PES 2016 – Review

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After a game, former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers would always speak of his team – whether they won, drew, or humiliatingly lost – as having shown “great character” and “resilience.” It is very easy to say the same of the Pro Evolution Soccer or PES franchise, a once mighty competitor to the FIFA franchise that has lost ground after an almost ten year decline and an inability to match the budget of the competition.
PES’s unique selling point has always been its just claim of being a simulator of the beautiful game, being more focused on passing, and slower-paced than its manic and dribble-obsessed rival. However, lacking the licensing for the English clubs (for example, Liverpool in the PES world is known as “Merseyside Reds”) has left it derided by Anglo-centric gamers, and aesthetically it comes across like a designer knockoff. FIFA’s rise has almost certainly been due to their exclusive Premier League license and said league’s explosive popularity over the last decade. In the end, PES only exists as an alternative to its main competitor and is usually applauded for trying but never succeeding to really topple EA’s immense cash cow.

How different things were at the start of September. PES had given FIFA the slip, planning the launch of the 2016 edition a week before FIFA’s, and had had its demo out for a full month beforehand. The demo was superb, drawing attention to the mechanics of the game’s revamped and silkier-than-ever gameplay and allowing players old and new to the franchise to get acquainted and comfortable. FIFA, for all its dominance, has many vocal dissenters, tired of buying the same game year after year with certain bugs and faults still not fixed, but a new lick of paint applied on top. Tides could have turned.

Unfortunately, PES 2016’s biggest and most fundamental flaw is actually a shallow one, but one that cuts deep to the very heart of football. Essentially, until the 29th of October (a month and a half after the game was first released), you cannot play career and tournament modes with updated team rosters, most likely due to contractual agreements.

Thus, in the world of PES 2016, certain ghosts of football’s past still stalk the pitch. Steven Gerrard’s very public retirement from Liverpool is yet to happen. Juventus’ Champions’ League Final-making squad is still intact. Mario Balotelli is still a Premier League striker. Football’s world moves very fast: reputations are made and lost within a week. Releasing the game with such a massive oversight towards the relentless march of time is obscene. The game’s slogan reads “Love The Past, Play The Future” – surely this is not what they were talking about?

Actually, the slogan is celebrating the franchise’s 20th anniversary – an outstanding feat in the fickle games industry – and seems to blazon a message of hope for what is to come. Unfortunately, for PES 2016, we live in only the present. So what is there to say about the game at this moment?

Its gameplay, tragically, is the best it has ever been. It’s the nearest we’ve come to simulating real world football with physics and pixels alone. Passing the ball in order to unlock an opponent’s defence feels like running your fingers through a pool of milk: smooth and intuitive. Every hard-bitten goal you get is different. The nature of the fun encourages you to ramp up the difficulty and challenge yourself further and further until you’re trying to take Rotherham to the Champions League Final on Superstar difficulty with all passing and shooting assists turned off.
It’s magnificent.

Sadly, it fails with all the ephemeral, silly things that actually count. PES 2016 could prove to be a football game for the ages, maybe just not the game for now.

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