PES 2016 Revealed

Konami showed off the boxart earlier this week, but now they’ve finally revealed PES 2016, which will launch September 18.

Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the series, PES 2016 comes with a raft of gameplay improvements and tweaks. An advanced collision system should replicate the physicality of real football better, as should a new aerial strength factor when going up for headers and a reworked defence model that sees you shove a player off the ball with a perfect tackle.

Response times are also improved, reducing the time between your input and the action, while the AI is more intelligent, running into space more to set up passing strings. Goalies now have more traits including Catching and Deflecting, meaning some keeps you can rely on to catch a shot rather than the normal punch out from previous games. There’s also a manual celebration system for the first time, like FIFA.

The cynic in me says that all of this is the usual buzzwords that surround new football games. The meaty stuff is the game-modes themselves. Master League has apparently been reworked from the ground up, with ‘vibrant and involving menus’ and a new transfer system. The UEFA Champions League has been kept and myClub returns, with all the improvements made during PES 2015’s lifespan. There will be mode exclusive players and a new player level system to add even more depth.

Of course there’s been upgrades to the visuals and the ball physics, but what’s really cool is the new dynamic weather, meaning matches can start dry before turning wet. Staying on the glossy side of things there been new commentary for the English and German leagues, with Peter Drury and Marco Hagemann joining the team.

PS4 and PS3 users will be able to import images into the editor mode this year, making it easier to replicate real-life kits and import badges.

Pre-order the game and you’ll get several bonuses in myClub. The Day One Edition comes with a Neymar player loan, 1 Player from the UEFA.com TOTY 2014, 10,000 GP for 10 weeks, 10 Recovery Items and 3 Player Contracts. The PlayStation exclusive Anniversary Edition gives you Neymar to keep, 1 Player from the UEFA.com TOTY 2014, 10,000 GP for 20 weeks, 20 Recovery Items, 5 Player Contracts, 1000 myClub coins and a Steelbook, while the PSN exclusive digital pre-order nets all of the Anniversary Edition, minus the steelbook and myClub coins.

PES 2016 will be available on PS4 , Xbox One, PS3, 360 and PC.