We are now under two months away from the debut of one of the most anticipated video games of all time. On Friday, EA Sports released a gameplay deep dive for College Football 25, and for fans worried it would be a reskin of Madden, here’s why it won’t be.
EA Sports College Football 25 and Madden 25 Gameplay Differences
While the games are built on the same engine, the College Football 25 crew operated under the belief that “every team is somebody’s favorite team.” But more than that, they aimed to bring the sport we all love to digital life in as realistic a fashion as possible. As fans of both the NFL and CFB know, the two couldn’t be more different.
Wear and Tear
Madden players are used to stamina ratings and players subbing out after several plays. College Football 25 is overhauling the system. With “Wear and Tear,” the new damage feature, every hit matters, and not all hits are created equal. In EA’s recent blog post, they dove into the details:
“Every limb and body part of a player is linked with unique attributes. For instance, if your quarterback’s throwing arm receives a significant hit, you’ll notice a decrease in your throw power and accuracy.”
“Each body part degrades at a different rate, and the player’s toughness rating plays a critical role in how much damage is applied on a given hit. The more damaged a body part is, the higher the chance and severity of injury.”
As a result, getting the ball out quickly, covering the ball on runs, and heading out of bounds before hits will be more important than ever before.
Abilities and Composure
On paper, College Football 25’s new 80 player abilities sound similar to Madden’s X-Factors and Superstars, but the majority are “completely new to the football gaming space.” They are divided into physical and mental categories and are situational boosts that aren’t guaranteed.
EA also emphasized the gaps between freshmen and seniors and between high and low overall ratings. Freshmen will have more volatile hot and cold swings than seniors, will be more heavily affected by home-field advantage as road players, and will not have the same pre-snap abilities as seasoned seniors.
Speaking of home-field advantage, EA is bringing back the Stadium Pulse Meter and screen shake from NCAA 06. The audio mixes will be unique to each stadium, and the bigger the discrepancy on the scoreboard, the greater the noise and on-field effects, such as distorted and falsified play art.
Unique Formations and User Control
The College Football 25 team has put the time in to give users control over the game like never before.
- Players can employ coverage disguises in defense, but if the defenders have low composure, they can mess up the look.
- In coverage, users can flick the right stick to switch to other coverage defenders directionally, which could create a huge skill gap between players.
- Offensively, players have access to 12 hot routes for outside WRs. Additionally, there’s a new Custom Stems mechanic, where users can adjust the distance of a pass catcher’s route.
- An all-new trick play will be introduced, DIY Reverse, where players can either hand off to a teammate or keep the ball and run. Moreover, on pitch plays, players can now differentiate pitch strength and fake the motion.
- There will be unique offensive formations (certain spread looks, Wing-T, etc.) and run styles for different archetypes that will only be in College Football 25 and not Madden 25.
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At every step, EA has shown they know what makes college football the greatest sport on the planet: tradition and pageantry. And they’ve also shown they understand what fans want out of the first CFB video games in 11 years. College Football 25 is coming — and it couldn’t come any faster.
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