College Football 25 PS5 Review

EA Sports has done the seemingly impossible: they’ve successfully revived NCAA Football 14 ten years and two consoles later.
Not only did they confidently reinstate it, but they did it in spectacular fashion. College Football 25 is now among the pantheon of gaming titles that can single handedly sell consoles, and I expect it to be the best-selling sport title of all time along the way.

To fully appreciate what EA Sports has done, you must understand the legacy of previous console based college football offerings. The fanbase was so committed to the genre, they painstakingly created custom rosters for decades, so loyal as to make last gen college football games collector’s items out of scarcity.

If you’re new to the whole US college football obsession, it is almost religion for well over a hundred cities across the country every Saturday. In select locales in the Southeastern Conference, it can mean hundreds of thousands converging on a stadium to tailgate and attend the contests days in advance, with fans so dedicated as to literally generate readings on Richter scales from cheering intensity. Rivalries are fierce and historic, pageantry unsurpassed, and traditions arguably like no other in any sport.

Thus, EA Sports having the courage to attempt to (pun intended) tackle this title is no small feat. Shockingly, they created a truly authentic college football experience versus Madden with a series of university skins. College Football 25 will make fans of their favorite school and the sport smile from ear to ear.

Even diehards of NCAA Football 14 will consider College Football 25 a massive upgrade. Thanks to recent name, image and likeness (NIL) agreements (which pays college players versus solely universities), for the first time in a college sport title players resemble in name, appearance and play abilities of their actual namesakes. This is such a major advancement for this genre, it cannot be understated.

Moreover, EA painstakingly recreated every single stadium and their lighting, the traditions of each team entering, on field and post play, crowd chants, band music, public address announcer and music selections, player celebrations, and so much more. Visually and audibly, everything is flat out gorgeous to the eyes and ears. Saturday night in Death Valley (Tiger Stadium) is here in all its glory from game start to conclusion.

Announcing is also amazing, featuring all the mainstream ESPN broadcasters familiar to college football fans. Every play-by-play nuance is near spot-on, down to team and player references, time of day and weather, and in-game ebb and flow. Nothing is canned, but repeats do occur.

Home field advantage means something and is omnipresent. Crowd noise will disrupt opposing audibles, rock the stadium, and muck up routes.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of College Football 25 are its authentic playbooks. I’m shocked at how picture perfect these are, with intelligent play recommendations which maximize both style of play and elite player routes. Again, most definitely not Madden in how games unfold. Long-range passing shootouts is not how it’s done in College Football 25…well except perhaps the Smurf Turf of Boise State and its accompanying playbook.

Importantly, college football feel is also mirrored in execution of the now familiar Frostbite engine. Everything just presents more, well, heavy over Madden, with player interactions, speed turns, blocking and routes more aligned with the deliberate nature of college versus pro football pace. Expect missed kicks, dropped passes, slightly slower accelerating athletes (albeit the turbo button is a little too helpful) and more line battles. This reminds me of the arguably better playing WNBA modes in NBA 2K, where one can appreciate the game’s subtleties with minor sacrifices in both speed and explosiveness.

College Football 25 will have a long lifespan. Ultimate Team mode (while still microtransaction heavy) features alumni players adding to the fun. The usual suspects of Dynasty and Build a Player are here, joined by a new and quick hit ‘Road to the College Football Playoff’ mode. With online play so much more prevalent than consoles two generations ago…combined with NIL…I’m suspecting Saturday mornings in the online College Football 25 matchmaking lobby will be the place to be.

I could nitpick at College Football 25, but it simply wouldn’t be fair knowing EA Sports did the near impossible in bringing back this beloved title and so well. I did experience some random in game crashes, Frostbite fan models are still a bit weird, and microtransactions remain too central to appreciate online play. Much like when Fight Night reappears, tiny quibbles for the chance to simply re-experience the magic of a great sport genre in a beautiful package.

Final Thoughts?

College Football 25 is a gridiron celebration ten years in the making. Authentic to its core and finally featuring NIL licenses, this is the rarest title that will sell next generation consoles and for good reason.