College Football 25 is a sports game coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles on July 19th, 2024. If you have been around or paying attention, you would know it has been over 10 years since the last college football release. Since so much time has passed since its last iteration most of us have remarkably grand expectations. I am going to bring up ten interesting features in NCAA College Football 25 that you may want to be aware of before hitting the field.
Reasons to Keep College Football 25 on Your Radar
College Football 25 features some iconic atmospheres. Back in NCAA Football 2006, EA implemented the decibel meter to show how wild and loud the crowd can get. In College Football 25, they are bringing it back in a huge way so you can feel what it is like to be part of the stadium. It is quite in-depth to the point you may notice some traditions from some of your favorite college teams.
The game will also feature some unique game modes. College Football 25 will have a Dynasty mode that will provide a 30-year limit with many customizable options from previous games but also new features like wear and tear to players. Road to Glory is also back and in a big way. Work your way to becoming the next Heisman Trophy winner by managing your weekly schedule. The better you manage yourself, the better the opportunities to get your player to superstar status. This includes managing your GPA, earning your coach’s trust through practice, and maintaining your image.
One new substantial difference in this iteration of the game is the opportunity to use the transfer portal if you do not gel very well with your team. You will also be able to export your player into the new Madden game of the same year. Ultimate Team will be available at launch so you can build your dream team to play solo challenges and head-to-head seasons. Road to The College Football Playoff is a new mode that is newly implemented allowing you to play out situations before they happen in real time.
Players can also expect broadcasting and commentary to return too. The game will have long-time voices in the industry calling games. The likes of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will call the most popular games while for the first time, a secondary set of individuals like Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, and the infamous Rece Davis will hop on the mic for the projected less iconic games.
Traditions and Player Focus
If we know anything about college football, we know traditions are important from tailgating, to end-of-the-quarter theme songs and this game brings it out in a way that it has never before. With 130+ stadiums (the most EA has ever made in one game) see iconic team runouts like you would see on TV. There will also be synchronized crowd-chants with fight songs, mascots, and ritual-like preparation for rival games. In addition, there will be notable stadium functions you would see at a real game and much more. Even kneeling at the end of a game when you know you won has its own set of treats.
Although players will have abilities there is no guarantee that the ability will always activate due to them being situational. There are 80 different abilities to choose from. So players will have a lot of differences between them even if some of them play similarly or are in the same positions. The most abilities one person can have at any given time are five physical and three mental abilities to provide depth for each player. There will also be tiers for the abilities so you can make your player better and be more sensible as time goes on. The tiers are listed as bronze, silver, gold, and platinum and you progress your tiers by having great games, practices, and other interactions that could improve your performance on the field.
Player Likeness for the First Time in College Football 25
Since the Nil deal became a thing in college football, players are now getting paid for their likeness for the first time. They have their actual names in the game if they opt to be added to College Football 25. You will see most of your favorite players from each team and for the first time, you will not have to implement the names yourself. In fact, they worked with the people at College Football Revamp. College Football Revamp is a modding group of people that have been keeping the previous NCAA games up to date. They have been modding in up-to-date information since EA previously quit making the game. Of course, this shows the level of detail that EA is looking to reach, and it’s deep!
But you should be careful how you use your players and not put them in bad positions. If you run the ball over and over, you will notice your running back huffing and puffing. If you get sacked and land on your throwing shoulder, the rest of the game you may not have the most power or the best accuracy. In the event your wide receiver takes a hard hit in the legs, he may not run the same or have the right amount of explosiveness as before. There will be ways to check on your player(s) to see how healthy or damaged they are. Moreover, depending on the damage, it can carry over to the following games so you might want to utilize sliding and going out of bounds with more injury-prone individuals or call time-outs. This will give your team a breather or maybe just sub out the person to keep them healthy for another game.
This leads to more realistic injuries but also gives you the opportunity to change your game plan or style while still using the same player. This might sound frightening, but they did rework the amount of rest a player needs before getting back in the game. So do not expect your star to be tired for the whole drive after a few runs, he will be back very soon, possibly one play later!
A Better Gameplay Feel
There are over 1,500 new plays and more than fifty formations along with 134 playbooks that were made to replicate today’s style of college football. There are also ten non-team playbooks that allow you to customize how you want your team to play.
- Offense: Juke moves are much tighter than previous editions and do not feel so sluggish depending on how your player is rated. A new kicking mechanic was made for kickers to make the college experience feel more realistic, no more 50+ yard kicks from bad kickers. Another big addition is the option play mechanics which you can toss the ball at different paces depending on the situation for pitch option plays. For read option plays instead of holding the A button on Xbox or the X button on PlayStation to give the ball away, it’s the opposite now where you must hold the button for your quarterback to keep it.
- The quarterback now has a power meter to throw passes and depending on how you use it will be how accurate your pass will be. No more being able to abuse the bullet pass with no consequences and a lofting ball must make sense and will require skill. Pre-snap settings are going to vary depending on your quarterback’s experience so expect a freshman to have a harder time managing his offense than someone who’s been there for 3 or 4 years especially in away games with loud crowds. There are two different no-huddle options that give you a different tempo with turbo no-huddle for time management situations. The regular no-huddle is just calling plays at the line which is something a lot of teams have adopted recently to keep a fast-paced style and the defense on their toes.
- Defense: There are new adjustments added to the game to give you the ability to bluff or customize how your defense will be run. For instance, if you are playing vs an option-based team you can now instruct the read and pitch key separately to give you more of a choice on how to defend. They also introduced Switching players is even easier now with using the right stick to change to the player closest to the action so you can make that play you don’t trust the CPU to make for you. Oh, and when at home pump up the crowd and make it hard on your competitor to make pre-snap adjustments. Pass rushers also have many more animations that help you get to the ball.
Breakdown of Celebrations
Yes, College Football 25 definitely brought back the ability to be happy when you do something good, and you get to use buttons to activate the celebration. They have over 25+ celebrations you can use in various situations like interceptions, touchdowns, and first downs which you will be able to see the list of celebrations in the pause menu in case you have or find your favorite. As said prior, you will be able to have a victory formation that gives you a bit of a treat. Once the game is mathematically over and you take your seal-the-deal kneel the game will simulate the following kneels and players will start coming onto the field to save time but also to imitate what happens in football games.
College Football 25 is not Going to be a Madden Copy and Paste
The game is much faster with many more modes that can give Madden the ability to get better. From the powerful atmosphere to the ugliest upsets, this game is doing all it can to not be or feel typical. It’s been a long time since I’ve noticed EA Sports seem so confident and with that being said this should be an unbelievable comeback after an 11-year hiatus.
As someone who has been playing NCAA Football games since the Bill Walsh days on Sega Genesis, I can comfortably say it’s been a staple for most of my life. I cannot wait to get my hands on College Football 25, and I hope I provided enough information for you to be excited too!
