EA Sports College Football 25: A Deep Dive into Features and Expectations

After a decade-long hiatus, EA Sports College Football 25 has triumphantly returned, meeting the high expectations of its publisher and the eager anticipation of its fans. The excitement was uncontrollable when early access began on July 16, with over 700,000 players online simultaneously. This enthusiasm comes ahead of the game's official launch on July 19. This article delves into the various aspects of the game, from its gameplay mechanics to its visual and auditory experiences, and addresses some of the key questions and concerns surrounding its release.

Gameplay: A Blend of Realism and Fun

Playing College Football 25 is, to put it simply, very fun. The in-game playing experience is incredibly smooth and realistic. Running the ball is particularly enjoyable, thanks to well-designed blocking AI that rewards players for hitting the hole. The game boasts new physics-based tackling, based on where and how hard a hit is made, that looks much more realistic than Madden 24. Breaking tackles or falling forward through them becomes more likely if you follow blockers correctly.

However, playing defense is tougher. Players who relied on the Hit Stick in previous games will need to adapt, as it's no longer as effective. The right joystick helps advanced players switch between defensive players more quickly, which is beneficial in the secondary and in situations requiring close control of two players.

The Wear and Tear System

The new Wear and Tear system adds another layer of realism to the gameplay. Not all hits are equal; if a player is taking big hits, certain body parts on a model will turn orange and then red on the play screen to indicate his increased chance of injury. A player’s Strength attribute corresponds with how much impact he can take, and bigger players have more Strength. If you put a small wide receiver at QB and run the option, he’ll be more likely to get injured. The longer the game, the more the injury chances rise.

Passing and Kicking Revamped

As the quarterback, the ability to layer the football is the key. When you throw the ball, a meter appears above the receiver, similar to an option in Madden 24. Tapping or holding a button creates the difference between a floater and a rocket, but holding the button as long as you can to the end of the meter can impact the throw’s accuracy.

Read also: Anteaters to Zips: NCAA Mascots

The same goes for kicking. The new meter has a ball rock left and right; you click and hold to get the accuracy, and then the power meter goes up the arrow. If you hold it to the very top into the red, the accuracy can take a hit. There is real downside.

Playbooks and Offensive Styles

The playbooks have always differentiated college football games from Madden, and that’s the case again. College Football 25 has 134 different playbooks, part of 10 different offensive styles. There are different menus for plays, ranging from coach suggestions to formations to concepts and more. The RPO options include four different kinds of plays: read, peek, alert and glance. You can choose to throw a quick pass instead of hand off, but you have to do it quickly, or else you’ll be hit with an illegal man downfield penalty. One change in the option and RPO plays is that you tap a button to pull the ball as the quarterback, rather than pressing a button to hand it off like in the past. There are also two options on pitches: Similar to throwing the ball downfield, you can tap LB for a quick pitch or hold it for a stronger pitch.

Pre-Snap Options

The capabilities players enjoy before the snap have also grown. You can adjust pass protection to go in a certain direction, an improved process from Madden 24. When calling a hot route, custom stems allow you to adjust how far downfield you want an out route to go. Senior quarterbacks can see more than freshmen, like the possibility of a blitz or a certain kind of defense.

And yes, there are custom playbooks and custom audibles. There’s also a two-minute warning, which will be new to college football this fall. Stadium Pulse is also back, and you can feel the loudest stadiums in the vibrating controller. As in the past, the play art on the field could be difficult to read, and audibles and hot routes may not work, depending on the crowd.

Player Differentiation

The experiences of playing as the game’s best players and as its worst players are very different. For those gamers coming back from the old NCAA games, linebackers can’t jump sky-high for interceptions and easily run with slot receivers anymore. (The defensive AI still drops easy interceptions from time to time as in the old games.)

Read also: Exploring Mascot Mode

Visuals and Sounds: Capturing the Essence of College Football

The pageantry and the environments are what really separate college football from every other sport, and the video game reflects that.

EA Sports said it went through more than 1,000 photos per school to create 150 different stadiums. There are 16,000 different head combinations for players, including 240 shapes. The game took so long to make because it had to be created from scratch.

The average team has four helmets, three jerseys and three pants. Some have 20-plus options (hello, Oregon). You can see all the individual stitching in the jerseys because EA Sports employs a Creaform 3D handheld scanner that’s normally used for aerospace parts. Here, it’s used to scan cleats, gloves, helmets, jerseys and more, down to the tiniest detail. While NFL players have mostly the same equipment, college football has different apparel companies with unique designs. Those differences are noticeable in this game.

The crowds are also unique. Michigan fans have the maize pom-poms. Missouri fans have the tiger tails. There are unique hand signs and Surrender Cobras. The student sections are positioned correctly, and we were told those fans will be seen standing during the game. Opposing fans and bands are also positioned in the correct spots in stadiums. As for in-progress renovated stadiums, Vanderbilt is shown post-renovation, but Northwestern still plays at Ryan Field. Kansas’ stadium will be pre-renovation at game launch.

Penn State has the White Out. Tennessee has the checkerboard. Boise State has the Stripe Out. Even the Texas A&M red, white and blue crowd after 9/11 is in the game - I’m not sure how that one activates, but special crowd colors will happen for the biggest games in Dynasty mode. We were told some teams have called EA Sports to let them know of crowd blackout plans later this season to be included in the game.

We saw the turnover chainsaw at Oregon State and the waterfalls at Arkansas State. EA Sports showed how it motion-captured players with the trophies, which included making wooden versions of trophies for virtual mo-cap players to hold. To simulate ripping through a sign, mo-cap players pushed through pool noodles. For Bevo, Ralphie and the dog mascots, an EA staff member pretended to be the animal positioned around mo-capped virtual players.

What makes this game feel as real as anything is the sound. You really notice it when music kicks in after the opening kickoff. While “Enter Sandman” is not in the game, “Zombie Nation,” “Sandstorm,” “Tsunami” and “Mo Bamba” are. We see the Army Corps of Cadets jump up and down for “Tsunami” before kickoff, something the TV broadcast rarely shows. Beaver Stadium plays “Zombie Nation” after Penn State touchdowns. Every school has unique fan chants, as EA acquired thousands of assets from schools and in many cases had staff members replicate the cheers for recording. The studio also recorded 41 real game crowds over the last two years, from big to small programs.

Chris Fowler was on hand in Orlando to talk about his commentating for the game, and it was clear he’s still quite upset that ESPN blocked him from being in the game in the past. ESPN itself is not in this game as a brand, but its commentators are. There is no ESPN logo on the score bug, which has been relocated to the bottom of the screen. There is no “College GameDay”. Because I was focused on so many other parts of the game, the lack of ESPN was not something I even noticed; it still sounds like college football with Fowler/Kirk Herbstreit and Rece Davis/Jesse Palmer/David Pollack on the call.

Several camera options can be flipped through quickly with the arrow pad. Most sit at different height levels behind the quarterback, but a broadcast-ish option from the side of the field is available.

Schools were invited to submit unique details of their stadium experience to EA.

Missing Features and Limitations

While EA College Football 25 brings back many beloved aspects of the franchise, it also comes with some limitations and missing features.

Mascot Mode

Mascot mode is not in the game. The much-beloved Mascot Mashup mode from previous NCAA Football games will not return in EA College Football 25. There’s no word on why the mode will not return in this reboot of the series.

Road to Glory

While EA College Football 25 will feature a Road to Glory mode that allows you to guide a custom-created player through their college career, that mode will not allow you to begin that career in high school as previous NCAA Football games did. Instead, you’ll jump straight into college.

Dynasty Mode

EA College Football 25 will feature a reworked version of NCAA Football’s beloved Dynasty mode, which allows you to effectively guide a school and athletic program through decades of competition. While that mode will include a variety of new and returning features (including the ability to share your dynasty online with up to 32 people), you will be capped at 30 seasons of Dynasty play.

Customization

EA College Football 25 will almost certainly not feature the extensive (“comically absurd” may be the better phrase) customization features that previous NCAA games offered. However, the game will still allow you to customize numerous aspects of your team and players.

TeamBuilder

Not only will you be able to create 16 custom teams, but you will need to replace an existing team in the game whenever you do so.

NIL and Player Likenesses

Thanks to a sweeping series of NIL-based agreements, EA College Football 25 will feature the names and likenesses of numerous real college football players. However, this is another new feature that comes with a catch. While you will still be able to create and add custom players to EA College Football 25, you will not be able to manually add players who have not signed the required NIL deal.

Team Selection

Along with the aforementioned ability to create new teams, EA College Football 25 will feature a fairly extensive collection of college teams from across the biggest NCAA conferences. However, some of the smaller conferences did not make the cut.

Commentary

Interestingly, EA College Football 25 will actually feature several commentary teams. While Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will be in the booth for the biggest games in a given season, lesser matchups will feature different commentators. However, not every major EPSN personality and program will be included in the initial version of the game. Notably, the College GameDay program will not be featured in the game as it has been in some previous installments.

Other Gameplay Limitations

Players do not have X-Factors like in past Madden games. Online Dynasty mode cannot be played across consoles, but that and Mascot mode could come in future games.You will not be able to edit the attributes of real-life players in the rosters. You can edit created players, but there supposedly will be blocks to keep you from making a player like Arch Manning, who did not opt into the game. In recent days, a handful of starting players have tweeted that they’d like to be in the game and don’t know how to opt in. I don’t know if or when they will get updated.

Ultimate Team and Team Builder

We did not get any more details on Ultimate Team and college football legends who could be in it, nor was there more information about Team Builder, which allows gamers to create schools. But both features will be in the game.

Post-Launch Updates

There will be player updates throughout the real season as EA sends out patches. If a freshman breaks out, EA will be able to update the rosters to reflect that. The dream for future games is that if a new trick play happens on a Saturday, EA may be able to push it out a few days later.

A New Foundation

While most sports video games are just updates from the year before, College Football 25 is a completely new game. Pretty much nothing from NCAA 14 could carry over, and the final edition of NCAA is now two console generations behind (College Football 25 will only be available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S). The entire process of building this game will have taken more than four years, but it creates the foundation moving forward.

Launch Issues and Fixes

Like any major release, it has faced its share of server crashes, malfunctions, and game-breaking glitches.

One particular point of contention is a NSFW error with Colorado's mascot Chip. The Buffalo roaming the sidelines appears to have some extra character in an unflattering way here. It certainly will be part of the early fixes needed for the game. Also, there are players going up 20-30 feet in the air after scoring a touchdown.

Ultimate Team Mode

EA's Ultimate Team mode is often criticized for being a pay-to-win model that benefits those willing to spend more money. This criticism gained traction when a pack glitch provided fortunate players with overpowered squads, highlighting the perceived imbalance in the game. The players who were down on their luck and less talented became stars with a 98 rating overnight.

Pre-Order and Deluxe Edition Content

Several promotional offers are available for EA Sports College Football 25, offering various in-game bonuses. These include:

Pre-order Bonus: Alma Mater Ultimate Team Pack (Choice of 1 out of 134 player items), Cover Athlete Ultimate Team Pack (choice of 1 of 3 player items), and Bring Glory Home Ultimate Team Uniform Item.
Deluxe Edition Bonus: Heisman Hopeful Ultimate Team Pack (Choice of 1 out of 5 Player Items), Alma Mater Ultimate Team Pack (Choice of 1 out of 134 player items), Cover Athlete Ultimate Team Pack (choice of 1 of 3 player items), Bring Glory Home Ultimate Team Uniform Item, 4600 College Football Points, and up to 3 days early access to Product.

All pre-order content for use with one EA account and is non-transferrable. All player items and packs for use in College Football Ultimate Team (“CUT”). All CUT player items are non-auctionable and non-tradeable. CUT items also may require logging into the CUT in-game store. Some content may require gameplay to unlock. Access to content may require registration with a single-use code.

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