For anyone outside of North America, it’s hard to comprehend the size and scale of College Football’s popularity. European sports leagues feature lower divisions, of course, but the status of sub-tier teams rarely extends beyond their home region. College Football is followed fanatically on a national scale; in the USA with its population of 333 million, this is a big deal.
Numerous US states have no NFL team, so passionate football fans flock to college level. People impose a strong identity on their college, and into their sports teams; they steep themselves in intense inter-college rivalries that have brewed since the 19th century. Amongst the oldest sports in the USA, football is rich in history and tradition, and College Football demonstrates it’s magic in ways more profound than its professional counterpart, such as iconic pre-game rituals from Ohio State’s ‘dotting of the I’ to Colorado’s live buffalo wrangling and Auburn’s War Eagle. Fans play their part too, with face painting and hours-long tailgating parties electrifying the atmosphere by the time the marching bands commence.
Exactly why EA Sports have waited 11 years since NCAA Football 14 to release another College Football video game given the sport’s endearing popularity is perplexing. Sure, the NCAA’s failure to fairly compensate its players for appearing in EA’s prior College Football games is probably somewhere near the top of reasons but given this year’s iteration doesn’t bear the NCAA’s name it’s still a strange decision to drop the series until now. But, alas, the game is returning, and its returning with all new bells and whistles alongside some returning game modes.
First though, it’s that electrifying game day atmosphere EA Tiburon are encapsulating here with aplomb, if EA Sports College Football 25’s pre-release trailers are anything to go by. It’s an element EA have been injecting into its other annual sports titles for a couple of years now, but it’s demonstrated marvellously here. Locker room hype, lifelike mascots whipping stadiums packed with chanting fans into frenzy, traditional team run outs, plus the aforementioned marching bands and rivalry rituals underscore the thrilling spectacle of College Football perfectly. Game day audio in the form of fight songs and commentary voiced by Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler in marquee matchups and Jesse Palmer, David Pollack, and Rece Davis on the mic for all other games ramps the fever up some more. This is personality unique to College Football, and its integral EA Tiburon nail this aspect if they’re to produce an authentic experience.
EA were restraining themselves from spilling every detail in EA Sports College Football 25 until this week’s gameplay deep dive. Before this, they had already confirmed the return of fan-favourite Dynasty franchise mode and Road to Glory career mode. In the former, you’ll create a coach to build a powerhouse college football program from the ground up. Staffing, recruitment, and transfers – as you’ll probably expect – play important roles on the road to success. NCAA’s Dynasty Mode was much more rewarding than its Madden equivalent as it saw you cherry pick high school prospects before nurturing them right through their graduation to the NFL. The Road to Glory career mode has you live the life of your self-created student-athlete, managing your training schedule, earning coach trust, and building your brand portfolio to gain more time on-field during your rise through the ranks.
Additionally, the web-based Team Builder is returning. This feature allows players to set up their own college football program via creating uniforms, logos, helmets, and stadiums. These assets can be imported for use in Dynasty Mode and offline exhibition matches, with players also having the ability to browse other user creations.
Principal in College Football 25’s innovations though are something EA Tiburon dub CampusIQ, and we’ve finally got a good look at this thanks to the just-released gameplay deep dive video. This suite of gameplay features is intended to provide the pinnacle of strategic, fast-paced college gameplay, encompassing player ratings that fluctuate throughout a game based on their performance, unique Player Abilities encompassing both mental and physical abilties, and all-new in-game passing mechanics, dubbed Unique Playbooks. Pre-snap recognition promises to provide intel at the line before a play is made, the aim being to help players make the right decision when it matters most. Trick plays, fake passes, reverse handoffs; there’s a whole host of special moves you can execute on the turf to snake through defensive lines.
The highly promising Wear & Tear System, however, seems like a real game changer. It’ll require you to manage your player’s health and stamina via a progressive system, limiting their fatigue, and assessing the risk of on-field injury else you’ll heighten the chance of key mid-game mistakes. Wear & Tear explores granular effects of certain scenarios too. For instance, as EA state “not every hit is the same”, in other words, every hit scales differently. So, a certain takedown on your star quarterback could injure their shoulder, which of course can have severe ramifications on the outcome of your game, and the rest of your team’s season. Or your quarterback could evade injury altogether, depending on their current Wear & Tear levels.
It’s a unique approach to in-play management, and whilst fatigue and injury are factors in EA’s other sports titles it seems EA Sports College Football 25 is pushing this mechanic to a limit not yet seen. Imagine your striker flunking a match winning last minute penalty through mental fatigue in FC. It’ll rile some players up the wrong way for sure, but it’s certainly more akin to real-life sportsmanship than not, and should it prove worthy here without dipping into frustration or feelings of unfairness then it could be adopted across the rest of EA Sports’ canon.
Homefield advantage is another interesting new gameplay feature that promises to shake up the on-field action in more ways than one. Take USC on a road trip to their fierce Notre Dame rivals and you’ll feel the tangible effect homefield advantage has on your ability to make the right play – missing pre-play icons, moving play art, and screen shaking are set to serve up distractions that’ll test your squad’s confidence and composure. What’s more, players with lower composure stats will be worse affected by Homefield Advantage than those more head-strong players, creating an interesting dynamic across your line-up.
NCAA games prior toyed with home team advantage in the form of replacing away team artwork with squiggly lines before, but much like the Wear & Tear System its being pushed to unprecedented limits. There’s a depth of immersion in this feature that isn’t replicated in EA’s other sports games. Together with the Wear & Tear System, this gameplay innovation could conceivably roll out to the rest of EA Sports’ output should it prove a worthy addition here. Both systems do aim to replicate emotions and situations athletes encounter for real and given College Football 25’s in-game footage recently shared, we can see the palpable affect this can have on you and your ability to make clear cut decisions when it matters most. Specifically, the screen shake uncannily recreates the electric atmosphere of a rampant, bouncing crowd right there on-screen. It’s as intimidating as it is distracting.
Road to the College Football Playoff is a new competitive online mode which will have you choose a college to compete towards winning a national championship. Winning games to earn rank will foster progression, so even though it’s not entirely novel some players will get some mileage out of it even if others won’t. Perhaps in the same ballpark is College Football 25’s inclusion of microtransaction-laden Ultimate Team. On the one hand, this mode will have meaning given this game’s inclusion of real-life college football players, but on the other manufacturing a team of 50 plus superstars becomes an overstuffed experience, far away from the honed craftwork of 11-a-side teams ala FC 24.
The truth is though that EA Sports College Football 25 might not appeal to many beyond Madden players, but the efforts gone to present an experience distinct from its NFL equivalent does position College Football 25 as something worth a punt on if you’re interested in soaking up the unique prestige and electricity of College Football. Launching worldwide on July 19th 2024, EA Sports College Football 25 will be available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with three different versions to pre-order. Given its innovations, it stands a fair chance of being one of the biggest sports titles of the year.
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