Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 (Xbox 360)
PES 2012 continues Konami’s determination to listen to its fanbase and make key improvements to the aspects the audience demands. Thus, the focus for PES 2012 is to ensure the highest level of playability, challenge and realism for the game, whilst also improving the level of control offered to users. Fundamental changes to all areas of its AI have been made following user feedback. Similarly, teamwork is central to how the game moves and feels, enabling fans to replicate anything they would se
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For PES lovers (UPDATED),
On the surface, PES 2012 is the usual affair from Konami. They have updated some game components that need updating. They have left some components alone when they should have given them attention, and they have also made some things worse. For PES lovers, this is nothing new, the good news is that the gripping on field actions is still pretty good.
FOR BETTER.
Animation. Some of the animation (but not all parts!) has been tweaked nicely. The ball physics is on the whole a little better, especially when shooting and when dribbling. The ball bobbles about a bit more, usually just for effect – but the swerve and dip on shots is a little more realistic now. As is the free kicks and penalties (one of the worst parts of PES 2011). Subtle enhancements to body movement when tackling, passing, jumping etc are nice to see and the majority of on pitch player movement is perfectly reasonable to the eye.
Flowing attacks – it’s still very pleasing to combine a few quick passes with some judicial use of the R2 button to send players forward. I’m still not convinced though, that runs are made in the most enthusiastic of fashion – but PES still delivers in it’s ability to create chances and goals from every conceivable angle.
Possession play. You can make a great deal of posession work now by using deft passes in the midle of the pitch. Better than before. And ususally, if you time it correctly, you can then try a quick attack. Ala Barca. Bt you need the player to do it.
Player skill. Last year saw the best interpretation of player skill – and I think they’ve done a good job this year too. You will learn not to attempt 30 yarders with just anybody, and you will not just waltz into the box after a 40 yard run and take it round the keeper. You will, however, notice a better experience with long passes (from good long passers) and a quick mental calculation before you use a below average short passer to make a crucial pass across the pitch. Crosses are nicer, through balls are nicer, and quick passing is nicer as well. I tip my hat to the passing element of PES 2012.
FOR WORSE.
Shooting accuracy (UPDATED). After many hours of gameplay I can absolutely hands down admit that the directional shooting is sometimed blatantly at odds with the what your personally inputting into the 360 controller. Bizarre as it sounds – on a significant number of occasions your attacker (even a very skilled attacker) can be aimed to shoot at the right hand side of the goal – but the ball flies off to the left. And vice versa! I can’t find a pattern, a reason, or a solution. It can happen from any distance or angle. Seems to only apply to regular shots from the run but am sure it has affected headers too – albeit these were players with average heading ability. The point is – if you are going to fluff a shot to the right then please miss to the right – but to have the shooting apparently reversed at random is plain bonkers.
Player physics (UPDATED).
My major gripe (and this goes back to PES 3) – why oh why oh why do we need to put up with the fact that on a significant number of occasions, our players will get barged off the ball and go into a 720 degree pirouette, allowint the opposition to take control and gain 20 or 30 yards up the pitch before our frozen in surprise team amtes can readjust and close them down? I thought Konami had sorted all that out in the last couple of iterations. There is no need to have this in the game unless it’s absolutely fairly doled out – and it isn’t.
We were told ages ago by a friendly smiling Konami that: no longer will sluggish defenders magically catch up with speedy attackers (like the cops in Need for Speed Hot Pursuit) – well sorry guys but that’s a bit of a lie. The speed differential between speedy attackers and muscly defenders is evident, but if (which is often) your attacker gets caught by a muscly defender – then you can be sure that they will “tag on” and first, slow your attacker down and second, simply take the ball back. Unless your attacker has very high combination of dribbling, speed and balance – mediocre defenders are likely to win the ball even on occasions when you pull out a bag of tricks. This wouldn’t be hard to take if they just stuck a foot out and knocked the ball out of play – but the constant superglue shoulder barging, followed by immediate ball control from a lump of a centre half – does grate slightly. There seems to be a tipping point between players who will get past a defender easily, versus players who will rarely get past the same guy. There is also still an element of crowding out by 6 or 7 defenders at a time, even when the opposition (CPU) is going full attack. You should have fixed it and you havent.
Momentum. We all know about it. We all see it in every day life. If Jan Molby went steaming into the box on a late run – you could see the eyes in the Kop widen as the Liverpool faithful…
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|Not the big improvement we were hoping for!,
Before I start I’d like to qualify this review by pointing out that I have only had the chance to play this new version of Pro Evo over the past week, therefore those of you who have played it much more will undoubtedly find fault with what I write.
I have bought, played and mastered every version of International Superstar Soccer and Pro Evolution since its inception in the nineties. I have loved it and place the series easily in my top three favourite games of all time. The frustrating thing about PES is that Konami often fail to heed the complaints of its faithful gaming clientel. PES 2012 has sadly declined to address a lot of the issues (again) which are currently holding this franchise back from being the best once again. I will just summarise the points which I find good and bad to make this quick and painless:
Positives:
+ graphically fantastic
+ improved player A.I. and personality (players get angry if not played regularly)
+ keeps that satisfying PES feeling of slotting into the back of the net
Negatives:
– the “much catalogued” sprinting bug (see almost all other reviews)
– often VERY questionable refereeing decisions leave you frustrated
– very little control over goalkeeper (minimal control over distance/direction of dropkicks and throws)
– stats of players decrease immensley when played out of position (I realise what Konami are trying to do here, but, playing Gareth Bale on the right wing for example wouldn’t automatically make him twice as slow in real life, would it?)
It’s not a bad game but I think that given the amount of competition from the FIFA brand (which I have also played this year) that Konami really need to do better and address many of these niggly issues which have left a large number of people disappointed. I remain a PES faithful, but for how long?…I think PES 2013 will answer that for me once and for all. Come on Konami, turn my frown upside down please!!
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|the most addictive footie game ever,
i thought pes 11 was good which gave you near perfect freedom control of your players so i was surprised how much pes 12 had changed .at first i was slightly disapointed but after playing this game for a few months now i am now totally addicted to it .love the defending which can be a scramble sometimes but is also very realistic and it keeps you on your guard .the shooting at first i admit i was terrible at and as stated by others the ball direction seemed to have mind of its own .but i now have the shooting down to perfection and rarely does this happen anymore . i dislike fifa games which are boring to play plus all the other sides play actually the same way wheather its real madrid or orient its totaly unrealistic and i hate the way the ball sticks to the feet of the players . the most important deal for me is pes 12 is FUN and each team you play against plays to their own style of football ..GREAT GAME and a easy 5 stars from me . i keep having to play that just one more game because its so hard to put down. the only thing i would fault this game on was the sprint bug ( which happened to me so i went to the forums and used the 2 controller start up which then rectified the problem and adds just a few seconds to the start precedure . but like i said it works .
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