EA Sports College Football 25 review – We’re so back

Sports games come and go so quickly in the video game industry that it’s hard to imagine getting excited over an annual release of Madden, NBA 2K, or EA Sports FC (the game formerly known as FIFA). It’s rare that a major player in the sports space does something new and exciting, and when that something involves something as beloved as the NCAA, it’s no surprise that EA Sports College Football 25 has received the buzz that it has during its launch window.

College football video games have been gone since NCAA 14, and that decade-long absence has caused diehard fans to hold onto their Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles just to have access to college football. If you’ve ever seen the sports section of a GameStop, then you know that older sports games are (almost literally) a dime a dozen since players always move on to the newest annual release. NCAA 14 has remained one of the most expensive used games in spite of this, priced almost as high as new AAA titles to this day.

Bringing back NCAA football is not only a huge logistical task, but EA Sports College Football 25 also has to carry the insurmountable weight of massive expectations on its back, and after years of middling Madden releases, fans were wary to say the least. Thankfully, EA Sports College Football 25 is a triumphant return for the NCAA.

While Madden does well enough as an NFL football simulation, it’s always lagged behind its contemporaries in one major department: vibes. When NBA 2K builds a fully-open world basketball-themed city for its MyCareer mode filled to the brim with courts and shoe deals or adds several eras to its MyNBA mode that let fans relive all-time rivalries and historic seasons, Madden’s franchise mode feels a bit sterile in comparison. The same goes for things like the Storylines mode in MLB The Show, which lets players relive the careers of baseball’s greats. Despite football being one of the most passionate sports in the world, Madden has always felt like it’s been lacking that love of the game.

EA Sports College Football 25 gets football. In its attempt to faithfully recreate the electric atmosphere of college football games, the sanctity of its traditions, and the heat behind its rivalries, College Football 25 nails what makes football work.

A large part of that is due to College Football 25 ditching last-gen consoles entirely, solely sticking to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S to create what may be the best-looking sports game ever made. Player models are detailed and the stadiums even more so, movement and tackling feel realistic but responsive, and the lighting is jaw-dropping at all times of day. It’s just a treat to look at, and the crowd work and mascot shenanigans make it a real joy for spectators.

Each stadium and team feels wholly different from one another as well. This is something that Madden touches on with home-field advantages, but College Football 25 takes things to another level. It’s intimidating enough to play against Texas A&M at Kyle Field with the Corps of Cadets standing ready in their uniforms and the sea of maroon in the stands erupting in cheers for beloved mascot Reveille, but things get even worse when your play art starts to show the wrong plays and the buttons over your receivers’ heads are replaced with question marks.

Pageantry is a huge part of what sets the NCAA apart from the NFL, and College Football 25 understands every aspect of that. It’s not just cosmetic things like customizing the main menu with your favorite team, but also how it affects the mental game of the players on the field. Hearing Mo Bamba at Penn State during a make-or-break third down is uniquely horrifying in a way that Madden could never recreate.

Of course, none of this would be as fun if the actual football wasn’t solid, and it is. The passing system has been completely revamped, and while the new passing meter can take some time to get used to, it ultimately allows for much more refined control over the ball’s speed and trajectory. The colors on the passing meter are also much easier to read at a glance, letting you spend less time worrying about controls in the pocket and more time focusing on making big plays.

Big plays are a big part of college football, too, and College Football 25’s running mechanics allow for some truly explosive touchdowns. EA has touted new animations and physics in new Madden releases every year, but College Football 25 is the first time I’ve really noticed a significant difference. You can shrug off defenders like nothing if you play your cards right, which conversely makes playing defense much harder and more engaging. Your inputs feel like they matter more than ever, and while player ratings and fatigue still factor into things, football has never felt this responsive.

While you can just run a quick game via the Play Now mode, the real meat of EA Sports College Football 25 lies in Dynasty and Road to Glory. There’s also Ultimate Team because of course there is, but that’s pretty much an exact translation of MUT but with college players.

Dynasty is the big selling point of the game, letting you coach your own team through multiple seasons while you manage recruitment, schedules, and staff in between games. As you play games and gain experience, you can level up your coach’s abilities with a web-like skill tree. Each node has certain prerequisites to unlock, so you’ll really have to lean into certain coach styles and play styles to get the best perks. You also choose a primary coach archetype like a Motivator or Recruiter, which dictates which skills are at your disposal. This new coach progression system is a huge win for Dynasty, and it adds another layer of planning to the teambuilding process.

Recruiting players is also remarkably deep in College Football 25. You only have a limited number of hours and scholarships to spend, and learning about each prospect’s skills and swaying them to your school’s side takes a lot of time. It’s not just about the money, either. Players value things like proximity to home, pro potential, academics, campus life, and more.

While you can scout players, send them DMs, and reach out to their friends and family to get them interested in your school, it really all comes down to selling them on your program once they’ve narrowed their list down to their top handful of universities. At that point, you’ll have to use all the knowledge you’ve gained and leverage your school’s unique bonuses to choose which factors to sell the prospects on the hardest. It feels great to beat out other schools with an ace up your sleeve, but you can also lose players just the same.

If you’d rather star in your own story, then Road to Glory mode lets you create a custom player and live through your own college football career in a much faster-paced mode with less micromanagement. You’ll still have to balance your weekly hours between academics, leadership, branding, and training, but most of your time will be spent on the field — if your coach lets you play, that is. Trying to get on-field time is harder at more prestigious schools, but being the best player at the best schools is also your main goal, so it’s a balancing act of transfers, practice, and gaining your coach’s trust by playing according to their rules.

The week-to-week random events are what make Road to Glory really interesting, though. It’s easy to get comfortable with a set schedule and devote equal amounts of time to academics and sports each week, but you’ll receive text messages from your teammates, classmates, and advisors each week that make you spend some of your hours to mitigate potential risks. Even if you have a 4.0 GPA, for example, your advisor might text you about an upcoming exam and ask you to come in for a study session. Not studying at all is a risk that could randomly drop your GPA, and it’s up to you to determine how many hours you want to devote to mitigating that risk.

Since you spend a lot of time not playing football in Road to Glory mode, especially if you’re on the bench at a big school, it shines a light on the biggest problem with EA Sports College Football 25 at the moment. The simulation logic is completely busted, and this affects both Road to Glory and Dynasty. Matches that should be blowouts are ending up much closer than they should be, for example, and season rankings can look a bit silly because of how the game resolves matches. This will likely get ironed out with the next few patches, but as it stands, it’s a pretty big error.

Despite its minor issues, however, EA Sports College Football 25 is just a blast to play. They nailed everything they needed to with this NCAA comeback, and if they keep building on this framework in the coming years with new modes, details, and tweaks, college football fans have a lot to look forward to. EA Sports College Football 25 was absolutely worth the wait, and it feels really good to see college football back on consoles again.