EA Sports College Football 25 is the return of the historic and beloved video game franchise for the first time since NCAA Football 14 which was released in 2013. With its revival, it’s hard to ignore the blend of innovation and the nostalgia aspect of the game. The game brings a mix of modern gaming technology as well as the real life details of college football.
The ultimate College Football video game idea was introduced in 1993 with the first ever game representing the sport. This game was known as “Bill Walsh College Football.” Bill Walsh was a head coach for Stanford University as well as the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL.
The game has been through many label changes such as College Football USA and then NCAA Football. NCAA Football 14 was the last game produced (of course until this year) due to lawsuits filed regarding Name Image and Likeness (NIL) issues as well as violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The lawsuits were filed by former Nebraska player Sam Keller and UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon. Fast forward to 2021 a court ruled that collegiate players are able to profit off of their NIL. A couple years later, EA Sports announced in 2023 that they will be releasing a new beginning of college football video games, with the release of the game coming out in the summer of 2024.
Here we are in October 2024, almost 3 months since the game came out. The game modes they bring such as Dynasty Mode where users can build and manage their own college programs and build their own legacy. You also have the Road to Glory game mode where users can create their own player and play their college journey and ultimately reach their final goal, the NFL.
Continuing on that, College Football 25 and Madden 25 created a collaboration if you will, and when you finish your college career in Road to Glory, you can import your player to Madden 25 and play your NFL career in the game.
The gameplay itself was a little bit questionable when the game first hit the shelves. To be fair, a lot of games have issues, especially when they first release. Some complaints seen on social media or reviews included feedback that can be fixed such as tackling mechanics, the spin move being “too overpowered”, unrealistic simulations and more. EA has taken action to resolve some of these issues, specifically the tackling and spin moves.
In my opinion, if you’ve played sports games before or if you are just a video game and sports fan, it’s worth giving the game a try. It’s easy to tell the developers worked a while on this and it has been very occupying to play the game and to take a dive into a College Football simulation and test your creativity.
