OK, an objective view (I hope):
Yes, with the Konami patches it's slower and grittier - the problem is that the AI park the bus and you spend most of the game trying to break down a nine or ten-man defensive cordon, even if you're QPR playing against Real Madrid. Then, when the AI finally get the ball, they counter with about four passes, you lose control of your defender, and they score a cheap goal. OK, it's not quite that bad, but single player can be hard work this year. I still play offline sometimes and I do enjoy it, but certain things really do start to piss me off. Considering how much of an advance the AI is on last year, the increased computer "cheating" (including high-statted dribblers passing through block tackles like ghosts, replays showing their legs going straight through yours like your defender was made of water vapour) is a bit of a disappointment. Single player this year offers a brilliant base game, but there are enough irritations spread on top to threaten your mental health after a while. Although, like others have said, it's got the usual PES mood-swings - one evening you can play six games and love every second, the next you're swearing vengeance on Seabass and his demons for screwing up a fantastic game with pointlessly sadistic quirks.
But playing online or offline multiplayer, with non-superteams, both players using zero pass assistance (which is very different to FIFA's full manual, and very satisfying) - that's the way to play PES2012. There, despite a few flaws, it's the best football game ever made by an enormously wide margin. Seriously. No unstoppable exploits, very few opportunities for cheap play of any kind, much greater control over what happens on the pitch compared to the sometimes wayward PES2011. All the good things about this game - the great AI, the fluidity, the control, the proper-footballiness - all come to the fore, and most of the horrible stuff is banished. If you've got mates nearby who like to play PES properly, or you can join an online community or league like PEEL where people are going to play like this, then you should buy this game tomorrow without a second thought. It's absolutely brilliant.
You probably don't want to bother with stuff like MLO, though, where the usual Barca domination is compounded by the kids' insistence on using 5-bar passing assistance and an even greater AI weighting in favour of big teams (biased refs, suspicious deflections, etc)... as though the likes of Barca didn't have enough of an advantage already. It's as though Konami were determined to ensure that button-mashing Barca noobs could not lose whatever happened. Speed merchants even more overpowered than last year, too. I used to occasionally pop into the general lobbies last year and have a bash at beating Barca / Real with Fenerbahce or someone, but I don't even bother this year, because cheesers have been further empowered and it's just not fun anymore.
So... good and bad. One thing I'll say for single player, though - it's definitely less arcadey post-patches, on -1 speed, so if that was the main thing bothering you about the demos, you won't be horrified with the finished game on that score.
Great post Pere Ubu, the one thing I will take up with you, and to a degree the vast majority of people of these forums, is the notion that speed (or lack of speed) and getting men behind the ball is simulation, and everything else is arcade.
I played all the variations of the out of the box together with the patches, and until today was sitting happily with Jenkey's patch on 1.02, which basically frees up the game and stops the 11 men behind the ball issue (this is on PC). Today however, I tried a different patch, the Fire Patch (whatever the latest one is) and the gameplay is once again very free, games are a complete joy, scorelines realistic and stats at the end of the game perfectly balanced.
But back to my point, it seems that the majority of people want PES to be a 'simulation', and I believe that they interpret this as slow, quite dull, and generally not end to end.
BUT, this is where I differ in my assessment...
Over the past 15 or so games I have watched, from all around the world at different levels, I would now say that 11/12 out of those 15 have been fast, flowing, end to end affairs.
Did anybody see the Portugal v Bosnia game last night, man PES -1, or -2 would have seemed like going backwards compared to that; talk about fast, responsive, end to end from start to finish. The game honestly resembled a hyped up PES 6! lol
Out of those 15 games I speak of the ones to highlight my point would be Chelsea v Arsenal, Portugal last night, and Spanish game that doesn't inlude Barce (because teams park the bus against them) etc etc. The England v Spain game I would consider a grind, again because England parked the bus.
But generally, teams at the moment are dynamically fast. For this reason, I think that this Fire Patch is perfect at the moment, gamespeed 0 is perfect, player response is excellent.
So for me, the term sim is a little misleading, or indeed what people's perception of sim is.
My definition of sim, in the context of PES, would be thus -
1) Is the game speed like what you see on the tv? - for me the game is now faster than ever, so yes
2) Are the shots on goal realistic?
3) Are the game scores realistic?
4) Is possession realistic?
5) Is CPU pressure realistic?
I think a lot of people put themselves through the grind and play the game on the most dullest settings, get little enjoyment out of it, in the name of chasing down getting the game like a sim, when in fact, football in real life is more arcade than ever before.
I'm testing this Fire Patch out a little more guys, but the results have been astoundingly good. Jenkey's patch was/is superb, but I still feel I don't get pressured enough and I still have too high possession (normally around 58/59).
The games I'm playing at the moment, are totally action packed, but in the right areas. The mid field battle is stunning. In a fifteen minute game on Superstar, normally shots are about 10-12 each, possession is only separated by around 5/6 percentage points (ie 53-47% in my favour) and indeed the CPU have even pipped me in possession (QPR did it, 51-49) this NEVER HAPPENS!! So you can tell how excited I am!!
And after watching a lot of footy lately, I am well and truly sold on the gamespeed not being too negative, and I'm more than happy playing it at gamespeed 0.
I'm willing to take other people's opinions on board, but for all those with a PC, try this Fire Patch as another brilliant alternative to the excellent Jenkey's!!!
