Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 Image
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critics What's this?

User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 65 Ratings

  • Summary: (Currently available in the UK/EU only) Pro Evolution Soccer makes its return this fall, Pro Evolution Soccer 2012! This year, Konami is determined to give global football fans a truly realistic, immersive and a delightfully playable take on the beautiful game. Creative Producer Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka has been sourcing the desires of fans across the globe and working non-stop on marrying the digital game to the real life game so fans can get as close to the real thing. All elements have been examined - defense, offense, AI, penalties, officiating and of course, graphics! The result is a game truly represents the key attributes of the game and it's players. Pro Evolution Soccer "Can you play?" Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 13
  2. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Sep 30, 2011
    90
    Konami has improved the AI a lot and everything just feels smoother and more direct. It's not a revolution, but a more polished and improved version of the game.
  2. Nov 9, 2011
    84
    An overhaul of the match engine and lively attacking play bring PES back into contention, but don't expect much from the AI.
  3. Oct 7, 2011
    81
    PES 2012 is more than just an update for the forgettable PES 2011. It's a huge step forward for the Konami series. The best Pro Evolution Soccer game this gen.
  4. Nov 9, 2011
    70
    PES 2012 fails to shift the balance – even if it's the best Pro Evolution Soccer to date it's still far behind the FIFA series. What PES desperately needs is a deep change. [November 2011, p.62]

See all 13 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 14
  2. Negative: 4 out of 14
  1. A wonderful game.Nice graphics and gameplay.This game is much better than FIFA 12.Refereeing has also been improved. Also,teammate control system has been introduced which allows to control a secondary player,either during play, or at a set piece or throw-in Couldn't wish for more from Konami. Expand
  2. Good game. Not perfect, but good. Long pass doesn't do the magic by itself anymore. Strikers are overpowered in this edition. Worths the try. Very nice game play, in my opinion. Expand
  3. Before I justify my score, I want to point a couple of things. First, I'm a huge PES fan, that played the franchise since the beggining, except for the web based stuff. Second, I want to point that something has changed in the game, maybe since 2010 edition, but especially with 2011 edition, and I think that change ocurred when Konami lost a portion of the market to EA, so they decided to "fifalize" PES a bit, by throwing spammable feints in, super atlethes and lots of other stuff that catch the attention of the majority of the regular players, to try to regain that portion of the market. This ruined the gameplay, as PES was regarded as being a simulator and not an arcade; frustarted the fans of the series, because playing PES 2011 was liking playing a worse version of FIFA; and, finally, it made me feel like Konami was lost, because PES 2011 didn't had anything of the previous versions, it was a complete new game, and much worse one. So, in the name of PES I decided to face PES 2011 as a scratch to PES 2012, nad just ignore how bad it is. But now, when I played PES 2012, I saw only minor improvements when compared to the previous version, but also new and renewed bugs. It is like this game was rushed, because I never saw that many bugs in a soccer game before - not even in the much worse 2011 version. Anyway, here is a short list of cons of the new version: catch up system still works inside the area, regardless of what Konami devs says; passing is almost random (ie: being excruciating in the defense, perfectly acurate when playing defense to attack and being DUMB when in attack); players often trot all over the field with the ball in their feets, and markers just trot around; defense is very poor, even with tackling "working" in this version; to mark "properly", you have to play with the mark button on, like in the 2011 version; transitions between attacking and defending are very bad (ie: you're attacking, and then cpu steals the balls and kick it to one of their attacker: as soon as you loose the ball, your cursor will change to your defender, and you'll probably holding it forward, since you was attacking, in a way that in many times your defender will just left the cpu attacker alone); goalkeeper still take forever to get on his feet and kick the ball away, and this kick now is much moree random then before; player support was marginally reintroduced - because it was there from the beggining, then subtracted from version 2011 -, but its not like you see in the game ads. Well, there is some improvements to the game that doesnt fits in the gameplay aspect, like the introduction of a in game player search mechanism, but ill not evaluate it here, since here the gameplay is important. Well, after playing a few matches, I think I'll quit playing PES till the next version, when maybe Konami will have this new concept more mature. I'll give it a 5, since the game is a improvement from the last one, that I would have rated zero if I had the opportunity. Thanks for your attention. Have fun! Expand
  4. Really not up to the mark.. i was expecting a better game from Konami.. The players look too robotic, which spoils your mood.. Yes the graphics are good on close up, but in gameplay they suck.
    Lighting effects from konami are mind blowing, EA (FIFA12) should learn from konami ..
    But other than that, it lets you down. :(
    Expand

See all 14 User Reviews