The general consensus prior to the release of this year’s soccer games seemed to be that Pro Evolution Soccer – Konami’s series that has been working under the radar for some time – would finally top FIFA once more, having once been a popular series in its infancy.
Well the reviews have been rolling in and it’s safe to say that the predictions were correct. According to the average of the review scores collated on review aggregator Metacritic, PES 2016 is in fact a better soccer game than FIFA 16. That’s no mean feat when you consider that PES 2016’s average score of 87 is based on 23 critics whereas FIFA 16’s lower average score of 86 is only based on 19 critics.
Moreover, PES 2016 boasts a user score of 7.5 compared to FIFA 16’s 5.9. All figures are correct at the time of writing.
Since PES has been under FIFA’s limelight for a long time now, you might be interested to know just how long it has been since PES has actually topped FIFA in terms of review scores. To find the last time that PES was the highest rated soccer game on the market you have to go back to 2006 when Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 was released to an average review score of 86 on the PS2. FIFA 07 fell behind PES that year with an average review score of 82 on the PS2.
It seems fitting then that, almost ten years later, PES regains the crown once more, on its 20th anniversary no less. Written in the stars, and all that.
So what do you think? Is this year’s PES better than FIFA for you? Having played both games I can honestly say that, despite being a FIFA fan for years, Pro Evolution Soccer is undoubtedly the better soccer game this year, and that’s refreshing.