Pageantry.
Pride.
Passion.
You name the redeeming quality possessed by college football, and I bet EA Sports College Football 25 exudes and embodies that quality near and dear to fans’ hearts. With the release of the latest — and greatest — edition of the famed college football video game series, EA has simultaneously launched itself into the next stratosphere while bringing nostalgia and overwhelming feelings of joy to millions around the world.
EA Sports College Football 25 Game Review
At the intersection of niche college football lifers and casual video game players, EA Sports College Football 25 may be the exception to any rules previously set forth by sports video games. This video game is so nearly perfect that its appeal to diehard college football fans only mirrors its desirability from any occasional sports video game player.
Players need just pick up the controller and the overwhelming feeling of football on a Saturday encapsulates them.
As I am a college football expert and not a video game expert (though I’ve played significant time across the past 30 years playing games), this isn’t quite like your usual video game review. In fact, it’s better.
Let’s take a look at EA Sports College Football 25 from the perspective of just that: A true EA Sports College Football 25 review by a college football expert. You’ll notice similar buckets below that look like other video game reviews, but you’ll also see the aforementioned intersection between a CFB lifer and a lifelong video gamer.
Is EA Sports College Football 25 Worth It?
Yes. Quite simply, it was so worth it that I even purchased two different pre-order versions. One of which came from GameStop with an EA Sports mini locker and a jersey as well as the deluxe edition multi-pack with this year’s version of Madden attached to it.
Call me crazy, but both purchases were worth every penny and I’ve probably gotten my money’s worth in the first five days of playing the game.
From the initial onset of the game, fans are treated to an exquisite product. All the glory of college football mixed with the best parts of recent successful football platforms combined to create a significantly improved video game that reaches the nuance of college football at all 134 major colleges while keeping in mind minor details noticed from casuals.
The speed of the game will certainly differ for those who played the last iteration of EA’s college offerings — NCAA 14 — but that’s to be expected. Even those who completed the CFB Revamped version of NCAA 14 will notice a significant speed difference. But that’s OK.
It’s all a part of EA’s own revamping of the product. All 134 teams. Actual player names. Realigned conferences. The only thing missing is truly the real-life coaches, but that’s fine because who doesn’t create themselves as a coach anyway?
Whether you’re looking for online play, single-player dynasty mode, Ultimate Team, or re-living the glory of your playing days, this game has something for everyone.
When asked if it’s worth it, I truly go back to the first word of this section: Yes. And nothing will change my mind there.
EA Sports College Football 25 Dynasty Mode Review
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. If you’ve been playing this game since the 90s as I have, dynasty mode is the way to go. Sure, we’ll dabble with Road to Glory and Ultimate Team, but nothing is more satisfying in a sports video game than taking the Zips from Akron to national glory in dynasty mode.
But EA Sports College Football 25’s dynasty offerings are more in-depth than ever and offer true-to-life facets that you must be mindful of like never before.
If the transfer portal and NIL changed the game in real life, the fictitious game has mirrored such changes brilliantly.
Recruiting is much different, but it’s much better. Much more realistic. And the continued need to press your already-committed recruits only likens the game to real life even more.
If previous knocks on the game’s dynasty mode were recruiting and the simulations of dynasty mode were too unrealistic, you can cast those notions aside here.
I mean, I even simulated dozens of dynasties just to get a feel for the game before truly jumping in. That’s highly recommended reading material, by the way.
KEEP READING: So, I Simulated the 2024 Season Dozens of Times on EA Sports College Football 25
In doing that exercise, I walked through each facet of dynasty mode and came away equally impressed, if not more impressed, after each passing simulation. Putting in plainly, the dynasty mode on EA Sports College Football 25 is the most realistic and most robust dynasty or franchise mode in any football game I’ve ever played.
And single-handedly, EA’s latest dynasty mode makes the game worth it.
EA Sports College Football 25 Ultimate Team Review
I’ll be honest: I never played the Ultimate Team offerings back in NCAA 14, not just because the servers shut down on my PS3, but because dynasty mode was so robust, unique, and challenging, I never felt the need to.
But this go ’round, I signed into Ultimate Team first when getting to know the gameplay and the feel of the game itself. And I was not disappointed.
Ultimate Team offers you the chance to live through famous moments lost in the game’s 11-year absence with nostalgic cards just as it allows you to collect your favorite team’s players to create the best 11 players per side of the ball and compete in a variety of challenges both offline and online.
The hobby is back in real life and Ultimate Team is here to stay for EA Sports College Football 25. Combine that with the fact that in the first few hours of the game’s release, multiple mini-games invited users to play and collect, and it’s clear this is a focus of the game and should be a focus for players.
The jury is out on its longevity, but up front, you’ll want to collect every card you can.
EA Sports College Football 25 Road to Glory Review
With so much to do about Road to Glory in the lead-up to the game, the plethora of options you get to choose from and ultimately play through alleviate any concerns fans may have of returning to this mode. Sure, you don’t play your 10-game high school season anymore and the underdog mode is — notoriously — difficult, if not impossible, but isn’t that like real life?
Not every college football player sees the field, and even more former ‘great’ high school players don’t see meaningful minutes at the collegiate level.
Sure, it’s a video game and you’d like to be tested at the highest difficulty, but this game mimics life so realistically, that isn’t the case.
On the field, the product is terrific as a Road to Glory star. In the proverbial classroom or just simply off the field, the product is just as good.
You won’t go wrong trying to test the transfer portal in the offseason or fielding offers from opposing coaches throughout your time playing this mode. Stick it out and get rewarded, or find the best NIL opportunities elsewhere, perhaps.
The best part about Road to Glory is that you likely won’t take the same road twice, but you may find glory every time.
EA Sports College Football 25 Other Game Modes Review
Let’s get a bit more into the nitty-gritty here. While we can bucket each out, I thought it’d make it easier for you to read the smaller facets in smaller, succinct paragraphs as I outline all my thoughts and feelings appropriately.
Road to the College Football Playoffs
A smaller, simpler game mode that allows users to compete against others in an online format and qualify for the College Football Playoffs. In dynasty mode, the teams that repeat in the Playoffs are going to be the top dogs, the teams everyone knows about.
If you want to try your luck as an underdog or try and avenge last season’s loss to Oregon as Liberty, this is the mode to do so from the jump. But it’s not that simple.
You must win your way to a qualifying status against others. And if you don’t play this regularly, you may find yourself wanting more from this mode.
Play Now / Play A Friend
As straightforward as it gets. Play any game with any two teams and sit back and enjoy.
Mini Games / Open Practice
Mini games are a fun and unique way to test several different facets of in-game play while open practices give you the freedom to learn playbooks and get your timing down. Open practice is where you can hone your skills, and surprisingly offers a fun set of options.
Team Builder
Set to debut the night before the global release of the game, build your own team from the ground up on EA’s custom website. This will allow you to truly make your own college or bring to life a real university that isn’t represented in the game, upload into the game itself, and play along with the rest of the nation.
EA Sports College Football 25 Roster Review
This is the big one. While we’ve done a lot of justifying our own rankings of players in the past, I’ve always been one who prides myself on watching all 134 FBS teams equally. EA is tasked with the arduous task of trying to accurately rank over 85 scholarship players on all 134 teams.
Even for a guy like me, that’s a wild project. But one they’ve done admirably.
Save for the handful of questionable player rankings:
- Brandon Buckhaulter only 85 speed?
- Shedeur Sanders the No. 1 QB?
- Henry Hasselbeck 99 everything but 0 the important metrics?
- Arch Manning an 87 overall?
There are a few more anomalies, but when you look at the hit rate they have achieved as a whole, it’s damn impressive.
MORE: Player Ratings for Every Quarterback in the Game
Yes, there will be roster updates, and that’s amazing, considering the sheer volume of players and feedback EA has inevitably received. But even the default roster is a marvel of video game science.
- True freshman? Most are spot-on.
- Quarterbacks? Save for Sanders, it mirrors my projections within a spot or two of the top 25 QBs.
- Fastest/Strongest/Etc. players? A near spot-for-spot accurate depiction of real life.
The roster that EA built in College Football 25 not only allows players the best chance to accurately create real-life-type simulations of this football season, it also allows casual fans a chance to get to know the sport at an all-time level of detail and accuracy.
Basically, the roster is so good that CFB diehards and football casuals will learn, grow, and enjoy.
EA Sports College Football 25 Create-A-Playbook Review
I am no football coach. But I am no rookie when it comes to designing plays, executing plays, and even diagnosing what plays are called on both sides of the ball. With a myriad of experience in designing playbooks and understanding personnel/play calls, creating a college football playbook comes naturally.
However, the create-a-playbook feature in EA Sports College Football 25 is so easy to use, any person can fly through an existing set of plays and craft their own set of coverage beaters, 3rd & short stuffers, and everything in between.
Pro tip: Spend some time playing the game with different playbooks — option, spread, run-first — and figure out what you like to run best. Then take to the open practices to hone in your favorite plays, understand creating route stems and breaks, and then put it all together in your own playbook.
With create-a-playbook, you can become unstoppable on each side of the ball.
Bottom Line Grade for EA Sports College Football 25
As this is not from a true-to-life video game reviewer (maybe I should be), I am going to give you the straight dope when it comes to this game. It may not come with your classic ‘this many stars’ out of ‘this many stars’ in some sort of random grade, but instead, will come with a grade on the letter scale so customary within where this game lies: College.
A is passing, B is above average, C is average, D is below average, and F is failing. But let’s face it, if you read any words above, you know where this grade is going.
EA Sports College Football 25 Grade: A+
Giving this game a passing grade just doesn’t do it justice. Add that extra “+, secure your copy of the game, and be sure to do all your chores before turning it on — you won’t want to leave it.
EA nails this game out of the park that they could do nothing else with it, and it would come as no surprise that it went on to become the greatest-selling sports game of all time.
The pageantry of college football, the pride among its fans, players, coaches, and alumni, and the passion that this game packs around every corner embody the sport so perfectly that you will become enraptured with college football. In fact, this game does such a good job of accurately depicting the landscape, minutia, and overall feel of college football so much so that people may start to realize that CFB is actually greater than any other level of football.
And for that, we thank you, EA Sports.
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