Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 Reviews
Pro Evo is still struggling to match FIFA on match atmosphere, presentation, accessibility and commentary – all areas where Konami could and should be doing better. Yet it's a fantastic football game once you hit the pitch, with brilliant close-up graphics, superb animation, convincing ball physics and player interactions and a fantastic feel for the ebb and flow of the match.
This is a very solid entry into the series and one that fills you with hope for the series future, even with all the continual negativity surrounding Konami's video games focus going forwards. It's one I can recommend wholeheartedly. What's even better is that as this review goes to press, you can easily find a copy of the game for £25 in many retailers, should you wish to give this a punt. Which you should.
Football for the connoisseurs
I wanted to like Pro Evolution Soccer 2016, I really did. Sports games are a specialty of mine, and I'm always excited to try the latest versions of the big time franchises. My disappointment with the game rests solely on how recycled everything feels. I want some innovation in my sports games, some new ideas that will challenge me and test my limits, but here I get the video game equivalent of a uninspired shrug. Konami, if you read this, please try something new with PES 2017, as I really don't want to be disappointed as soon as I press start next year too.
Far from the distilled purity of the sport it seeks to celebrate, PES 2016 comes across as an over-engineered appliance—an unfortunate reality, given the craftsmanship being smothered underneath as a result. For all of PES 2016's inching improvements in the way players interact on the field, the game seems more intent on bombarding you with the number of licensed leagues, kitschy diversions, and other doohickeys vaguely associated with soccer at its disposal.
PES 16 may not be the greatest soccer game of all time, but it’s definitively worth your time and money. It’s a game that delivers a very satisfactory sports experience both to fans and newcomers.
It's hard to go through the bargain bin of any hole in the wall game store without seeing a plethora of sports games priced at a solid £1.99. PES 2016 sets itself apart from these throwaway titles. Although it doesn't innovate, it does everything very well. Where many games want to just make the yearly mark, PES 2016 seems to have demanded, of itself, a level of quality that many yearly instalments could really learn a lesson from. Hopefully they will, because if this indicates anything, yearly instalments can look and feel beautiful.
This is the second PES on the new gen consoles and it seems to be improving year on year, but will the addictive gameplay compensate for the lack of content as it goes head to head with its FIFA rival once more this year?
PES has won this round over FIFA, but it may not be quite the victory they were hoping for. It's a massive leap in the right direction with its innovative gameplay and features, but simple mistakes have stopped it from being the new Pro Evolution Soccer everyone was hoping for.
Konami has made the years-long derby with EA interesting again, posing a stunning comeback with its latest effort.
PES 2016 gives players a great choice besides FIFA and if you're a fan of one series or another, migrating to another game can be difficult. Konami have also listened tot he players and PES 2016 is definitely one of the most all-rounded soccer games from their franchise that successfully tweaks the gameplay to create a great next-gen experience on the PlayStation 4.
PES 2016 is a fantastic sports game that every avid football enthusiast should own.
PES is the ultimate football game for players. Fans may be scorned by license woes, but if you want to play a high quality football game that looks and plays just like the real thing than look no further.
PES finally finds the balance between stout sim and accessible arcade, but a poor port cast shadow on an otherwise great game.
PES 2016 offers a smart, strategic, thrilling and unpredicatable game of football.
While there's a robust simplicity to the gameplay that is engaging, right or wrong, we've all got used to a level of completeness and polish that PES, even twenty years on, is still sometimes missing.
PES 16 is very close to the game long-term fans have needed and demanded. It inexplicably manages to match terrific, absorbing gameplay with awful presentation everywhere but on the pitch.
Meanwhile, PES is the football game for people who love the elegance, grace, and flow of the sport. PES has always been good at that, and this year's edition, while only making subtle tweaks to the on-field engine, has done so so effectively that it has become the definitive take on the sport.
PES 2016 offers some notable improvements, especially for series veterans, but a lack of polish in certain areas keep the game from reaching higher ground.
I've felt over the last few years that Pro Evo was starting to get somewhere again as a football game, and with 2016 they have nailed it. The gameplay is the best it's been in years, the licenses issue is not really an issue any more with a little bit of extra work that will just take an hour. I just hope the commentary gets some looking in to next year as that was one of the biggest issues I had with the game, and stopped it short of being a perfect football game.