Reviews// PES 2012

As any football fan will tell you, this sport is built on rivalries and they don't come much more fierce than PES vs FIFA. To those who don't play these games each release seems like a money making exercise; an excuse to release an old game with new kits in order to force fans to part with their cash.

Fans of the series, however, bate their breaths to see how each amendment to the game will affect how it plays and whether it's for the better or worse.

In fact I believe this face-off is one of the most interesting in gaming history. Both series have had glory days and both have released titles that fans would rather forget. Fans have changed sides, which is unheard of in the football world. Both have diehard fans that will pick apart their rival and defend their preferred game to the very end.

Those who play know that whatever their choice, both PES 2012 or FIFA 12 (reviewed by me here) will provide them with hundreds of hours of entertainment. Gaming snobs will question their purchases but the fans will know that this purchase will be worth every penny.

Things are heating up too. Last year showed us that both EA and Konami now had direction and development teams who had the talent to produce great games. Whatever game you chose last year, you chose a good one.

So here we are again, with the choice. Do you get PES2012 or FIFA12? Well, I suppose it all depends on what you want to get out of the game.

Baby Steps
It's clear that Konami is not trying to revolutionise football games with this year’s effort. Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka and his PES development team seem content with PES 2011 (which I reviewed last year) and have decided to improve a few areas that they believe were lacking as opposed to giving the series another overhaul.

Most of the presentation from the previous game has been carried over to this one, with a few enhancements. Not a problem when it comes to the menu system, but in-game it's a little disappointing to see a lack of visual and audio improvements.

The majority of the tweaks have been made on the pitch and each one is a welcome one.

A Passing Phase
The passing system was fantastic last year and it's been slightly refined here. You no longer have to wait for your player to receive the ball before making your next pass. It was my only frustration last year because it prevented me from thinking one or two passes ahead. Thanks to the change, you can now focus on your build-up play and not worry about when you're able to make a pass.

Passing isn't as manual as it was last year either. The game will now realise when you're aiming in completely the wrong direction and make a pass to the nearest team-mate. Although this fails to punish the less disciplined gamer, it does make for a more free-flowing and faster-paced game.

The non-controlled players add to a free-flowing build up too. The AI in PES 2012 has been worked up to near perfection. When running up field with the ball your team mates stream forward, creating space and providing support around you while defenders try and reduce your choices down the longer you hold onto the ball.

You also have the option of controlling off-the-ball players manually with the right stick. This seems like good concept but in practise it's far too complicated and doesn't offer much more of an advantage than letting the computer AI take control.