blame anyone but yourself. Mistakes happen, but they’re rare, and more commonly attributed to your own errors. Here, wing-backs offer themselves on the overlap midfielders drop back when possession is lost defenders step out to play strikers offside keepers sprint from their boxes to clear lofted through balls just before the opposition centre forward can lash it goalward. The fact that it will go unnoticed by some is perhaps the biggest compliment you can pay it it’s perhaps more starkly noticeable to me because of its apparent absence in FIFA.
It’s no exaggeration to say that the artificial intelligence here is some of the finest I’ve encountered in any sports simulation. Firstly, let’s highlight the area in which PES compares most favourably to its biggest rival. This year, ‘the pitch is ours’ is developer Konami’s mantra. PES 2015 can still be a little rigid in places, but I've not experienced anything close to that moment with EA Sports’ equivalent, FIFA 15. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed not scoring in a football game quite so much as this. The fans hold their heads in their hands and I follow suit. Yet he's in luck: it drops just over the crossbar, grazing it on the way, before rolls over the top of the net.
He stretches out his fingertips, even though he knows he's not getting close to the ball. The 'keeper, clearly not expecting a shot from range, backpedals desperately towards his goal as it comes down. The ball’s trajectory takes it quite high, but Tevez has hit it with topspin. Play I can’t possibly resist, and squeeze the square button, releasing just before the gauge reaches full power.
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