PES 2012 Review: Has it hit the back of the net, or has it flew over the crossbar?

The brilliant Pro Evolution Soccer is back again, this time with the 2012 edition blazing onto android and packing some pretty good visuals and a great selection of game modes. This just might be the most full featured soccer game to hit android to date... now let's get stuck right in!

Name: PES 2012 | Developer: Konami | Genre: Sports Games | Players: 1 | Version: 1.0.4 | Size: 5.3MB + 157.74MB SD data | Price: $5.60

Features:

- Make your own super challenge team and let your friends download them to try and see who's the best.
- Offical UEFA Champions League along with the Europa League and many, many more.
- 6 varied environmental combinations.
- Very impressive visuals.
- Training mode to fine tune your skills.
- 24 different soccer balls to choose from.

Gameplay

As I expected, PES really delivers when it comes to game variety. It has everything from basic training, to running your own team in the super challenge mode. I'd like to elaborate more on the super challenge mode as it seems it's the main game mode I play. It seems to pack all the features you'd expect to find on a console game. Super challenge mode has the ability to buy and sell players, earn popularity, earn money to spend on new players and another unique feature of being able to download your friends football team to see if you can beat them.

I thought this was a well thought out feature as your friends aren't always around to play with, so having the ability to play against their personally created team, is a great feature. Personally I think the starting bank balance of 2000 C is just a little stubborn, as most players cost around 50,000 C. I would of liked to of been able to at least purchase one player for my team from the start, you can't win them all though.

The A.I. in PES 2012 is top notch. Playing on one star just isn't challenging at all, three stars gives you a run for your money and five stars really pushes you to play your best... but it's usually not good enough anyway, not in my case. The only downside to the A.I. is the offside rule and the ref. I couldn't count if I tried to, how many times I went to do a long pass and my player I was passing to was standing behind the opposing teams defense.

When it comes to the ref, in my very first game on PES 2012, which was in quick mode, the first tackle I experienced was an instant red card, which seems a little harsh. At the end of the day the ref can be hit and miss, but are you going to complain when the opposing team only has 10 men or less on the pitch? Me either.

As for all the other game mode you'll find in the PES 2012, they pretty much explain themselves. You can battle through a nice variety of cups and leagues, everything to fulfill the soccer fan inside you.

Graphics

For what is essentially a mobile phone game, it has brilliant graphics. I have to say some of the players have been really well modelled. It's nice to see well rendered sprites rather than just some stick men running around the pitch. Don't expect to see fully rendered faces, that's something that will come in the very near future, but as for now, it seems to have some of the best graphics i've seen in a soccer game on android.

Controls

Does it have multiple choice? yes it does! It's great to see a game try out some new types of controls in a soccer game. It comes with the standard v-stick and A and B buttons. It also has two other options, one of which is to have a v-stick and one touch controls where it's only really possible to shoot at the goal from inside the box. The other is tilt controls with again the same one touch system, I have to say I've not noticed tilt controls used in this genre of a game, but it's a new idea, it might work, it didn't for me.

Overall

At the end of the day it all comes down personal preference, if it bothers you that the game doesn't feature most of the clubs real names or football kits, then this game isn't for you. I've personally been a fan of PES since 1998 when it was released on the playstation. I'm really glad to see this game arriving on android for the second year now. It's got some improvements over the previous game and it may have some bugs... none that I found so far... downloading over wifi shouldn't take more than 15 minutes so you should still have the refund window if you change your mind.

Rating: 4.5/5