The upcoming Euro 2016 extension of the Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) franchise is somewhat lacking in official licensing, with just 15 of 24 official teams featuring.
The Republic of Ireland, Romania, Switzerland, Russia, Poland, Belgium, Sweden and Austria will all be included on the game, but without official licenses it means that fake player names, jerseys and the likes will feature prominently.
That’s because just under two-thirds of the qualified nations have official licensing in the game, with France, Northern Ireland, England, Wales, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Iceland, Turkey, and Albania included.
The Euro 2016 extension is free to those who already own PES 2016, with a standalone variant for just Playstation consoles on the way soon.
These can be very popular games, capitalising on the enthusiasm of major tournaments. Fifa: Road To World Cup’98 still stands out as a particularly fun example from when I was a wee lad.
There’s one official stadium in the game, the Stade de France, with “real players with hundreds of authentic player faces” seemingly the domain of just the chosen 15.
However, a statement from Konami says “all squads” will feature playing styles of their actual country, “perfectly replicated via the game’s innovative Player ID and Team ID systems”.
Presumably, that means Schmobbie Keane will have all features set to ‘goal’ and Chronathan Walters’ velcro-chest will provide Irish enthusiasts with the odd route to a win.
Image of Shane Long via Shutterstock
