EA Sports College Football 25: A Deep Dive into Gameplay Features

After a decade-long hiatus, EA Sports has resurrected its iconic college football franchise, igniting excitement among fans eager for a blend of fun and realism. College Football 25 promises a comprehensive and immersive experience, and the gameplay is a crucial aspect of this highly anticipated title.

Main Menu and Game Modes

The main menu of EA Sports College Football 25 showcases the primary game modes, prominently featuring the beloved Dynasty mode. The game is available on consoles only for this first release, and just "nextgen" (PS5/Xbox Series) too.

Dynasty Mode: A Coaching Career

Dynasty mode allows users to step into the shoes of a head coach, offensive coordinator, or defensive coordinator at their chosen college. Selecting a powerhouse program like Alabama offers immediate advantages in championship contention and recruiting top-tier high school athletes. Recruiting is more complex and has numerous features that add to the realism of recruiting in modern college football. It is important to use recruiting hours wisely in order to remain among a recruit’s top teams. The offseason introduces new options like recruiting out of the transfer portal and exploring job offers from other programs. Dynasty mode offers depth to match the newness of the real-life game.

Road to Glory: Forge Your Path

In Road to Glory, players embark on their collegiate career by selecting a star rating to begin with. They can view teams interested in their avatar on national signing day, shaping their destiny as a college athlete. Managing GPA, leadership, health, training, and NIL deals becomes crucial, and players receive text messages from teammates, coaches, and others throughout the season. Mascots like Big Al are featured heavily in the game.

Ultimate Team: Building a Dream Team

The game mode that became famous in Madden has made its way into College Football 25. Ultimate Team challenges players to assemble the best team possible by collecting player cards through challenges or earning rewards from XP. While some view Ultimate Team as a potentially "greedy money grab," as the best way to get great players is spending money on packs each week, it offers a competitive avenue for team building.

Online Play: Rise Through the Ranks

This is EA’s competitive mode where players can choose a team and move up the ranks by defeating online players. The main goal is to reach the top of the leaderboard and make the College Football Playoff.

Initial Impressions

College Football 25 has garnered praise from athletes, celebrities, and content creators, with some fans reportedly requesting time off work to immerse themselves in dynasty teams.

Gameplay Enhancements and Differences from Madden

Andy Staples from On3 was among a group given early access to the game, noting significant gameplay differences from Madden. The disparity between the best and worst players in college football is more pronounced than in the NFL, allowing for more dominant individual matchups.

Passing Mechanics

The passing game has been revamped, giving quarterbacks the ability to layer the football is the key. A meter appears above the receiver, similar to an option in Madden 24. Impacting throw’s accuracy is holding the button as long as you can to the end of the meter. The way a user inputs to have their quarterback throw, and if the throw is layered, has leveled up. Throw velocity and loft was determined by how hard a user pressed the button, but that’s not been replaced with a power meter, similar to the shot bar in the 2K NBA games. Layering the passing game is essential, especially on higher difficulty levels or against superior teams. Players can now control throw power with a meter, enabling touch passes over defenders or laser beams to open receivers. To throw to a spot in College Football 25, use the “Placement & Accuracy” passing type, which allows for more precise passes and control over power through visual targets.

Running Game

Improvements to the running game stem from changes in how CPU trench defenders and blockers interact. Individualized interactions enhance the running game and impact changing protections. The game mechanics themselves have evolved greatly since the last NCAA football video game, which was released more than a decade ago.

Read also: Crafting Your NCAA Profile

Option Mechanics

The option mechanics have been refined, with the handoff now the default choice in read options, requiring user input for the quarterback to keep the ball. It used to be the other way around.

Homefield Advantage

Homefield advantage is a key element, creating a distinct college atmosphere. Opposing quarterbacks face distractions in loud stadiums, with squiggly route lines and question marks over players. Audibles may be missed, mirroring real-life scenarios.

NIL and Licensing

Following the release of the series' previous entry in 2013, Electronic Arts (EA) settled a lawsuit brought by former college football players who argued their name, image and, likeness (NIL) were used without permission or compensation. Initially, player names and likenesses were not to be included in the game. Because of this, several schools, including Notre Dame, Tulane and Northwestern refused to join the game until NIL rules were finalized. EA Sports responded by stating "player name, image and likeness is not currently planned for the game. However, we are watching the developments in this area closely and are prepared to take steps to include players should that opportunity arise." At the time, the NCAA had delayed and not voted on new NIL rules, but over two dozen states had either passed or proposed laws so that institutions couldn't enforce the NCAA's NIL rules.

Release and Development

EA Sports vice president and general manager Daryl Holt stated that Electronic Arts would release the game sometime in summer 2024. All 134 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs would be featured in EA Sports College Football 25. ESPN's lead college football commentary team of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit announced that they would be featured as commentators. Herbstreit was a commentator in EA's original NCAA Football series until its hiatus after NCAA Football 14.

A 21-minute gameplay trailer was premiered, featuring YouTuber Bordeaux and cover athlete Donovan Edwards. As well as the trailer, the day after, an Ultimate Team Deep Dive was posted. YouTubers and Twitch Streamers who are in EA's Creator Network program got access to a nearly final edition of the game, in which rebuilds, player careers, and raw gameplay were shortly uploaded and streamed on YouTube, Twitch, and other platforms.

Additional Gameplay Details

Wear and Tear System

The new Wear and Tear system comes into play. Not all hits are equal, but if a player is taking big hits, certain body parts on a model will turn orange and then red on the play screen to indicate his increased chance of injury. A player’s Strength attribute corresponds with how much impact he can take, and bigger players have more Strength. If you put a small wide receiver at QB and run the option, he’ll be more likely to get injured. The longer the game, the more the injury chances rise.

Playbooks and Offensive Styles

College Football 25 has 134 different playbooks, part of 10 different offensive styles. There are different menus for plays, ranging from coach suggestions to formations to concepts and more. The RPO options include four different kinds of plays: read, peek, alert and glance.

Pre-Snap Options

The capabilities players enjoy before the snap have also grown. You can adjust pass protection to go in a certain direction, an improved process from Madden 24. When calling a hot route, custom stems allow you to adjust how far downfield you want an out route to go. Senior quarterbacks can see more than freshmen, like the possibility of a blitz or a certain kind of defense.

Stadium and Crowd Details

EA Sports said it went through more than 1,000 photos per school to create 150 different stadiums. There are 16,000 different head combinations for players, including 240 shapes. The average team has four helmets, three jerseys and three pants. Some have 20-plus options. You can see all the individual stitching in the jerseys because EA Sports employs a Creaform 3D handheld scanner that’s normally used for aerospace parts. While NFL players have mostly the same equipment, college football has different apparel companies with unique designs. Those differences are noticeable in this game.

Michigan fans have the maize pom-poms. Missouri fans have the tiger tails. There are unique hand signs and Surrender Cobras. The student sections are positioned correctly, and we were told those fans will be seen standing during the game. Opposing fans and bands are also positioned in the correct spots in stadiums.

Sound and Music

While “Enter Sandman” is not in the game, “Zombie Nation,” “Sandstorm,” “Tsunami” and “Mo Bamba” are. Every school has unique fan chants, as EA acquired thousands of assets from schools and in many cases had staff members replicate the cheers for recording. The studio also recorded 41 real game crowds over the last two years, from big to small programs.

What's Not Included

Mascot mode is not in the game. Players do not have X-Factors like in past Madden games. Online Dynasty mode cannot be played across consoles. You will not be able to edit the attributes of real-life players in the rosters.

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