Pro Evo continues to keep it real

For most fans of football video games, playing the latest edition of FIFA or Pro Evolution Soccer is a constant. It is the one activity in their life that evokes the same level of enthusiasm at the age of 45 as it did at 15. We are definitely in this legion.

The first football simulation we picked up was a heavily discounted version of EA Sports’ FIFA 2001, about two years after its initial release. We’ve played some form of virtual football every year since. Our first experience with Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer was back in 2006. Till date, we have played 13 editions of Fifa and six of Pro Evolution Soccer. For those of you keeping count, yes, we did play both, some years.

From our decade and a half with these games, we arrived at a couple of basic conclusions regarding the amount of enjoyment a player can derive from them. Firstly, very few players can play both games equally well and the amount of fun you can have with these games is directly related to your skill level. Secondly, whether you’re playing a pirated version on a PC or online on a PS4 or with other people in the same room on an Xbox dramatically alters your perception of the game you’re playing. These variations in gameplay ensure that the comparison of the two competing titles that most reviewers embark on is completely inane. Therefore, this review of Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 on the Play Station 3 will will attempt to deal with the title in total isolation and henceforth refrain from mentioning or referring to its competition. So if you want to know if it is better than EA Sports game-that-will-not-be-named, please go read another review.

Realism over polish Pro Evolution Soccer has never had much polish to boast of. It has always lacked complete licenses for all the important teams and players, its menu interfaces have never been the best in the world and its graphics leave a fair bit to be desired. This continues to be the case with Konami’s latest effort. However, where PES usually excels is its almost lifelike recreation of the intricacies of player movement and ball control. Things like the extra swivel that a player’s body makes in order to receive a lofted pass or the inevitable stumble that results from an off-balance dribble are all incredibly realistic.

PES 2016 takes it to the next level by adding a new layer of competition through players’ inherent physicality. As a result, barging players like Yaya Toure and Nemanja Matic off the ball is exactly as hard in the game as it is in real life. Dribbling is smooth, easy to pick up and actively encouraged and even occasionally assisted by the AI. Shooting is a tad on the easy side in that players who aren’t exactly known for their goal-scoring prowess find themselves capable of unleashing pile-drivers from range. But this doesn’t mean John Obi Mikel becomes a regular feature on the score sheet by any means. The player still needs to be able to pull off everything leading up to the shot like getting into a good position, losing his marker and creating a decent shooting angle.

Comically inept referees The defensive side of the game is far less enjoyable than the offensive though. Positioning and timing of the tackle are important, but if you ever make a mistake and need to recover, it helps to remember that PES’s referees have a rather understanding attitude towards brutal violence on the football pitch. Red cards are an absolute rarity and clear-cut tackles from behind regularly fail to elicit a free kick, let alone a card or a stern word. And if you haven’t pulled all your hair out over the fouls that aren’t called, you are almost guaranteed to lose it over the ones that are because once in a while, the referee will stop play for an absolutely innocuous challenge that involved barely any physical contact. Referees in football simulation games have always been near-perfect, owing to the fact the AI can’t really miss or misjudge any situation. Which makes us wonder whether Konami has intentionally gone with clinically insane referees in order to reproduce the element of unfairness that feature in a lot of matches.

The game offers a high degree of control over team strategy, allowing players to alter aspects of the team’s shape on and off the ball, drag and drop players to quickly create custom formations and decide the area of the pitch in which the team will attempt to focus their play. Understanding the best way to take advantage of these settings takes time though. Blindly tweaking them will result in a hilariously lop-sided team that is almost guaranteed to fail.

All in all, winning a game in Pro Evolution Soccer requires a combination of pace, dribbling, passing and a high degree of strategy. Rely too heavily on any one of the above aspects of gameplay, and you’ll find yourself struggling.

Standard game modes There’s nothing drastically new about the multiple different game modes available in PES 2016. Master League is the classic single player mode that, should you choose to accept the challenge, will slowly eat away at your social life as your progress through the seasons until you have won every trophy in sight but are also friendless and alone. And when you find yourself in that state, you will probably turn to myClub, the online multiplayer experience through which you can meet other people from around the world who’ve had their lives similarly rearranged by a compulsive need to achieve the perfect Team Spirit rating.

There are also the much less demanding one-off matches and tournaments designed for those with jobs, families and academic engagements. Controlling a single player is also possible through the Become A Legend mode, but this continues to be a feature that only the game makers think of as a good idea, while most players will inevitably choose to play the standard version of the game with the full complement of players.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 remains true to its roots and delivers a new edition that enhances its traditional strengths. Ridiculous refereeing aside, it is an immensely enjoyable game that will delight football fans of the casual and hardcore variety. It is available for ₹2,499 on PS3 and Xbox 360.

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