What to Expect From College Football 25

EA Sports College Football 25

By Tucker Taussig

Published May 31, 2024

Thread 1

EA Sports College Football 25

Highlights

EA's College Football 25 boasts impressive college football spirit, with detailed features and iconic broadcasting duos to recreate the electrifying atmosphere.
The game includes improvements like player-specific recognition, visual distractions for homefield advantage, and player wear-and-tear affecting performance.
Modes like Ultimate Team, Dynasty Mode, and Road to Glory offer diverse gameplay experiences, catering to both casual and hardcore fans alike.

College Football 25 will mark the first entry from EA in its formerly titled NCAA Football series since 2013, and coming back after such a long hiatus calls for a grand entrance. College Football 25 will look to be much more than just a Madden re-skin, brimming with the revelry, tradition, and personality that sets college football apart from the pros, and given its impressive list of announced features, there is plenty for fans to cheer about.

EA made its earnest unveiling of College Football 25 in the middle of May, with a dizzying rundown of its impressive feature list and extensively-detailed college iconography. The game is set to arrive on July 19, preempting the football season by a few weeks like its NFL contemporary. EA's last foray into college football, NCAA Football 14, received favorable reviews, but did not merit a follow-up with the legal baggage of NCAA's legal likeness restrictions, at least not until 2024 with the new NIL deal in collegiate athletics. So in-demand has a college football game become, that copies of NCAA Football can sell for as much as $250 online, and it has become the basis for the College Football Revamped modding community, of which, EA has hired several members to work on its new title.

college-football-25-alabama-offensive-line

EA reveals College Football 25's four main modes and a handful of in-game features that aim to recreate the sport's electrifying spirit.

It's in the Game

Though advertised as an experience built from the ground up, College Football 25 will run on EA's Frostbite engine, the same used for Madden. Features from its most recent iteration will more than likely be included in both titles, though the newest gameplay innovations are being spotlighted in College Football 25. The improvements on play-to-play gameplay are outlined in the press release for College Football 25, including:

A revamp to in-game passing mechanics
Player wear and tear affecting player ratings, health, and fatigue over the course of games
Player-specific pre-snap recognition
Visual distractions and missing prompts to simulate homefield advantage

Really nailing the atmosphere of the college football environment is paramount to EA, and its thoughtful attention to detail and nuanced additions ring true on that intent. While there will be a greater focus on teams from the Power 5 conferences, all 134 schools included in College Football 25 will include unique fan chants, fight songs, mascots, rival traditions, run-outs, and each school's playbook. Marquee matchups will be cast by the legendary duo of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit, with Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and David Pollack also lending their talents as broadcast commentators.

Keeping One Foot In-bounds in Reality

Among the game modes, of course, is the ever-present Ultimate Team, which EA has implemented across all of its sport franchise titles. Also reappearing is College Football 25's Dynasty Mode, which will have players creating their own coach, to take the reins of a college program, managing everything from staff needs to training facilities, to navigating the college transfer portal and high school recruitment. The all-new singleplayer mode, Road to Glory, might be the vicarious player fantasy many fans have been waiting for, stepping into the shoes of a student athlete, replete with class schedules (and a GPA to match), coach trust, and even public image to juggle as they vie for a shot to show the world what they're made of, and a chance for the coveted Heisman Trophy.

For College Football 25, its press release and the recent player event have just scratched the surface on what the game will entail in totality. Early reception from the lucky few that have gotten their hands on the game is immensely positive. With 11 years now passed since college football fans have gotten an officially-licensed NCAA game, all signs point to their patience being amply rewarded.