10 Things I Learned About EA College Football 25 in the First 48 Hours

I won’t bury the dead here. Madden 25 hasn’t been released yet, but EA College Football 25 plays the best football video game I’ve ever seen.

Does this mean I love every part of the game? No, but there is no doubt that every video game football fan should have this game in their collection. Let me also preface the core of this article by saying that I haven’t had the chance to dive too deeply into Ultimate Team yet.

I’d rather wait until the servers are fully loaded and EA has a chance to beef things up for the impact of an enthusiastic user base. Here are the ten important details I learned in my first 48 hours of playing EACF 25.

The game is visually stunning in every way

From a purely graphical standpoint this feels like the first true current-gen football game ever released. The player models, 3D grass, lighting and environments are strong.

I took a bunch of snapshots of the gameplay in the replay suite and was amazed at the detail in several games.

Besides the gameplay visuals, the presentation is excellent. Multiple camera angles, mascots, cheerleaders, stadiums and crowds contribute to this beautiful game.

The game plays fast

It took about half a football to get used to it, but EACF 25 plays a faster game than any other football title before it. At first I wasn’t sure I liked it, but after I got used to the violent nature of some of the moves, everything else felt too slow.

I have no problem with the alternation between fast and slow players, it makes game-changing stars more fun to control and as dominant as they should be in college football.

Players are not often mentioned by name in the commentary

On the other side of commentary, it can sometimes sound generic. There are thousands of names in the game, so I imagine it was a lot of work to match those callouts to one commentary team, let alone three.

However, with the presentation at such a high level throughout the rest of the game, it’s noticeable that the commentators rarely refer to players by name. I’m hoping some tuning can be done on that end to improve the audio post-launch, but as it is, the commentary sounds super generic.

At the moment it sounds more like something you hear in the fifth year of your dynasty, when you have a bunch of boys with real names in school, and their surnames aren’t in the game’s database.

Road to Glory has some fun layers, but the first year can get boring

The single player campaign feature is back and there is a lot to like. I love that you can choose to be a 5, 4, 3 or 2 star athlete.

I also like how you decide what school you go to when you start your college career. However, I didn’t like that I didn’t have the opportunity to play in high school games. That part of the experience was always a great option in the old NCAA games. Another issue, and probably the biggest, is the overall mix of activities during your first season if you end up at a school that doesn’t let you play from day 1.

I like the positional battles and building coach confidence through the mini games. I also like the option to practice to earn more XP, which you can use to upgrade your player. I also like having to balance studying for exams with football duties.

There’s something missing though. While the primary goal should ultimately be to get on the field as a starter, EA has missed the mark when it comes to creating an engaging mini-game for non-starters. Playing a simulated game with lower-ranked players against the guy you’re up against would have been a nice teaser and a bit of a build-up for when you get to play in a real game.

I couldn’t wait for the first year to be over because I was bored after simulating the first three or four weeks of the season.

Dynasty mode has been expanded and recruiting is even better than before, but…

It’s clear that EA knew how important recruitment was to the overall quality of dynasty mode. Honestly, EA could have given fans the exact same recruitment system as in NCAA 14, and I think the vast majority of users would have been satisfied.

Injecting the transfer portal was a must, but the game’s other layers, tags, improved UI and notification system make this a top game.

When recruiting or going through free agency in a sports game, I ask myself, “As a content creator, is there enough to tell my viewers a story with this aspect of the game?” The answer is yes, a thousand times over.

However, recruiting is made a bit more difficult by the lack of customization options.

You can’t create or edit existing recruits. So you can’t create or edit recruiting classes. That’s going to be a big deal for some people. I remember making crazy 5-star recruits in NCAA 14 and enjoying the fight between multiple schools trying to get him to commit.

That itch will have to be satisfied by a supply of computer-generated recruits. Fortunately, there is a lot of variety in the prospects, but nothing beats having your own.

Injuries are part of it, but I would probably turn them up a bit

Just before release I was concerned that injuries weren’t in the game as they should be. There was some strange wording regarding the discussion of the Wear and Tear system and injuries.

You never like to see real people get injured, but in a sports video game, injuries are all about realism and immersion. Luckily, I simulated a few weeks of action and saw players sidelined for up to 15 weeks. I’ve never been so relieved to see a serious injury. I didn’t see a single injury in the game, other than some basic stuff.

I’m leaning toward increasing the injury slider from the default (10) to about 20 or 25 to see how that feels.

The inability to edit schedules will anger a sect of users

My biggest gripe with the game is the inability to fully edit rosters. That level of customization was always one of the biggest things I looked forward to in the game.

As it stands, the game excels in many areas, making the roster editing limitation easier to accept. However, for some users who were eagerly awaiting the series’ return, this limitation may come as a major disappointment, especially if they were looking forward to recreating their college football universe.

TeamBuilder will be ready after launch

The limitations on player customization options are further compounded by what appears to be a delayed release of the TeamBuilder website.

EA didn’t tell us that the feature was delayed. Instead, an update to the feature would be released on July 19th. I have confidence that the feature will be strong, although you are limited in the number of schools you can add to a dynasty.

A little more transparency would have made this part of the release smoother.

The road to the College Football Playoff gave me the competitive feeling I needed

I can have a lot of fun playing a sports game offline if it has an excellent franchise/dynasty mode. EACF 25 is such a game.

There are times, however, when I want to test my skills against another player. While CUT may offer some of those opportunities, I think my thing will be Road to the College Football Playoff.

I enjoyed trying to find the right school to play my playstyle and testing it against another user, especially since there are so many potential matchups.

The ranking system seems strong so far and I can see myself playing at least five of these games per week.

EACF 25 will help sell Madden 25

Aside from the MVP pre-order bundle that lets you buy both EACF 25 and the top-end versions of Madden 25 at a discount, the quality of gameplay in the first version will validate the improvements in the second version.

While EACF 25 and Madden 25 are different games, the college version does offer a taste of the direction EA is going with their American football product, and that’s a positive.