The moment all you uncles have been waiting for for over a decade has arrived: EA Sports College Football 25 is finally here. With this comes a wave of nostalgia for those who have played NCAA Football 14 or its predecessors, and for those who have only played Madden. Create an atmosphere of curiosity. Once you’ve played a fair amount of the game and the initial rush is over, does EA Sports College Football 25 live up to the hype?
To my surprise, the answer is yes. At first, I was just looking forward to a one-on-one Madden redesign. However, as soon as the first game started, the show and spectacle quickly made it clear that this was a whole new ball game. EA Sports College Football 25 perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to watch college football. Vibrant, boisterous crowds, hundreds of college-specific strikes and traditions, and uniquely designed stadiums give each school’s atmosphere a unique air of excitement.
The production isn’t just great for pre-rendered cutscenes, EA Sports College Football 25 also impresses during real-time gameplay. You can literally see every pore and bead of sweat running down players’ skin as they bounce off each other, and the movement and AI reactions are much more realistic than what we’ve seen in Madden so far.
The first example of EA Sports College Football 25’s improved movement can be seen in the running game. The halfback touches the defender’s back and goes through the hole, rather than fumbling his butt into the hole, and there’s weight and fluidity to the spin action. On the other side of the ball, there’s more to a steal than just a hit or miss. A hit from a heavy defensive end is much scarier than a hit from a speedy cornerback, as is the case in reality.
The passing game is also significantly improved, as smarter artificial intelligence — combined with the free-form placement rhythm introduced in Madden 24 — allows for some tight window receptions. Users can no longer control corner kicks before the game starts and jump 20 feet in the air for easy interceptions. Every pick in EA Sports College Football 25 is earned for good coverage, play calling, and ability.
While I don’t play it myself, it’s worth mentioning that My Ultimate Team (MUT) EA Sports College Football 25 has been added to the mix. Regardless, anyone who enjoys it won’t be deterred from trying it with college players instead of NFL stars.
However, while EA Sports College Football 25 improves on many of Madden’s foundations, it also carries some baggage – especially with its single-player career mode, Path to Glory. Everything about the mode is impressive, and it’s easy to tell that this is the case from the moment you start. location and star rating to start. The higher the level of your players, the better chance you have of starting early. If you choose a low-star recruit, you have to earn your spot. But while starting from the ground up sounds like it has the potential to create a cool storyline, the process is just playing the same mini-games over and over again in the hope that you’ll eventually get the playtime. Additionally, there are no stories or reviews mentioning that you will rise to the top if you do this, meaning there’s no point in picking a player below five stars.
Once you get into the starting lineup, your character has very little agency, even if it’s that of a star quarterback, and that’s frustrating. Of course, it’s understandable that a coach wouldn’t hand over his entire playbook to his rookie quarterback, but without being able to hear the sound during the game, and with a limited number of game change points per game, a three-game option would be a no-brainer. Not having just one option is too limiting. As an optional means of increasing immersion, this is fine, but the inability to turn off these limitations is rather disappointing.
Speaking of immersion, EA Sports College Football 25 also fails in its attempts to replicate Academia. When not playing the game, your character is allocated a limited amount of energy points to spend on certain activities. Depending on your choice, you will receive an XP increase or modifier that can be used in the game. It doesn’t take long to figure out how to game the system, as you only have to max out academics for the first half of the season and ignore the branding part entirely, which has no impact on gameplay. Once you do that, the rest of the season can be spent accumulating experience points and leadership to unlock upgrade points and in-game buffs.
Scenes occasionally come through in brief, but their elevation is rarely worthwhile, and their attempts at story are half-hearted at best. The only time it would elicit laughter is if you might get blocked by a schoolgirl for texting her too many about going to a party. Beyond that, the off-field experience has been unremarkable. Even worse, if you skip management activities, your players will be negatively affected on the field through injuries or stat debuffs. Thankfully, Dynasty mode is the polar opposite of Path to Glory.
Where Path to Glory felt like a simplistic take on a career mode, Dynasty is a combination of planning and execution. Recruiting is quite in-depth as it takes into account the wants and needs of specific players and requires you to shape your team around them and invest time in attracting players. There’s only so much time and scholarship money at your disposal, so spending it on finding players you might not have a chance of signing is like rolling the dice.
To improve those chances, you can overcome deal-breakers, including school reputation and play style. It’s a surprisingly complex system, as you need to balance the needs of multiple players during the recruiting process while also trying to win games during the season. The option to choose a proven trainer or create your own is also surprisingly inclusive, considering how restrictive the options are in Path to Glory.
Choosing an established coach brings the benefits of abilities and upgrades, such as improved recruiting, to give you a head start. In contrast, proving yourself and starting from scratch allows you to customize your attributes and playstyle to suit how you prefer to play. This means you can assign the upgrade points you gain from leveling up to any category in the skill tree, rather than using any locked skills a pre-built trainer has.
For those who like a challenge, Dynasty Mode also comes with consequences for your actions. If you fail to meet the expectations set out in your contract (which are determined by the school’s legacy), you may find yourself looking for a new job after three years. This realism creates some very interesting scenes.
Imagine getting fired from LSU and then taking a weak school like Kennesaw State into the college playoffs and beating your old school to win the national championship. It’s this alternative scenario in EA Sports College Football 25 that can make many of the other frustrating aspects worth it. Hopefully EA can continue to build on this solid foundation while fleshing out every aspect of the series to help it further separate itself from Madden and create a unique experience.
