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Unlike in FIFA Ultimate Team, where players form chemistry with each other based on nationalities, here it’s how well they gel with the manager’s style, and while hunting for superstars can start to cost actual money, there are cheaper routes to building your dream team, whether utilising training or getting lucky with a scout. M圜lub makes more sense by focusing on the fundamentals of squad building. Diego Costa just doesn't look right in canary yellow. Select Chelsea, for instance, and you’ll manage a team called London FC who play out of a generic toilet bowl stadium. The lack of authenticity continues to hurt the Master League career mode. I like to run around inappropriately before jumping high. Now button commands let you control celebrations. You can, however, import edited strips, logos and team files. License-wise the UEFA Champions League remains a coup, but the omission of most of the Bundesliga, and a lack of official Premier League teams aside from Manchester United, cheapens the experience. At one point I run over to the advertising hoarding and my player jumps on it, arms pumping. Sweat runs, kits muddy, players grimace during jostles, and there are some great contextual goal celebrations.
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Still, in this curious mix of last-gen and new-gen, there is detail to be found. It seems Konami can’t wait to ditch videogames and storm the pachinko market. Konami's other Fox Engine game, The Phantom Pain, performs excellently on PC, and even the last PES was solid, so why this looks and runs like a PS3/360 game is a mystery. Football boots look like blurred lumps of clay, logos across formally crisp kits are stretched and ugly, and the pitchside police basically waltzed in from a Playmobil set.
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It practically runs in slow motion (I actually had to whack the game speed on ‘fast’ just to bring it up to standard), and textures are hideous. Where PES 2016 falls down, however, is this port’s surprisingly poor quality.
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