For ten years, mid-July would come and everyone would think, “you know, there used to be a college football game out right now. How different my life would be.” At least that was a personal experience. We are back, however, and the sports gaming community is 100% unified on this front.College Football 25has brought a lot of promises in the past month and a half as the hype has been going on for nearly three years. This game offers so much that it’s hard to choose where even to begin.College Football 25isn’t without its issues and is far from perfect, but this is quite possibly the best EA SPORTS football experience to date.
Unrivaled Pageantry
134 different football programs, all with their own play style and playbooks, with their own extremely detailed stadiums and all with their own entrances. This is the power of true next-generation football. There are 150 stadiums in total that include championship sites. Dynamic crowds with crowd-specific coloring that also manage to mirror game themes on calendar days in Dynasty Mode. While seeing the same home entrance multiple times can definitely wear down some excitement, this helps with the away games to not only experience more entrances, but also the atmosphere for that specific stadium. Atmospheres that are flawlessly captured and provide goosebumps for the players. The energy is that well-replicated inCollege Football 25.
There are 11,000 active college football players in this game thanks to NIL. No more downloading custom rosters (although downloads are still a thing), and it appears some fictional players do exist, but the big names everyone is looking for are here with their own set of ratings. What makes things more special with these environments are the little details. During a night game at Central Florida, the developers literally included SpaceX launches in the background. The crowd cuts include memes from over the years to really capture the emotions. This makes big games feel so special, and there is nothing that has come close in sports games. The gameday experience completely supersedes its predecessor in every way.
A Dynasty for the Modern Player
EA knew the modes to keep, and Dynasty Mode was that must have for absolutely everyone. Franchise Modes in professional sports games are one thing, but the Dynasty Mode in this series dating back to NCAA ‘98 is the only experience that can be had like this. The developers made sure to bring the modern ways of doing things along with updating and streamlining the process of scouting and recruiting, and it paid dividends. Doing research by assigning time to searching for a recruit’s social media, direct messaging, reaching out to relatives, or going all in will help unlock week-by-week what their preferences are in the school. Doing actual scouting will also denote if a player is a gem or if they are a dud. The strategy involved in allocating time and replenishing players on the scouting list is fantastic, especially if it pays off with a signing.
One of the better things to do is to see a recruit that has higher rivals. It doesn’t matter if that recruit is needed, I just want to block my rivals from signing them. There are progressing periods where the recruits reduce their amount of teams, and if the recruit’s interest is too out of reach from the competitors, allocating time needs to be decided on if its worth it. It is certainly disappointing to miss out on a recruit that a lot of time was invested in. These recruits can also be swayed to swing more away from the competition. It also matters when and how players are scheduled for visits. There’s a lot of detail here, but it isn’t tedious nor over-incumbering. It hits the right spot and gets the player wanting more after each game played during the season. This is the best scouting process in any sports game to date.
Dynasty includes the College Football Playoff and the menu system helps to keep players engaged in narratives during the season. The engagement can certainly be a bit deeper, but there is more information that is provided than in the past. Players can keep up with the Heisman running and the game will notify of any awards given to current team players after each week. Conferences can be customized, but there is no option to create any new conferences. Teambuilder will be instituted as this was not live prior to launch, but customized teams can be swapped in. After the season, the coaching carousel has been added and has its own process along with player transfers, which is almost its own separate form of recruiting. There hasn’t been a franchise-type of mode that has been updated this well anywhere else.
Players have the option to start as a head coach, offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator. XP is earned to allocate Coach Points to unlock more abilities across multiple tiers. This allows the player to go all in on one specific trait, or attempt to spread things out. Even with the speed rate of XP increased, it still took a while to get any traction to unlock more abilities. This is a 30-year Dynasty, so when put into that scope of things, the process is a bit more understandable. The process is by no means a grind. The idea of growing Coach Prestige as an OC at a major school and then taking over as a HC at a small school is fantastic.
Dynasty Gameplay Experience Differs
Playing games in Dynasty Mode is different than in Play Now, which is just an exhibition game on its own. Starting with the difficulty, the gameplay sways heavily in favor of AI, and it seems it takes a cheap way of doing this. This harkens back to the old days, especially with rivals and conference opponents. Even on the default Varsity difficulty setting, there are just too many things that coincidentally happen. Being up 28-0 and then losing (Colorado last year) does happen. Occasionally. Things like this happen too many times.
Struggling against FCS opponents (App State-Michigan 2007) shouldn’t be a thing. These games almost feel scripted, and that can be seen in the animations and the gameplay. Eventually, utilizing sliders helped to alleviate this as bumping it down to Freshman makes the game too easy. There are already mythological stories on X/Twitter about playing on the highest difficulty, Heisman. Gameplay, itself, will be touched more on later, but it seems the way the game is developed is that “Hey, these things happened at some point in college football, let’s just cram instances into the mode so they happen all the time.” Convenient kick off return touchdowns, blocked kicks, and ball carriers breaking multiple tackles are just some examples to get the result that feels scripted.
Moving on from the “Get Good” comments, there are still some different things that happen in Dynasty that aren’t in Play Now that are worth experiencing. A quick halftime show full of first half highlights is marvelously done, and studio updates are provided during the game of upsets in the nation. It would have been really nice to see a cutaway like the previous game had, but this is a starting point. The post game also has celebrations and highlights, but the postgame highlights feel a bit more cut than the halftime. As the season progresses, more news and stats are introduced into the menu screen that is positioned in the upper right-hand corner. This menu system is fantastic as it provides insight into not only the game, but other narratives during the season, along with replays in the upper left-hand corner.
The AI logic in Dynasty seems to favor heavy towards upsets and even the Top 25 rankings are a bit off. Even though conferences were customized, the end of one season had a 6-6 Texas team ranked third. The one thing the mode does is give some insight into potential problems that the College Football Playoff may encounter. Numbers 1 and 2 in the rankings won’t get a bye if they are in the same conference. That’s not a logic issue, but it is fascinating to glare into the future. There are just some things about Dynasty that can be balanced out, in general.
Wearing and Tearing
The Wear and Tear System is new to College Football and feels relatable to what is seen in the WWE 2K series in terms of doing damage to different body parts. It’s the same thing here, and it affects player ratings if the body gets beaten down too much. This works both in the short term and the long term. This does work as advertised as subbing out players is required for a few plays, otherwise reducing effectiveness and risking injury plays a factor. This shines the most in Road to Glory as proper health management and rest will wear down the player towards the end of the season and there is a noticeable decline in abilities.
In terms of just playing one game or an online game, this isn’t as vital unless a player is getting extremely punished. Keeping an eye on overall player health in Dynasty Mode is key, especially down the stretch. One thing worth noting is that during gameplay, it’s very difficult to see the status of a player on the pre-play screen, and this actually goes for the entire pre-play screen, which includes Composure and Abilities Icons. You can’t see anything if you’re sitting on a couch. The Wear and Tear System is a very welcome addition with an added layer of strategy, but having this system offer more of an impact in one game would make it much more engaging, possibly even adding a slider.
While it was announced there are no high school playthroughs, Road to Glory is almost more engaging without it. This career mode is not only the best version of Road to Glory, but possibly the best career mode on the market. Some of these get too deep and tedious, but the interactions and the options in this version of Road to Glory are so well-balanced and engaging, it’s superb. The decisions on the various questions throughout the career have meaningful consequences. Balancing time with practicing, school and training is enough to keep the player engaged in gameplay. Positions battles are fun, as mini games are included and a good bit are different than what was in Madden.
Choosing a school, an archetype and customizing the player is where the journey begins, and it really comes down to playing time. There aren’t a lot of schools offering starting positions, so there will be a lot of sitting early on. Are you going to go party or train and study? The exams throw a curveball in progression as not keeping at least a 2.0 GPA will get the player benched. Earning Coach Trust is key here to getting more opportunities and that involves making the most of those when given an opportunity. It took about 3–4 hours to get through the first season and the option is there to transfer out at the end of the season.
The mode truly provides a sense of accomplishment when moving up the ladder. The option to even sabotage players is on the table via the text message questions that come in. Players get boosts for leadership and followers as well and can gain NIL deals. As for gameplay, the camera focuses on the player, but the default camera is a bit too close. The camera view can be brought back out to get a better idea of the player’s surroundings, which is much needed. Other than that, this is such a unique mode that finds the right balance of depth and progression, as it is designed for players to create multiple recruits for multiple playthroughs that can be transferred to Madden NFL 25.
Ultimate Team Sneaks In
It’s not a modern day sports game without a card-based, microtransaction mode included. Ultimate Team was in the previous NCAA titles towards the end, but this version does do a few things different. Building a team with cards through various challenges and online play is the goal. The Conference Challenges will allow some classic games to be replayed with classic players. It also seems that high level cards can be auctioned off as there is an auction house to purchase cards. While the rest of the menu system in the game seems fine, the Ultimate Team menu is egregiously slow to the point that it is a turnoff. If you are a player that prefers these modes, these new ways to play are a nice touch.
The Gameday Experience
College Football 25is not a Madden clone, simply put. The general concept of an EA Sports football game is here with passing and running and a few things carrying over from the recent Madden. The ability to place passes is here along with throwing high passes. Star players have abilities that are different from X-Factors that are always available, and they are noticeable on the field. These are both Mental and Physical abilities that play a pivotal part, especially when dealing with playing on the road. The developers said there will be a difference between freshman and seniors and there is a major gap here. The ability to throw over-the-shoulder catches is also apparent. A passing meter is turned on by default to help gauge throwing velocity rather than just hitting the button hard or light to determine the throw.
Defense isn’t much of a thing in actual college football and that can be seen here. Gameplay is much faster and those with Abilities will dominate the game. The game breaks down which Ability does what, but this is a lot to keep up with, and it isn’t easily accessible during play to see what each player has outside a small icon on the pre-play screen. Running the ball is the most fun of any EA game to date, and that is simply from snapping the ball on generic runs. This doesn’t include new ways of pitching the ball and running current options. Holding the button for read options works really well, but for RPO plays (Run-Pass-Option) it is difficult as X needs to be held down, and it makes it difficult to hit some buttons.
The entire game is a new learning experience and there has never been more control at the line of scrimmage than whatCollege Football 25offers. It’s very overwhelming early on and the play clock is only 25 seconds, meaning a few delays of game penalties are expected until a comfort level is reached. This game truly makes the player feel like they are running and coordinating the offense. Added hot routes, putting players in motion to take advantage of mashups, and the biggest addition with full offensive line adjustments that actually work will have everyone reading defenses on every play. The blocking is mostly great, but calling double teams work about half the time.
Offensive players always seem to have one step on the defense that helps to open up gameplay on the offensive side. Composure plays a critical part for each individual player and monitoring this can allow for taking advantage of a player not doing so hot. Helping with managing the offense and is more for advanced players is the new Turbo option. Holding Square after the play will not necessarily go no huddle, but players will look to the sideline for plays. Holding down L2 after holding Square and then selecting various formations within the same scheme present different plays and can be previewed by selecting them with the left stick. This definitely is a major adjustment, but once mastered, is a major tempo changer. There are also coaching adjustments buried in the menu screen that allow adjustments like the previous titles did. Besides the mini-games, there really isn’t a tutorial to help get players acclimated to the major changes in running the offense.
The College Football 25 Gameplay Trailer is Here
The trailer includes Michigan running back Donovan Edwards and Influencer BordeauxYT playing two games against one another.
The laps in the defensive secondary can be frustrating, but one cannot argue this happens in college a good bit. Wide receivers will just run past zone coverage and players left on an island in man coverage will get torched. There have been some side arm throws witnessed in situations, as well. There are also celebrations, 28 to be exact, and players can also celebrate and risk a fumble on their way to the end zone. Lastly, kicking has never been so difficult. Icing the kicker doesn’t exist here, but simply attempting to kick a field goal past 30 yards with the new kick meter isn’t just impossible, it’s hilariously impossible and never close. Blocked kicks also do happen randomly.
Home Field Advantage
The Toughest Places to Play means more than ever. This has been in the series in the past and has caused some inconveniences. ForCollege Football 25, it is a complete disadvantage depending on the location. This also updates in Dynasty Mode and doesn’t stay the same. Bad teams will also have the crowd lessened during the season. Each stadium seems to have one big advantage, and playing in one of these locations makes things so much more difficulty. It could be as simple as Composure being drained for a young player. Stadium Pulse dictates how difficult things will be for the opposing team.
It’s not as simple as not knowing what routes someone will run, albeit this is included, but it’s upped to 11. Players will simply run wrong routes, audibles and hot routes will be limited to the closer proximity in players, and audibles can result in simply not working. There have been some videos where the quarterback doesn’t see the ball hiked and it just goes by, but this could be a bug and hasn’t been personally experienced. Take everything that is great by managing the offense at the line of scrimmage and add this difficulty, players will feel backed into a corner. One thing worth noting is that this isn’t apparent during online play. The improvements to this are massive and give a better idea of what this experience is like in real life.
Break Out the Fly Swatter
As mentioned at the beginning, not everything is perfect withCollege Football 25. There are some noticeable bugs, and a lot of this comes down to animations. There have been some catches that don’t look right, players do warp to positions while others will bounce off what seems like a wall, but an animation doesn’t register. There are some visual bugs, one with the crowd where a hand magically sticks out of an NPC’s arm that looks like a tumor. Fumbles are randomly recovered and look terrible in piles. Scores have been reported wrong in the menu, commentary and reactions have been wrong, and turbo mode engaging on its own are some of the issues encountered. Hopefully there will be patches that shore these things up in the future, but the game is so fun it doesn’t really take away from the experience.
The Sights and Sounds of College Football
College Football 25only came out for current generation consoles, in turn maximizing the visual capabilities. So many aspects were motion captured and scanned into the game. Starting with player models, they look great, and player faces also look good, albeit not being facial scans but rather using AI to put faces in. The running animations are absolutely fantastic and the fact that ball carriers on breakaways look behind them for defenders is one of many small touches that are stellar. The grass on the field is the best looking grass in any game to date, and overall, the stadiums are supremely detailed, full of color and life. Rain effects look beautiful on both the helmets and the jerseys, which are the most realistic in any sports game, as well. The fabric is so real you may feel it.
The game remains extremely smooth during gameplay and some animations do look phenomenal, but these animations just aren’t consistent enough. The lighting is where the visuals stand out the most and provide a realistic depiction of every stadium and a heavy upgrade and a new feeling than the previous game. Sideline life is improved even from recent Madden titles and the developers even included the poster boards with pictures on them for play selection.
Even though ESPN didn’t officially sign off on this title, it might as well be ESPN. The score ticker is at the bottom of the screen and while this seems to aim more towards a Fox broadcast, everything else feels like ESPN. This is thanks to the two commentary teams, who both do a great job. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit take up the major games during the season and some will easily be mistaken for a real broadcast. The regional team is Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer and David Pollack, and they work very well together. The crowd noise will drain out the commentary if things are going crazy.
The sound team used multiple real stadium audio from ESPN for this game. The crowd level and reaction are perfect. Collisions sound devastating, especially when using the hit stick. The audio design combining the commentary and the crowd noise is done so well, it replicates television perfectly. The main theme is a banger, as well. However, the constant drums, rather than going with a soundtrack like the last few games, gets annoying in the menus. Even the option to just turn the main theme on or to use fight songs in the background would be much preferred.
Online Options
College Football 25introduces Road to the College Football Playoff, which is essentially just a ranking system for online play. There are statuses for how good a player is, and the development team took inspiration from fighting games for this. Different divisions help to determine opponents, and these opponents increase with the fact that cross play is here. Players can use EA Friends to assure cross play games. Online connectivity is possibly the best in any sports game, as well. There was no latency or any type of sluggishness that is seen in other sports titles. This is the only means outside of Ultimate Team to play other players one-on-one online in terms of online matchups and not the Online Dynasty.
Closing Comments:
EA put all of its chips intoCollege Football 25, andit truly paid off. People are buying consoles just to play this game. It’s a cultural phenomenon and the experience that’s provided isn’t replicated anywhere else. All the new additions to help make the game stand out including Wear and Tear, Turbo Mode, different coverage shells and added hot routes for pre-play, and basically everything added isn’t just a gimmick, it’s a substantial change. While some bugs and logic need to be addressed,College Football 25is undoubtedly the most fun football game to come out in years. Everything College Football is here.
College Football 25
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 5
The first entry in EA’s series since 2013’s NCAA Football 14, EA Sports College Football 25 is a sports sim that focuses on realistically capturing the college football scene.
