The new football simulator of Konami is now available, and it would be a real shame not to offer you one of our usual guides. So here's how to improve your game in Master League and in multiplayer, we will show you the best tactics in dribbling, attacking and defending, and how to upgrade them in PES 2018.
PES 2018 is, commands in hand, very different from last year's titlethus possessing a learning curve for both old and new players. To make things a little more realistic it is also possible to set up licensed teams in PES 2018, we will show you how to do it in the near future.
We come to practical advice which can come in handy in PES 2018, with our guide.
Take advantage of minigames to improve skills
PES 2018 offers a selection of some mini-games in the training menu, each of them focusing on a certain aspect of the title. You can participate to get higher and higher scores (and some trophies), but more importantly, to learn the nuances of the title. There is training for free throws, which encourages you to manage the ball and face real "walls", a "pig in the middle" mode in which you will have to pass the ball with precision and accuracy, and many others focused on basics like dribbling, charging, shooting and sweeping.
In all there are four difficulty levels provided by these minigames, going up in each of them you will find yourself grappling with situations that require gradually better reflexes. They are incredibly useful, therefore, for learning the various intricacies of the title.
Play in Regular mode or higher
Unless you are a practically hopeless football player, we advise you to ignore the lower difficulty levels, since through them you will hardly learn anything about the mechanics of PES; the level of challenge, then, will be practically non-existent. The Professional difficulty offers more variety in artificial intelligence and fun: playing something lower will put you at a disadvantage when it comes to switching to online modes.
At the same time, however, we also advise against starting with too high difficulty levels, at least as long as you do not properly master the game mechanics. Regular mode should be for you for a while.
Moderation pays more than random cannon fire
Whether you're playing against AI or online, starting to throw balls deep in hopes of hitting the door is definitely not the smartest thing you can do, nor a method by which to achieve results. You will certainly get more results with a game of patience and strategy: keep the ball under control, calculate the passes, the space between your players and the presence of the opponents before taking any other rash action. There will also be time for cannon fire and real stunts, but only after the right learning curve, and certainly not at all times. Instead, try to violate the enemy's defense: low shots can be equally lethal.
Automatic throw-ins, corners and shots on goal
If you are tired of calculating with due precision where the hell the curved indicator will stop at the time of a lineout, corner kick or shot on goal, know that PES 2018 has solved this problem by introducing a new set of automatic controls. The method is known (on PlayStation 4) as the “L1 and left analog method”: it will give you more control over where to place the ball and towards which player. It is certainly not foolproof, and a human player with a minimum of experience will be able to anticipate you, but in the meantime it is something ... especially in games against artificial intelligence. At least the ball will go where it needs to go.
Experiment with teams and new formations
Playing online with PES 2018 does not mean having to always and only use Barcelona. The title is packed with teams and players who can better suit your playing style than a Suarez, Neymar and Cavani. Experimenting is the only key that will allow you to find the right game strategy with which to defeat your opponents. Play a couple of matches against artificial intelligence or in online friendlies, with different teams and specific formations, to discover the potential of all the players. In the long run this will come in very handy.
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