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 tried to back up in the stand. Jan had a lot of momentum - and you knew he'd take that bit longer than anybody else in the side to stop, never mind stop and turn. Or indeed, stop, turn, and then accelerate to catch up with the opposition. Yet, stunningly, this is how Jan Molby would play in PES 2012. As Messi or Ronaldo comnplete a double shuffle and go skipping past him at near top speed - he would magically stop mid tackle, turn 180 degrees, and then stupefyingly catch up with them to win the ball back. This simply doesn't happen with a player controlled team mate. Now I stress with hands aloft that this doesn't happen 'all the time' but it happens anough to make you want to shout like a kid at the screen. All of the momentum should be applied equally.
Lower team players. To be brief - not all players outside of the major Euro leagues are rubbish. Point in case - Allan MacGregor and Emilio Izaguirre. These guys play for Glasgow's Old Firm clubs and are two of the top goalkeepers and left backs (respectively) in the UK. You wouldn't think it from looking a their player stats though. I think more work has to be done to recognise individual talent outsiode of big clubs and not just bias the game completely by underscoring all of the lower ranked team's players (gets off soap-box).
FOE PES SAKE.
Music. Honestly. Usually I don't mind the use of music in the menus or highlights, and normally Konami has either a decent selection of licenced music from a variety of artists, or some made up nonsense that sounds like a mix between crasy Japanese classic rock and B Rate Euro-dance - but the current selection of "tunes" is pretty bad. At best they are an annoying inconvenience that do not add to the atmosphere.
Strips. Strip editing is slightly better than last year but a bit more detail, a couple of extra layers and a wider choice of number fonts would be nice for the enthusiast (you know who you are!) - but overall it's an improvement.
Crowd. They are still there in their summer and winter finery. They now wear your strip (cool) and they still cheer and boo when required. I still think the crowd noises could be more visceral however, and the in-game crowd movements could be enhanced too.
Replays. Better. Better camera angles (thank the lord) which make all the difference.
Goal celebrations. More chocie but I'd still like to see more group shouts where the team all bond, and more varied camera angles where the celebration is set against the back drop of the fans. It's important, darn it.
Pre match. Yes - it's beeen updated with players jogging on the pitch and groundkeepers forking the ground. Thanks boys.
Referees. More balanced? Perhaps if you are being fouled, but not if you are the one doing the fouling. This may be to do with me getting to grips with the more subtle press and tackle method, combined with the physical attributes of the players - jury is out.
2nd player control. Good for short free kicks or distant ones where you just need to find a quick pass. I have scored from a header from a corner using 2nd player control but I'm not sure if I felt it was a bit fake looking. Time will tell - but the system works from a technical standpoint - so golf applause is probably owed to Konami for giving it a bash.
Goalkeepers. They are better but still too many dodgy rebounds for me. Kick outs are better though.
Tactics. The all important in-game switch between an attacking 4-4-2 and a cagey 4-5-1 counter attack has always been the game's strongest point for balanced gameplay. The tactics are now semi-autonomous for the most part. I dont't feel as in control as I used to - but I've still to work out for sure if that's just me and my in-grained feelings. Time will tell.
Master League (UPDATED). The core elements of Master League are the same as they have been since the days of yore.
The addition of cut scenes and managerial involvement between games is not very well executed. Some of the manager's office conversations reflect the existing knowledge of the game (fatigue, tranfer listed players or coach opinions etc) but the press conferences and the general variation of dialogue with staff is awful. The chairman interference is a bit silly and I don't think it projects most clubs chairman influence appropriately.
The transfer system seems to be well balanced and ability to sign players seems very fair depending on their availability and your current squad depth. The one potential (major) flaw I have found is the Master League training. I am now on my third test campaign and it seems that (for the first few months at the very least) even a top £5M rated trainer will not be able to improve the stats of the squad. I have tried different trainers, different blends of players and different teams, and I have also paid attention to rotating the training scheme in various ways to get the best out of the players.
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