It has been quite the year for Konami's PES 2016. After turning some heads with PES 2015, PES 2016 received positive reviews and created a strong buzz among footy enthusiasts. With Konami releasing PES 2016 earlier than FIFA 16, many players flocked to PES 2016 as their first 2016 footy experience. Some were elated at the upgrades within PES 2016 while others felt the game was incomplete in its then-current state.

In this article I'll dive into how the game has held up post-release.

Gameplay

Gameplay within PES 2016 has largely remained unchanged. While several patches/updates have been released, very few have specifically itemized gameplay-related improvements, which has left players in a placebo state of mind. The addition of new animations and tuning to the defense as it relates to awareness are the two noticeable enhancements since release -- despite not being listed in the patch notes.

I have noticed that my back line of defenders do a much better job at dealing with through balls, a big issue that plagued PES 2015. Also, CPU defending has been enhanced when it comes to dealing with ball-watching. Too often after release, a replay of a nice goal would be ruined when you noticed a CPU defender literally stopping and allowing for your attacker to be in on goal and score. While not perfect, this is an area that seems to have been touched up by the developers.

Two of the biggest areas for concern in my initial review, goalkeepers and fouls, have largely been unaddressed by patches. Keepers are still shockingly bad and unprepared to handle certain shots, resulting in score lines that can get a little overboard if playing matches longer than 15 minutes. I have noticed the frequency of fouls, both called and committed, tend to fluctuate between matches. As it stands right now, the game’s "impact engine" does not seem to be able to recognize what is or is not a foul. Furthermore, to compound this issue is the dreaded "skip over a tackle" animation that occurs far too frequently for my liking. These two issues really detract from what can be, at times, a very fun and realistic gaming experience.

Game Modes

Game modes have largely gone unchanged and still hold up fairly well after release. Master League, which touted huge changes, is still an addictive mode that is good at providing the occasional surprise. While it could still use a revamp, the mode does a good job of blending off-the-pitch activities with playing matches in a manner that is not overly burdensome or time consuming.

Probably the biggest addition to PES 2016 post-release was the launch of a free-to-play mode of MyClub, Konami’s answer to FIFA’s Ultimate Team. Perhaps with some of the issues surrounding PES 2016 post-release, Konami was attempting to garner some favorable press by releasing this mode free of charge. Conversely folks at Konami could have realized by offering it free this year they could potentially benefit from these new adopters purchasing the full game next year.

Presentation/Graphics/Audio/Edit Mode/Licenses

We live in an era of gaming where gaming companies are expected to update their games throughout the course of the year. With games like NBA 2K16 and Madden 16 setting the bar for weekly updates, Konami has managed to score an own goal. When you have a game like PES, which is released after the European season kicks off, the expectation is that the game will ship with a roster in place, but users will be able to download a new, more-current roster once they get the game on release day.

Unfortunately this was not the case for PES 2016 as many users were outraged by the poor job Konami did in this department. With offline rosters out of date for months after release, many either shelved the game or sold it resulting in Konami losing a lot of the momentum garnered going into release week. Even though the game features the full Champions League license, a few clubs were not included at release and had to be added later.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t include a mention about the scarcity of stadiums. I understand that exclusive licenses limit Konami’s ability to re-create them, but the lack of generic stadiums can dull Master League because playing in the same stadium over and over again gets boring.

Despite Edit mode making its return on the PS4, many in the community were disappointed in this mode based on some poor decisions made by Konami in the area of slots for emblem/managerial faces/kits/etc. While we’re all glad image importing is back on the PS4, there simply are not enough slots to fully edit the game to include all the kits for unlicensed teams. What makes this strange is the exuberant number of slots there are for managerial faces -- despite there being no managerial carousel. Hopefully next year Microsoft and Sony will sort out the file-transfer issue so Option Files can return, or perhaps even better, Konami can introduce an online roster share.

Final Thoughts

If PES 2016 taught us one thing, it’s to be patient and wait until PES 2017 is out for a little while before purchasing. Although some folks like myself will not be able to resist the temptation to pick it up on launch day, Konami’s development team needs to re-earn some trust. The errors they made this year are disrespectful to a community that has, to be perfectly honest, carried PES for years with its community of gameplay/roster/etc. makers. PES 2016 has certainly improved since launch, albeit very slowly and marginally. Despite these improvements, the game still has a lot to improve upon so it will be fascinating to see what PES 2017 can bring to the pitch next year.


How has your PES 2016 post-release experience been?