Why the Best Football Game I’ve Ever Played is Being Ruined for Me
Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 came out September 15th. Today is the 30th October. It has been out for 47 days, and the squad rosters for the offline modes still haven’t been completed.
PES launched all those days ago without a single summer transfer made to any club in the entire game, but because the actual playing of the football was so bloody good (literally the best ever) they were afforded a lot of good will and let off the hook somewhat for not having the complete rosters.
Besides, all the squads for online divisions were fully updated within about two weeks, so it wasn’t all bad.
What was strange, however, is that although the online squads were updated at the beginning of October, the team’s for all the offline modes (Master League, Become Legend, Exhibition games ect) weren’t going to get the same attention until the end of the month.
That update launched yesterday and, for the most part, everything looked fine. I checked a few sides and everything seemed to there, Kevin de Bruyne was at Manchester City, Memphis Depay at Manchester United, Pedro was at Chelsea, Ediur Gudjohnsen was no longer at Bolton Wanderers *sad face*.
I couldn’t control my genuine excitement at finally being able to get stuck into Master League with all the fully updated squads. It was only when I started my Master League, with Bolton because I’m a dick, did I realise a couple of mistakes. Andy Kellett was still on the team despite making a deadline day switch to Wigan. Jose Manuel Casado and Francesco Pisano, two players signed after the window had closed, weren’t on the team.
I became anxious.
A quick peruse of Twitter and I’d discovered that they’d somehow completely fucked up the update and didn’t have any of the transfers that were made on deadline day or after.
Now, I’ve been extremely patient with PES 2016 because, as I said, it’s a master piece and feels incredible to play, the often abysmal goalkeepers aside. I’m certainly not alone in that view, just read our review of PES for proof.
But that patience has now been completely worn thin, after yet another complete fuck up from the developers. It really is a joke.
Having the correct, up to date squads is just such a simple, yet vital, part of a football game, because without them, no matter how good the game is, it just feels old and rips you out of the experience if they aren’t.
Why do you think FIFA and PES always come out just after the summer transfer window has closed? A big part of it, no doubt, is that because during the summer when all the transfers are happening the previous game begins to feel outdated and people stop playing it. I know that’s certainly the case for me.
It was bad enough that the squads weren’t correct on launch, but for them to still not be right six weeks and a patch late is just really embarrassing.
The most frustrating aspect of it all is that if I could be arsed I could do all the transfers my self in the actual game in a day. It’d be a long and fucking dull one, but still a single day.
So the fact that Konami still haven’t been able to get it done in six weeks is mind-blowing. Just get an intern to sit down and do them all for god sake!
Worst of all, it just really undermines all the great work they’ve put into make PES 2016 not only the best football game this year but potentially ever. This whole fiasco is just such an easy but massive stick FIFA players can use to smack PES with.
How are they ever going to change the public consensus that PES is shit if they can’t even get the simplest of things right?
What a shame.
