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PES 2012 Review

Posted on 24. Oct, 2011 by Freak_c in Games, News, Reviews

Every year there is a major battle between the two big giants of the football games. True one has the upper hand on licensing but they both offer some solid game play and new mechanics to push each other to their limits. Pro Evolution Soccer has a lot of space to fill in their shoes but they have a strong following of fans and this year can they deliver on their promises?

This year PES 2012 talks the talk with offering up the ability to make incisive runs and drag players out of their position with the all new Active AI. Then there’s the ability to pick your target man in a dead ball situation, or the improved team mate control during active play. These are nice little additions and tweaks to previous PES games, which is nice as they do not reinvent the wheel but rather make it better. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. You still have the excellent crisp and responsive passing system at your fingers again which is very one of the very satisfying things about PES 2012. Whether you’ve picked up PES before or are new to the franchise the basics and fundamentals remain solid and satisfying.

Once you settle into your soccer groove and the game’s rhythm, it become clear that the majority of the time that you spend without the ball will be trying to regain possession and can be a tedious endeavour 60% of the time. The new Active AI means that team mates are noticeably swifter to come to your rescue while trying to retrieve the ball, hustling the opposition into a corner. To make things a little more interesting and I suppose a little bit more realism is that the ref appears to be a lot stricter with his decisions. Penalising for the slightest infraction, while perversely turning a blind eye to more serious offences. I actually have this issue with current refs in my indoor soccer side.

The new Off The Ball system gives you the option to nominate the target man via a flick of the right stick and then move him around as required. Sounds a little confusing and takes some getting useful in the beginning but after the first couple of goes at it you can see where the developers were wanting to go with the idea. This does mean that you will most likely screw up with the ball initially. Though when you do manage to plant the ball directly on your players feet or head, even after the keeper dives for the ball leaves you with a smile.

As has been the case since the series began so many years ago a lot of the games irritations, if I can call them that remain present. These are not necessarily in the game play but with the franchise itself. The usual licensing issues remain, where main of the big teams are named something else, and some other teams and players are correct. I played a game between Barcelona and London FC (Chelsea). You do however have the option to go through and correct the teams and players names, if you are that bored. This also allows you to make up your own football universe where everyone will be called ‘Im_Awesome_001′. This doesn’t effect the over all quality of the game and gaming experience but after so many years surely they should be able to share the licence.

The online component of PES 2012 has some odd logic build into it. A simple task such as getting an online match going with someone already on your friend’s list is somehow made a chore and odd process. You have to setup a Community and then get your friend to join it, just for a quick game. Again once you get a round this playing online with other humans is were your skills are made or broken, yet playing with your friend in the same room and in dead-arm punching distance is I think a lot better.

Presentation is similar to last years PES game and is decent and satisfactory to say the least. The atmosphere of the crowd and stadium will make you feel that you are there. Player animations are fluid and smooth. Players look like the real life counter parts, even though some may have different names.

Conclusion
With all the modes you would expect and some new modes such as Master League, Become A Legend and Club Boss mode, PES 2012 is a great football game and will keep you playing until next years release. PES 2012 offers plenty of fast flow attacking action and fairly solid defence. It may not offer real simulation of the game, but to be honest I prefer this and sometimes I simply want to play a game without worrying about so many buttons and just to have fun.

8/10

Tags: konami, PES 2012, pro evolution soccer, PS3, Review