PES and FIFA Formations Guide (Part I)

I play PES and FIFA with a friend who used to, without fail, use the default formations and slot names into positions. Then one day, after my lowly Wolves team beat his mighty Barcelona (OK, he wasn’t that good, but still), he crossed over to the dark side. Now sometimes our pre-game strategizing takes longer than the games themselves.

The point of this little anecdote is that setting up your team’s formation is one of the most overlooked things in football video games. You can have a lot of fun — geeky fun, nonetheless —tinkering with formations and getting the best out of your players. And as a bonus, you can also mastermind some unlikely victories in the process.

Firstly, a few disclaimers: This is not a tactics masterclass for two reasons. One, I’m not terribly bright. And two, we’re talking about video games. No matter their progress, at the end of the day the football we play on consoles is nothing like the football we see on TV. These games are still heavily tilted towards the gamer’s skills as opposed to their tactical understandings. Plus the AI is still nowhere smart enough to recognize and replicate the intricacies of each tactic.

What this is, is a starter’s guide to get you on your way to thinking and experimenting with different tactics. This article barely scratches the surface of each formation’s strengths and weaknesses. And as always, there are exceptions to the rule, so if I suggest that certain tactics are good for teams with certain styles, and you happen to disagree, by all means give it a try anyway. Either way, when you get your tinkering right and see the effects on the field, it’s a very satisfying feeling.

Read More - PES and FIFA Formations Guide (Part I)