Pro Evolution Soccer 2017

With smarter AI opposition and an altogether smoother online experience, PES 2017 is close to the complete package. FIFA’s new story mode might be the most headline-grabbing feature of either game this year, but it’s clear Konami is in no mood to relinquish its title as king of the virtual pitch.

PES is playing its best soccer in years, but it still struggles with features and online matches.

Despite a lingering scrappiness, this is the best PES in an age.

A very good football game, but why are we being fobbed off with a console-light experience?

A long-overdue return to form that finally surpasses Pro Evo's PS2 glory days – and, assuming presentation woes are fixed, lays the foundations for an all-new footballing empire.

An absolute joy to play, and with Master League and MyClub coming along nicely, this title is a force

The traditional PES v Fifa rivalry is back – and Konami has produced its best football simulation since the glory days of PlayStation 2

I want to recommend it heartily but I can’t. Not quite. The lack of licenses doesn’t bother me in the slightest – and it really is stripped down, with just two Premier League teams and no Bayern Munich – but the lack of bells and whistles that exist elsewhere in the same game really does. Imagine Lionel Messi playing in that Colardo Caribous strip from back in the day. That’s PES 2017 on PC.

PES 2017: Pro Evolution Soccer is an excellent football game in which fun and realism are balanced. Every pass, every tackle, every goal feels like it has meaning, and Konami has done a great job of creating the ultimate matchday atmosphere. Master League, with its new improvements, is more fun than ever and oozes personality, while the wide array of customisation makes the game personal and prevents the game from suffering too much from its lack of licensing.

To this date there has never been a football sim that has handled gameplay the way PES 2017 does.