The one thing bigger than the NFL in America is College Football, and Electronic Arts has brought College Football back to gaming consoles with the last title being NCAA Football 14 which was ten years ago. The developers have not held back with this title with over 11,000 active college football players, and the game having over 150 stadiums which are all built as accurately as they can, fans, players, and everyone else are in for a treat. I’ll be the first to admit I was a little concerned this would be a clone and reskin of the NFL games but I could not be more wrong and loved the title.

The current systems the developers are using like CampusIQ are massive updates to how the game plays, and what is added into the game with team-specific plays down to if you are playing at home you will hear the crowd erupt more for the home team. The game has never felt so alive and the developer’s dedication to authenticity has not gone unnoticed.

The first game is a little no-brainer with “Play Now” which as the title would indicate you play now, you can adjust how long you want the game to last and how hard you want the AI to play against you, but you more or less pick your favourite team, strap your boots on, and take it to the green. If you want to add some cool features to play now you can make it a championship game which won’t affect the game.

It’s a great game to jump into to learn the mechanics of the title and also learn some great techniques to get those touchdowns pumping out. The one thing I would mention I didn’t like in this game is sometimes the AI would do something weird that didn’t feel realistic, but it was enough to stop you from getting those points on the scoreboard.

This was my personal favourite game, “Road To Glory”. You get more immersed into the game of College Football and you create and control one single player, so low and behold I made myself and you get to choose from five different positions on the field. QB, HB, WR, CB, or MLB and all I could think was I wanted to be the next Tom Brady, so I went with a QB which is Quarterback. Unlike previous titles, you don’t start in High School Football you start in College, but you can select how good you think you are which begins at 5 Stars and goes down to 2 Star recruits.

When I said you get immersed more into the game because you need to juggle your everyday life as well as playing and training for football. You need to ensure you are studying and socialising as you can be booted from teams for not being academic enough which was a great little addition. This is one of those game modes that will allow you to get right into the title and see more of what is involved for the players as you are the player.

Dynasty made me never want to coach a team again and I found out quickly I’m super bad at being the Head Coach, but it did not stop there, you could also select Offensive Coordinator or Defensive Coordinator and needless to say I sucked. It would be great for the more strategic thinkers and people who love the backend side of the game, but I like being on the field amongst the action.

You get to select the team you want to coach and obviously, your goal as the coach is to make your team the best there is without a doubt and without a doubt I sucked. You can recruit new players, transfer players, or just straight-up sack players which I should have done just so they were happier.

Road to College Football Playoffs is one of the new modes in College Football 25 and this is where the game becomes a little more competitive, this is where you are versing other people around the world. You get to pick a team and you play as them and earn what is called Ranked Points. Being competitive, the aim of the game is to become the best, and needless to say, it humbled me too quickly. When jumping into some of these games with people I won a couple which I still believe was more a fluke than skill.

Ultimate Team is in College Football and I could not be more keen. If you don’t know how Ultimate Team works you more or less do challenges, or if you are bored spend real-life money once you earn in-game currency you can unlock packs, and with those packs, you unlock players with different abilities and stats and obviously, you want to get the best of the best which is where the competitive side of things comes in as everyone wants the same thing.

There is a lot in this title to unpack with the controls, from selecting what play you wanna do to knowing what you need to press to put the ball where you need it. This is a title that I highly recommend reading up on the controls in the game, playing some “Play Now,” and getting used to how the game runs. It’s much like MADDEN if you have played that before you should slide straight in.

There are a couple of changes in how the defensive system works which is prompted on the screen like flicking the analog sticks to move around. The biggest things you need to remember if you are running the ball are “B” is spinning and “A” is a stiff arm to try and break through those defenders, making that legendary break and scoring that touchdown to do a sneaky little celebration at the end.

Sporting games have come a long way from the not-so-great character models, to the crowd looking like a bunch of cardboard cutouts, to now where the entire stadium is erupting and jumpi
ng around enjoying football like you would see on TV. The character models look stunning. I love how EA with each title makes the last one look like it’s obsolete. EA have gone that step further with the fans this year, if you have a game in winter you will see the fans rugged up or wearing appropriate clothing, if you play a game in spring they might not be as rugged up, and in summer you’ll be lucky if they’re not there with their chests painted and shirts off, which seeing the audience behaving how it does now gives you an excuse to make that break and get a touchdown.

The entire title feels alive and was something that made you want to keep strapping up the boots and playing knowing you could make the stadium erupt. It took a little while to get used to, but in the cutscenes or when you are selecting your play if the fans are loving what they are seeing the screen shakes and the controller vibrates which was an awesome addition to the title.

I’ve never been so pumped for a sports game just from the audio of hearing the awesome songs from when you score a touchdown like, Tsunami or Zombie Nation which get you more pumped up to score more touchdowns and the crowd erupting gets you so pumped. The commentary team gets better and better as the years go on and with today’s technology, it no longer sounds like some pre-recorded mess and sounds like you are watching it on TV.

EA Sports College Football 25 is that sports game we needed back to fill that little void in the sporting world. We have had yearly releases of MADDEN but it’s not the same as College Football, and anyone that wants to get amongst some great football then this title is designed for you with a more college touch. Don’t forget GO THE TEXAS LONGHORNS!!

Written by: Hayden Nelson