EA Sports College Football 25 Review – Stumbling to the End Zone

EA Sports College Football 25 on Xbox Series X

It’s been over a decade since Electronic Arts last entered the college football arena, and EA Sports College Football 25 is their widely-promoted return to campus. The pageantry and speed of gameplay make for a stellar experience. Unfortunately, hangovers from EA’s other sports titles keep the title from achieving greatness.

EA’s former college football franchise, NCAA Football, quickly became a sporting staple. They were then unceremoniously forced to cease production of the series in 2013. Due to an inability to compensate college athletes for their likeness, the series was shelved – that is, until now.

College Football 25 is not the same game that players fell in love with ten years ago. A decade has passed, and EA – along with the gaming industry – has changed in that time. However, this title flies its college colors proudly, and through its saturated lens, we can experience one of the most enjoyable sports titles in years.

EA Sports College Football 25 simulates the reality of life as a college athlete with boisterousness and camaraderie. Unfortunately, the game is weighed down by EA’s pseudo-patented anti-consumer practices and lack of entry-level mechanics.

Graphical improvements and reimagined game mechanics aside, EA College Football 25 just plays faster than its big brother Madden.

This increased speed is not just apparent in the load times and twitch decision-making of a quarterback but in the gameplay itself. It may seem less grounded, and more like an arcade title, but that’s just skimming the surface.

The increased pace is most enjoyed in the frequent – in some instances, somewhat unfair – matchups. With this relationship, you are left with an experience that is unashamedly college football. The Madden NFL series never felt gritty and heavy. However, comparing Madden 24 to EA Sports College Football 25 is like comparing EA FC 24 to Fifa Street.

If the thumping big band performances of ‘Welcome to the Jungle’, spinning cheerleaders, and anthropomorphic mascots didn’t turn you on to EA Sports College Football 25’s commitment to the college experience, then nothing will.

Visuals on the pitch are generally stellar, indicating a dynamic leap from EA’s last football title. The crashing of bodies and dynamic camera angles pull you into the experience.

However, EA Tiburon has seemingly forgotten about updating the crowds from the last college football title in 2013. The crowd, past the incredibly dynamic and colorful front row, are Max Payne-esc stand-ins. This is made worse when multiple doppelgangers are standing row after row behind and beside them.

Arguably more important, however, is how the game plays. In that regard, EA Sports College Football 25 takes the ball and pelts it upfield. Gameplay on the gridiron is fluid and dynamic, if a little too sensitive. An overarching complaint of College Football 25 has been its passing mechanic.

This has seen a diversion from a button press to a gauge that fills until you release the button. This altered passing can be switched for a replica of the streamlined previous system. However, the more I played EA Sports College Football 25, the more I got used to it. It got to a point where I was connecting hail-mary passes I could have only dreamed about before.

Call it a learning curve, or call it Stockholm syndrome. At least EA is self-aware enough to give players the ability to toggle it off.

EA College Football 24 is a title with a lot of systems, and that’s not a bad thing. Yet, with so many intricate systems at play – and with some gamers coming into this console generation purely to pick the title up – it needs a much more rounded tutorial system.

There is a vast selection of Minigames to give the illusion of an entry-level experience. However, the true tutorial is hidden in the crevices of the College Ultimate Team mode. This feels like a somewhat shady-looking decision, considering it’s the only mode that funnels players into the microtransaction pipeline.

EA College Football 25 isn’t just another football video game, in line with its gargantuan Madden NFL-shaped sibling. With its return to the gaming space, Electronic Arts has broadcast its commitment to the college football experience. The perils of student multitasking are all brought forth in its Road to Glory game mode, from maintaining a decent GPA, and interacting with other students, to actively keeping up with your training.

Unlike previous entries in the series, you immediately start in your college bracket. This is instead of transitioning from a high school position as fans of the series previously enjoyed. This does leave a much-loved mechanic on the cutting-room floor. However, it does allow gamers to get right in on the meat of the mode.

While you can start as a five-star player, jumping straight onto the field, you can alter this to varying degrees. Beginning as a two-star recruit, for example, you have to climb the ranks of your college team. You do this by earning the trust of your coach and teammates while maintaining that aforementioned GPA and social credo.

These elements are gamified through the use of systems similar to a role-playing game scattered between every game. The visual novel-like texting and social media sections don’t have the same depth as something like Persona. Yet, they lend to one of the most engaging systems of the title.

Dynasty, on the other hand, is EA College Football’s return to a Football Manager-esc team-building mode. You begin your journey by entering the ranks of one of the 134 FBS schools in the game’s roster.

You are given a similar amount of control as to whether you jump right into its systems, or allow for a more gradual introduction. Gamers can choose to enter campus as a new Head Coach, or one of its offensive/defensive coordinators.

When entering the ring of college football management, you can choose what kind of coach you want to be. The three archetypes for your coach are; Motivator, Tactician, and Recruiter. They all give select improvements in certain areas of your performance, similar to the abilities of your players.

The mode’s return has been met with nigh universal acclaim. However, the days of sidling up to the best-rated student-athletes to create an unstoppable superteam are over.

Time and resource management are integral to the mode. Other colleges are consistently challenging your moves to secure the most sought-after new talent.

Throughout the season, you are not only tasked with scouting for new talent but maintaining and retaining your current squad. Insofar as the games themselves, you can – of course – simulate the entire affair to focus on the big-picture planning. Beyond that, you can play select sections of your team’s game. You can choose to control your team all game, on the offense, on the defense, or even opt to just ‘play the moments’.

Here it comes – it wouldn’t be an EA Sports title without it. EA Sports College Football 25 entices players to its Ultimate Team mode with the promise of creative freedom at the core of its most competitive mode.

The mode will most likely receive much of EA’s post-launch support for College Football 25. Ultimate Team has been a staple of Electronic Arts’ sports titles since its inception. Ironically, it is this most modern addition – beyond all of College Football 25’s ways to play – that feels the most redundant.

The creation and promotion of Dynasty and Road to Glory wouldn’t severely impact Ultimate Team’s appeal on the surface. However, EA Tiburon has done such a tremendous job of bolstering their alternative single-player systems. As such, Ultimate Team feels less like a culmination of everything great in College Football 25, and more like the skeezy multiplayer mode they were obliged to force in.

That’s not to say that players won’t find an immense amount of enjoyment from Ultimate Team. From its interlocking systems to its customizable team roster and aesthetic. It’s just that so many of the elements that make Ultimate Team so enjoyable have been peppered into College Football 25’s alternate modes. As such, Ultimate Team’s already weaning appeal to some has decreased all the more.

Although Ultimate Team may somewhat hog the spotlight, EA College Football 25’s newest competitive multiplayer mode lies deeper in the menus. Road to the CFP tasks players with online matchups within three-minute bouts. These matches are meant to simulate that of a real-life college football season.

As your team slowly climbs the ranks, through tiered cups, you reach ever and ever closer to a place in the College Football Playoffs. This also brings you ever closer to your chance to pick up the fabled Heisman Trophy!

While Road to the CFP is a concrete mode, it is a section of EA College Football 25 that thrives on a booming online community to butt heads with on your way to get the gold. Even with the immense amount of early adopters, it isn’t a mode that has been stress-tested like it profusely deserves.

Its core is solid, and its goal is evident. However, with the almost excessive amount of content in the title, it is an overwhelmingly enjoyable distraction. Sadly, however, one which many players may sidestep to get to either of the two other single-player modes, or Ultimate Team.

EA College Football 25 is a title many players will most likely enjoy an ecstatic honeymoon period with, after such a long time out of gamers’ hands. However, the title could have been spent a little longer on the bench before joining the starting lineup. This would allow the User Interface and User Experience to be tweaked and amended. Beyond that, NPC college football fans could have been heavily polished in the stands.

Yet, even with the immense weight of its legacy on its shoulders, EA College Football delivers on every single one of its promises – and then some. The college atmosphere – with streamers, mascots, and cheerleaders – is concentrated into a pseudo-arcade style football title which can be enjoyed by football fanatics and casual fans alike.

EA isn’t renowned for presenting gamers with full-priced sports titles that are worth the money. However, their return to college football leaves this title bursting at the seams. While EA couldn’t help but underhand returning fans of the series with Ultimate Team, they provide more than enough alternatives for those who wish to leave the mode on the bench.

EA Sports College Football 25, at its heart, is incredibly unique in a modern sports game setting. As such, it holds its school colors high and proud – although, it’s going to be a big undertaking to keep up with nearly 140 different team rosters post-launch.

However, in comparing it to its NFL counterpart, some seriously impressive changes will hopefully be retrofitted into the ‘big brother’ series when we see it launch later this year.