PES 2019 Review: 5 Reasons It's Awesome

5. A Serious Goalkeeper Upgrade

One of the most frustrating, rage-inducing issues with last year's game was the goalkeepers (or perhaps, more accurately, lack thereof).

Now to be fair, goalkeepers got a raw deal in PES 2018. Not only would you frequently see them doing some of the most mind-boggling things - a Tom Daley dive for a shot that resembled a back-pass was always a bit excessive - but their overall animation and AI just felt a bit lacking at times. Then again, after seeing Loris Karius' Champions League Final performance, maybe they were onto something?

Nevertheless, the outcry from fans was clearly loud enough, because this year the men between the sticks have received a much-needed overhaul. Shot stopping has drastically improved, while the frequency of which they manage to get a hand to something is much, much higher.

Alongside their performance upgrade, goalkeepers have also been given a whole host of new animations that feel far truer to real-life. Gone are the days of your 'keeper looking like Bender from Futurama, and now watching your number one pick a long-range bullet out of the top corner has never been more satisfying.

As always, there's room for improvement - the mechanics for goalkeeper's coming out to close down a player probably still need a bit of work - but with such a vast upgrade to every other aspect of goalkeeping, this feels like a minor issue.