As the dark nights start to draw in once again, and the sun starts to show itself even more briefly than normal, it can only usually mean one thing - it's time for the football to kick off again, and that annual games showdown, where the two footballing behemoths, PES and FIFA take each other on. Whether you're a PES person or a FIFA fan, the similarities between the games are such that it's usually down to a matter of personal taste - for those who want the wealth of online modes and just can't live without that digital recreation of Rooney's thinning hairline, FIFA tends to be the game of choice, while PES brings with it its own selection of footballing temptations.
Offering a style of gameplay that's more FIFA on the 360 than FIFA on the Wii on the fun-o-meter, PES 2012 nevertheless feels rather easy to pick up and play. Playable with up to four players on the same console, you can tweak the controls as you like them, and while there aren't any of the easier options (like two button mode on the more recent FIFA games, and the handy offside warning flag that appears above your player's head on FIFA on the Wii), nor any of the ludicrous, yet incredibly fun power-ups like on recent FIFAs, everything still seems fairly easy to pick up and play. The few annoyances from FIFA - like its frustrating habit of letting you break through on goal, and sometimes score, only to then blow the whistle and tell you you're offside - seem to be toned down here, so while the whistle may not go straight away to tell you you're offside, it at least doesn't make a game of building up your hopes to knock them down again. There's a selection of difficulty levels on offer, too, to let you tailor the game to your skills, too, although we'd argue that the Beginner level isn't beginner enough, judging by the run for our money they've given us over the past few games.
When the ball starts pinging around, things quickly turn into a mad scramble.
Although we can't quite put our finger on it, there's definitely something about PES 2012 that makes it feel more fun to play than FIFA 12 on the 360/PS3. Perhaps it's because, as we mentioned above, you're not continuously hampered by "realism" that gets in the way of the game - on FIFA, we find ourselves giving away free kicks with practically every tackle we attempt to make because our useless player's put his foot where it isn't meant to go. On PES, things seem to flow a lot better - you're not always finding yourself brought back for one infringement or another - and the teams you're playing against seem to behave as you'd imagine a real side would. With plenty of goalmouth scrabbles at both ends to keep things ticking, even 0-0 draws are entertaining, and could go either way until the very end. Corners and penalties, on the other hand, are awkward - with no arrows or guidelines, there's no way of knowing what direction your player's going to kick the ball until it leaves his feet. Which seems a bit silly.
A few new tweaks have been added for this year, too, to help make the game stand out from the crowd. One of the more interesting is the ability to control a second player on the second analogue stick, allowing you to start making a run with a second player, and set up fancy manoeuvres between the two of them in a way the computer could never anticipate were it controlling both of them.
It's in terms of leagues, however, that PES starts to stumble a bit - although it's certainly through no fault of its own. Without the money that EA are willing to put behind FIFA every year to pay for the official FIFA licensing, PES instead has to negotiate licenses with teams individually. That means that each of the teams has had to have a sort of fake, cover name, with some being more logical than others - Chelsea, for example are London FC; instead of Aston Villa, you've got West Midlands Village; while Wolverhampton Wanderers, for example, are called "Wolves". It's not really a huge problem, though, as it's fairly easy to work out which team's meant to be which, and they all seem to have the genuine players anyway - even if they don't, each team is fully editable, so if you really want, you can go through and change the team name, and even design the right logo using the built in paint program!
The Italian league, meanwhile, is fully licensed. As you may be able to tell from the sponsors.
In terms of leagues, again, there's a decent selection here, but one that's not quite as for reaching as FIFA. While the French, Dutch, Spanish and Japanese leagues are fully licensed and have their proper names (as you may imagine, with the developers being Japanese), the rest of the world has to make do with generic names - which again, isn't really that much of a problem, as it's still obvious exactly what's what - and there's only the top league from each country. So no Accrington Stanley, or whatever its PES name would be. Making up the officially licensed portion of the game, however, are the UEFA Champions League (which is exclusive to the game, complete with the funky classic music idents), and the Copa Santander Libertadores, one of which probably means more to football fans in this country than the other.
Should you choose to play through a league, there are two main ways to do it. The first is to choose League/Cup, which lets you play through an entire season in whatever league you should choose, or set up your own cup (European, World or otherwise), without any of the faffery. Football Life, on the other hand, puts you in the role of a manager tasked with managing every part of the team, from finances to keep the players happy. You'll need to keep track of your team's training regimens, wants, and desires, as if you choose to not play one of your team members for several weeks running, they'll start to get irritated, and may even choose to leave the team. It can be a bit overwhelming for beginners, but it's something more hardcore footie fans are bound to relish.
In terms of pure gameplay, there's very little wrong with PES 2012 if you're looking for a more realistic football offering that the ones you find on the Wii - in fact, we'd probably say we prefer it to FIFA 12 - at least, as far as the 360/PS3 versions go. Plus, there's the added bonus that Konami don't seem anywhere near as desperate to get at your money in any way possible - there's no online pass blocking pre-owned copies from playing online without paying, there's no micro-transaction mode where you pay real money for virtual packs of cards, and you'll be able to play it for as long as you want, as there's no risk of the servers being turned off, unlike with FIFA, where that seems to happen when they reach two or three years old.
The problem, of course, is, that PES still has its sights aimed squarely on the hardcore football fans, for whom the lack of real licensing, and the team names, leagues, and kits that go with it is going to be a real issue, which may be why FIFA continues to sell by the millions, completely outgunning PES. By targeting the same audience as FIFA, but without the depth of the licensing that the more hardcore fans seem to need, it's kind of running the risk of being left out in the cold. Perhaps a change in strategy is required. Maybe turning PES into a more accessible, arcade friendly game - like the PES of old, back when it was still called International Superstar Soccer on the N64, with bright friendly circles around your player's feet, so you never forgot who you were controlling, and free kicks/penalties that actually showed you where you were kicking, would help bring in an audience who've lapsed, and are looking for something that takes itself that little bit less seriously than the FIFAs. Perhaps, if it really wants success, PES should stop chasing after the FIFA crowd - who already seem more than satisfied with their game - and instead offer something different to see who bites? I guess we'll see what the future holds.
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
