FIFA 12 vs. PES 2012

FIFA 12 System Requirements

OS: Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz / Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ (Dual core processor /Core duo 2 or better)
RAM: 2 GB
GFX: ATI RADEON HD 2900 / NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800 GS
GFX RAM: DirectX® 9.0c Compatible 3D accelerated 256 MB video card or equivalent (must support Shader Model 3.0 or above).
DirextX: DX 9

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!!

PES 2012 System Requirements

OS: Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7
CPU: Intel Pentium IV 2.4GHz or equivalent processor
RAM: 1GB RAM
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce 6200 / ATI Radeon X1300 / Intel HD Graphics 2000/3000
GFX RAM: DirectX® 9.0c Compatible 3D accelerated 128 MB video card or equivalent (must support Shader Model 3.0 or above)
DirectX: DX 9

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!!

Both publishers, EA and Konami, have already released a demoversion of the according game. They are free to download and allow Players to test the game before they decide wether they do or don't want to buy it.

Here are some specifications about both versions.

FIFA 12 Demo:

Download: Click here [SOFTPEDIA]

Teams: FC Barcelona, Manchester City, Arsenal FC, Borussia Dortmund, Olympique Marseille, AC Milan

Gamemodes: Friendly, Tactical Defending Tutorial

Half-Length: 3 Minutes

Difficulty: Amateur, Semi-Pro, Professional, World-Class, Legendary

PES 2012 Demo:

Download: Click here [SOFTPEDIA]

Teams: Manchester United, AC Milan, FC Porto, S.S.C Napoli

Gamemodes: Friendly, Practice

Half-Length: 5 Minutes

Difficulty: Beginner, Amateur, Advanced, Professional, Top-Player

I've been playing the Demo of each game and I have to say that I'm going with FIFA so far. EA has been creating a huge gap over the past 2 years and Konami really has to think of something quickly before they lose more of their fanbase.

The new Player Impact Engine of FIFA 12 is awesome. It really helps the feeling and atmosphere of real football. In FIFA 12 there is an animation for almost every collision between any player of any team or even the referee. Players of the same team now collide in a very realistic way when they run into each other. All in all it's just a great feature to improve the realistic feeling of the game. Sometimes (like 1 out of 10 Games) there are pretty strange collisions, though. Maybe they'll fix that in the final version.
EA also worked on the Playerfaces again. They look good and you can see emotions now. It's not a "wow" feature but nice to have if you are into that kind of stuff. If you are just looking for realistic graphics, take your pick. Both, PES and FIFA did excellent work in that category.

What I personally like is that defending got a lot more complex in FIFA 12. It's not as easy to win possession of the Ball which will make the Multiplayer Mode that much more fun. If you are good at it, you have an advantage. If you were the type that just pressed "Sprint"+"Tackle" the past couple of years you'll have to get used to some real defensive action. If you press the tackle Button at the wrong time, the forward is pretty much free to pass your defender in any direction he pleases. This will take time to learn and probably years to master.

I also think that EA Sports worked on the commentators. I feel like they tend to shut up in some situations before they say something stupid. In previous versions of FIFA, sometimes the commentators would say things that don't even come close to what really happened on the field. I think they gained more control about what they want them to say after certain things happened in the game. However this is just a feeling I got after playing 6 Matches of the FIFA 12 Demo.

One thing that is taking away from the realism of Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 is that almost every shot is a goal. FIFA improved the KI of their Goalkeepers significantly, while it's still way to easy to score in PES. This might be good for new players, but experienced Players, who are used to playing FIFA will probably win every Match by 5 or more goals on the highest difficulty.
I'm not trying to take away from PES 2012 with this Review, it's just that I personally liked the FIFA 12 Demo so much more. It has pretty much everything I expected and it's a lot of fun to play.

If Manager- and Multiplayermode keep what they promise, FIFA will be way ahead of PES in terms of Quality. Don't get me wrong, PES is still a very good game, I just liked FIFA that much better.

I already pre-ordered both games, so I will post a complete review of each full game once they have been released.

Stay tuned...