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What’s new in Pro Evolution 2012 and FIFA 12

James Thornton

James Thornton

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As the football season draws to a close in Europe, that other season that plays out every year between just two teams is kicking off.  That’s right, the first drips and drabs of information about Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 and FIFA 12 have already begun to filter through.

Pro Evolution vs FIFA

Pro Evolution Soccer 2012

The first to open the scoring this year (as with the last) was Konami, releasing an official preview video (below) of Pro Evolution Soccer 2012. Not a lot is given away in the game footage but the great Shingo “Seabass” Takatsuka, executive producer of Pro Evo did explain a lot about the philosophy of the new version.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc1-lh-O1NE[/youtube]

He mentions that a lot of work has gone into attacking as a team and defensive balance. On the attacking side, he highlights improvements to the movement of players off the ball. Teammates will make more intelligent runs and use space more realistically while not on the ball. For instance, they will overlap when you’re running down the wing, and move in closer to the target man when a ball is played to him.

Defensive improvements in Pro Evolution 2012 will include tighter man-marking, more direct control over holding an attacker up, and closer one-on-ones, making gameplay feel a lot more physical.

FIFA 12

EA has been a bit more tight-lipped about the changes to FIFA. However, it has released the first official screenshot of FIFA 12. As you can see, it features the image of last year’s cover star, Kaka. If again, the Real Madrid midfielder is to be the face of FIFA it would be a strange choice by EA given the indifferent and injury-hampered season he has just endured.

Official FIFA 12 screenshot

In terms of gameplay, we’ve had a few clues about what to expect from FIFA 12 from, albeit scant, previews in the Official PlayStation Magazine UK and The Sun. Changes already revealed include the introduction of a new collision engine, the Impact Engine, which aims to make player contact more realistic (just as Konami is promising with PES).

An improved Personality Plus system in FIFA 12 will make differences between players even more like they are in real life. Examples given are that Peter Croach’s teammates will play wider to produce more crosses for the big man, and Xavi’s Barcelona teammates will make more forward runs ahead of him to take advantage of his passing genius.

Other rumored changes in FIFA 12 include enhancements to make defending more difficult by removing the system that allowed you to easily steal the ball simply by holding the ‘press’ button. Dribbling and one-on-ones have also been enhanced, which hopefully will make attacking more easy than FIFA 11, which is notoriously hard to score in.

Expect more changes to be announced soon, as the battle between Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 and FIFA 12 heats up. Who do you think will win this year?

[Via OnSoftware Spain]

James Thornton

James Thornton

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