PES 2012: Increased player individuality, better AI and the chance to carve up defences like a mad surgeon

Wow, is it this time of year already? The pre-season wherenew FIFA and new PESshow off their improvements? 2012 really has bolted along but instead of worrying about where you've pissed the best part of five months away, why not fix your concentration on thisannouncement trailer for PES 2012 as serieshead honcho, Seabass, delivers the news on the features that will shape Konami's new football season.

So what can we gauge from this video? Well, not much if we're honest. The proof in the pudding with football games is getting them in your hands and playing it to death but early signs are promising. The ability to surgically cut defencesto pieces like a full-flowing Barcelona will be a much needed improvement... if it comes true. Too many times it feels like the AI are bloody psychicand break up moves easily in previous iterations so with team-matesmaking intelligent runs, your wildest passing dreams will come true.

Above: We've been here before. Still... please be true. Please be true. Please be true

Seabass talks about giving more players their individual traits in PES 2012 so it's not just the tricky players that are devastating. This has been attempted by bothEA and Konami before but almost inevitablyends up being that the best players are the ones that arequickest.If, and that's a big 'IF', Konami can nailindividuality in their players thisseason then FIFA 12 willbe quaking in it's shin-pads. There's a bit in the video above that talks about target men holding the ball up and other players will dart into space to receive a pass from him. If Konami can deliver more of this then that will be a mega-bonus.

We're not massively concerned about the dribbling tweaks as it's always felt more natural to go around a player with minimum fuss in PES. Especially compared to FIFA's twirl-the-stick and see which animation comes out. A simplified version of PES 2011's slightly complex skills will make for exciting matches, especially with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo on the ball.

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Above: In layman's terms - AI defenders won't inexplicably fall over or pull up whentrackinga ball over the top

And that's about it. As we said, we'll be able to get a real feel for it when we eventually get hands-on, but until then we're remaining optimistic that the series can return to it's former glories with PES 2012.

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