Could This Be The Year Of PES?

Last year Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 was mostly considered to be the better of the two major Football (soccer) games because of its’ superior gameplay. It may not have sold quite as well as FIFA, but it managed to put up a competent fight, and maybe this year they might actually win.

Why does FIFA sell better if PES offers better gameplay?

Isn’t gameplay what matters most when it comes to gaming? Yes it is most of the time it is, but when it comes to sports games like FIFA and PES, it’s more about vicariously living the dream of playing with your favorite club/ team. It’s about the immersion. Immersion is what we want in our sports games and because EA’s FIFA brand has the rights to more clubs, teams and tournaments than PES they get the sales. PES has always lacked some of the official club names, logos and players ever since I first picked it up, and I genuinely loved it back then. More so than FIFA, but as I got older and more interested in the actual sport that the games try to replicate I started to play FIFA and never really turned back. I tried PES 14, and 15, but I always resonated back to FIFA and my Ultimate Team.

Other than licences for clubs and players, Ultimate Team is the next reason why FIFA had the edge.

I say had because PES now has its own variation of the most addictive mode in a sports game ever. MyClub. It is virtually the same type of mode as Ultimate Team, allowing players to buy and sell virtual pro players as if they were trading cards. It’s the kind of mode that is a game changer and with it now a part of PES, and with EA messing up the market in FIFA with price ranges, there may be more people migrating over with the next iteration these two popular games later this year.

What other additions make PES 16 more attractive?

PES 2016 will also exclusively retain its use of the UEFA Champions League club competition, which was announced recently. This new 3 year partnership allows KONAMI to feature both the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League club competitions within its many options, with both featured as individual modes or within the larger season overview upon qualification with the UEFA Super Cup featured within the iconic Master League mode.

Dynamic Weather – For the first time in the PES series, dynamic weather has been introduced, with the chance of rain starting during the game. Combined with the ever more realistic ball physics, the rain changes how the game can be played with passes speeding up, and players less skilled to struggle with trapping. The defender taken by the 1 on 1 will be covered with pitch blades by slipping and falling. This feature is applied to all offline modes including the Master League, becoming an important element to decide the outcome of the match.

Yes FIFA has added women to their game this year, and it’s something we’ve wanted for a while, but if they are left out of ultimate team which we speculate they will then they will be no less than a gimmick to the most regular players, who happen to play ultimate team more than any other mode.

With all that Konami has shown so far, plus all that they brought over form PES 15, its looking like the year of PES. It’s still too soon to say for sure, because all we have are trailers. E3 is just a few days away so we’ll get to see a bit more of the game before long, but at the moment my money is on PES. I want to have a reason to return to my roots.

if you’d like to hear more of my thoughts on this topic, then I suggest you listen to the Buttonsmashers podcast.