, please do be aware that there's still plenty of work to be done here in terms of physical interactivity, heading and a fair few basic animations...

Positive tweaks all-round; Ball physics finally straightened out; Tactical defending is brilliant; Immersive gameplay

AI defenders stray too frequently; Some bizarre animations; Online modes still lacking

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 seems like a much needed improvement for the franchise, but the lack of licenses and visual improvement still gives FIFA the edge, but only just. The controls for PES have evolved greatly this year and it has a great career mode.

You know football season has started when it is raining outside, kids are back at school, and the press is full of news about the stars and fans of the beautiful game causing uproar one way or another.

Many fans of this popular gaming series know how stale the PES (Winning Eleven in some countries) franchise has become. Many have persistently bemoaned the spiral downwards after changes came after Pro Evolution Soccer 6 - arguably the best PES by far. That is, until now.

This is an amazing game!!! This is a lot better than Fifa!!! Pes 13 have returned to its best performance!

All the single player modes that have been staple for the last few years once again make a return. With the main single player focus once again being the master league. Unfortunately these are nearly identical to last year's versions with no apparent changes.

My history of football games: Sensible Soccer, World Cup '94, Sensible World of Soccer and then Winning Eleven , the series that eventually evolved in the Pro Evolution Soccer . As such, before you start reading this, it may be worth taking a trip over to my " Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 " preview ,...

So it comes as no surprise that when you fire up the game for the first time, not much looks different on the surface. Visually, the game is similar to

Been playing PES 2013 for a few hours now and got to say it's better than Fifa 13. The one thing that puts it head and shoulders above EA's latest outing is that you need to work hard to score. You can't just play a through ball or square the ball to score as in FIFA, you have to carve out a chance.

There has been a clear leader at the top of the table in recent years, and that has been FIFA. Konami has promised improved AI, better controls and more tournaments for this latest incarnation in the Pro Evolution Soccer series. Can it hit the back of the net for the fans?