Share

‘PES 2016’ Closes the Gap on ‘FIFA;’ Developer Confident Franchise Can Reclaim

Giving them a more significant role in the game would illustrate their real-life importance in a match.

Advertisement

But there’s an issue with this approach, and it’s that if this is all you focus on, you start to lose sight of the forest for the trees.

And as with all PES reviews, we are legally obliged to point out the lack of licensing for English teams, and select one of the more laughable examples to accentuate this: welcome to the big leagues, East Dorsetshire.

Aside from the occasional change of an underlying engine, the updates often seem cosmetic – new faces on the teams, the latest sponsorship on team jerseys – or incremental additions or tweaks to game play.

Look past the results, though, and in the past few encounters the flow of the game tells a more nuanced story.

AFTER years in the wilderness, Pro Evo, once the undisputed champion of football games, has been gradually reclaiming its competitive edge.

Instead, get used to sprinting into space and slowing down again when you’re in traffic.

This stuff might all sound like fluff compared to the core gameplay, but it’s important fluff, and for many can help be the deciding factor in which of these two games they devote the next 9 months to playing.

We’d like to thank Konami and EA for supplying us with the keys to make all this possible. If a striker takes a shot toward either bottom corner, the best keepers in the game will lumber down as if they have all the time in the world as the ball rolls into the net.

Many are saying that PES 2016 is a big step up from the last game in the series, but the game’s rosters are still stuck firmly in the past – 2014, to be exact.

While launching one at goal is less predictable than previous year, it’s immediately apparent that crossing will be the method Federation Internationale de Football Association 16 online players exploit.

Harnessing the power of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain’s FOX Engine once again, PES 2016 changes things up by introducing a brand new physics system.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 encourages the player to try out different ideas, testing the limits of the opposition to see where they can find the opening to move in on goal while simultaneously making sure that their entire team moves back in order to defend, especially against moves on the flanks.

Another interesting way to experience Pro Evolution is MyClub, a take on FIFA’s wildly popular Ultimate Team.

These are the decisions you’ll be faced with, but with the entry fee standing at 15,000 coins or a Draft Token (unless you want to pay real cash), there’s the total possibility you won’t make any profit from winning the four-game tournament. There is even an upgrade system, similar to an RPG title, that allows your club to evolve as you improve. Jostling and angling for position is now just as vital as what you do when you are in possession. Win them all and you’ll earn gold and premium gold packs for your regular FUT squad. PES 2016 rewards players with astute tactical intelligence and the willingness to experiment, but it’s also a ruthless in its punishment of your own errors. For anyone who doesn’t know, Master League is the equivalent to Fifa’s Career mode. It was also pointed out that the game is smoother, being a sublime passing game that players can enjoy and allows players the freedom of importing as well as editing.

But that’s only if they can see past the shocking refereeing, the shabby goalkeepers, and the AI oversights that we’ve mentioned. EA’s FIFA, flush with cash (and Premier League licenses), emerged around seven years ago as the dominant football title, superior to Konami’s rival PES series in nearly every regard.

Advertisement

From time to time, it feels all too easy to score goals in the new football sim from Konami, and there are also moments when getting to the goal of the other team feels entirely impossible, but nearly every match in the game delivers a moment that will stick around in the minds of players long enough to be shared with fellow fans and players.

Konami Think PES Will'Clearly Lead FIFA Again Soon