College Football 25 review – a triumphant return

It’s been 11 years since NCAA Football 14, the last college football game EA produced, so it’s no surprise that fans of the series were delighted to hear that the series was making a return. But with how dominant Madden has become in the intervening years, College Football 25 needed a strong return if it had any hope of recapturing its former fanbase. And fortunately for EA, a strong return is exactly what they’ve got.

If you were worried about this just being a carbon copy of Madden, then you’re in luck, as the game has been fully built from scratch. So while anyone who has played Madden before isn’t going to struggle to play College Football 25 (it is the same sport after all), there are plenty of new mechanics to get to grips with to make your time with the game more interesting.

The level of control players have on the field is much greater than it is in Madden. You can customise your plays to make the best of your star players, or perhaps to expose the weaknesses of your opponents. Similarly, you can run certain types of defences depending on the opponent to nullify their star players. The game also features a new throwing mechanic that requires precise timing to pull off consistently, making each play feel risky, but satisfying. Each of these mechanics lends itself to a gameplay formula that is simple for beginners but rewards players willing to put in the practice to master them.

Another brand-new mechanic is a player health system, adding a degree of realism but one that can put a spanner in the works for your team. If one of your players takes a particularly nasty hit, it can affect their game, perhaps leading you to rely more heavily on other players to avoid risking your injured player making a mistake.

Beyond the mechanics, EA has done a stellar job of capturing the spirit of college football, especially when one considers that it’s not the main football game on the market. The game features 134 teams from conferences across the country, each with rosters jam-packed with real-life players. But the attention to detail doesn’t stop at just the rosters, as the traditions of each school are captured too, with mascots, cheerleaders, and all the pomp and circumstance that come with the frankly preposterously ceremonial nature of college football.

And you’ll experience plenty of that ceremony in the game’s Dynasty mode, a managerial mode that sees you take over as the head coach of one of the game’s illustrious, or perhaps more ignominious institutions, in a bid to conquer the world of college football and guide your chosen team to glory.

All things considered, a lot has been packed into this mode. Outside the rip-roaring on-field action, Dynasty mode captures the kind of in-depth spreadsheet action seen in titles like Football Manager or F1 Manager. You’ll scour your pipelines for the best talent, dropping names onto shortlists, and planning how exactly you’re going to convince them to play for you over everyone else. Each player is vastly different, too. Some are ready to go and can be dropped right into your team. Others might have huge potential but might need to be redshirted for a season while your seniors prepare to depart. For me, the planning might even be better than the gameplay, as watching someone you put the effort into scouting turn out to be a gem is a blast, but I won’t act like it’s not a major disappointment when they don’t.

It’s a good job Dynasty mode is as good as it is, too, as the game’s other modes don’t ever really capture the same magic. Road to Glory sees you take on the role of a single player rather than coaching the team. Instead of the tactical and scouting aspects, you’ll have to juggle things like GPA and coach approval. It’s perfectly fine, but has no real depth, making the mode feel like more of an afterthought, with ‘people will want it, so we’ll stick it in’ being the driving force behind its inclusion rather than an actual desire to create it.

Things only get worse when it comes to Ultimate Team. As a longtime FIFA, and now FC player, I have had all too much experience with the travesty that is Ultimate Team. It’s a tragedy to find that the version in College Football 25 is largely the same. Get packs, open packs, don’t get a player worth using, and repeat. It’s disappointing, to say the least, and I don’t see much reason to play this or Road to Glory over the obviously superior Dynasty modeIt’s a good job Dynasty mode is as good as it is, too, as the game’s other modes don’t ever really capture the same magic. Road to Glory sees you take on the role of a single player rather than coaching the team. Instead of the tactical and scouting aspects, you’ll have to juggle things like GPA and coach approval. It’s perfectly fine, but has no real depth, making the mode feel like more of an afterthought, with ‘people will want it, so we’ll stick it in’ being the driving force behind its inclusion rather than an actual desire to create it.

But as good as Dynasty mode is, it falls prey to the largely clunky, and at times ridiculously thought-out UI. Dynasty mode will often have you neck-deep in menus, scrolling through seemingly endless branches of options to find what you’re looking for, something which could be easily solved by a dedicated menu showing you exactly what you need to do, when you need to do it. One bizarre issue is that, when scrolling through certain menus with RB/R2, there’s no option to scroll back the other way. So if I’m looking for a certain conference, say, and I accidentally press RB one too many times, I have to go all the way around again. I know this sounds inconsequential, but for how often it happens, it’s a glaringly obvious thing to miss out, and just part and parcel of the poor UI design.

But at the end of the day, whether it’s poor UI or shallow game modes, I enjoyed my time with College Football 25. The commitment to capturing not only the rosters of more than 100 real-life teams, but the unique cultures of those schools is astounding and made all the more enjoyable by the solid gameplay. I do wish Road to Glory had been a bit more interesting, but with the depth and quality of Dynasty mode, it feels redundant to ask for more, especially from a game returning from a decade-long hiatus. Put simply, if you’re a fan of football, be it college or professional, or just a fan of Madden, you’re going to love College Football 25.

College Football 25 Beginner’s guide – Our tips and tricks for mastering EA Sports game

College Football 25 returned for players after a decade-long absence, which essentially means everyone is back to being a new player and may require a beginner’s guide. Even though many players kept College Football 14 and played it throughout the years, this is a brand new game with some significant changes. Therefore, almost everyone can benefit from a little guidance on how to get better at the game.

College Football 25 Beginner’s guide

Read To Glory

In Road to Glory, it’s your goal to start as a player and try to become a Heisman winner, national champion, and NFL draft pick (you can even send your player into Madden 25). To do that, you can start as an underdog, a contributor, a blue chip, or an elite recruit. They range from two stars to five stars and affect your overall. Choosing the right one is important.

We recommend choosing contributor. Being an underdog means you may not see the field at all in your first season. You can always red-shirt, but there’s a strong chance you come in as a backup in the case of injury or blowout, thus impacting your eligibility. Contributors can start in certain places (we had to go to Kennesaw State to start as a QB contributor) and will play enough to make the first season worthwhile.

Another important tip is to practice. It might seem like a waste of time, but it’s not. Every week, manually play the practice. It’s how you can earn XP, get better at actually playing the game, and earn coach trust. The latter is vital to your playthrough and a key part of the College Football 25 beginner’s guide.

Dynasty Mode Tips and Tricks

In Dynasty Mode, it’s your job to turn your chosen school into a dynasty. Your options are to pick a burgeoning dynasty (Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon) or some other team that presents a challenge. The lower the level of the program, the harder it is. That’s why the selection of a school is the most important part.

We recommend choosing a three-star program or some team in the 80 OVR range. Many College Football 25 players have found that it’s a lot harder to turn Akron into a national power in this game than in NCAA 14. That’s the ultimate challenge, but it might be too hard to actually pull off, leaving you frustrated. This is why it’s better to find a middle ground: pick a team (UNC, Michigan State, Colorado) that isn’t a national power and turn it into one. That’s the best a College Football 25 beginner’s guide for Dynasty Mode can advise.

Ultimate Team

Ultimate Team is one of the most similar game modes to anything EA Sports has done over the last decade. Just like in FC and Madden, the name of the game is to collect the best cards and make a great lineup. The key to doing so might be being patient.

Like in any version of Ultimate Team, the cards are staggered. The best of the best aren’t in the game yet. EA often releases those at a later date, gradually upping the OVR level of the best cards. It may be worthwhile to do challenges and play games, but wait to spend the currency earned until the greatest cards are available.

College Football 25 best players – our list of the top-rated stars

The best players in College Football 25 hail from all sorts of different teams. With over 100 schools in the game currently, so many highly-rated stars are on a lot of different rosters. Of course, as it is with the real-world sport itself, many of the best players are on the best teams. Georgia, for example, has some of the best recruiting and has landed quite a few highly-rated stars. Here are the absolute best of the best in CFB 25.

5) Travis Hunter – 95 OVR

Travis Hunter, the top-rated player on the cover (he shares the spotlight with Quinn Ewers and Donovan Edwards), is one of College Football 25’s best players. One of the only two-way players in the history of this sport, Hunter is an elite wide receiver and an elite corner because of his 95 speed, 96 acceleration, 97 awareness, and 97 jump ratings.

4) James Pearce Jr. – 95 OVR

James Pearce Jr. will wreak havoc on an opponent’s passing game better than anyone else. The 95 OVR right end from Tennessee is one of the best players thanks to his 88 speed, 95 acceleration, and 85 strength. He can speed rush and power rush, making him extremely difficult to block. Even the game’s best tacklers will have their hands full.

3) Ollie Gordon II – 96 OVR

Ollie Gordon II is by far the best running back in the country, and he could challenge for the Heisman Trophy. He is that good, and College Football 25 recognizes that. The Oklahoma State running back has impressive ratings: 90 speed, 97 acceleration, 79 strength, 97 awareness, and 87 jump. In a game that is so offense-centric, this kind of player is perhaps the most important.

2) Will Campbell – 96 OVR

Will Campbell is 96 OVR and easily one of the best players in the game. The LSU left tackle will be able to shut down almost any pass rush. 94 strength and 97 awareness go a long way toward keeping a quarterback safe. This is important to know for Dynasty Mode as well as head-to-head exhibitions. If you pick LSU to play with, you can pass without fear and run to the left side with ease.

1) Will Johnson – 96 OVR

The best player is a 96 OVR – Will Johnson. The Michigan cornerback can shut down any receiver in the game and is rewarded by being the top-ranked player available. It’s interesting that College Football 25 has zero 99 OVR players when Madden, EA’s other football game, has so many. Nevertheless, with a 92 speed and 94 awareness rating, Johnson is elite.

Honorable mentions: Luther Burden III, Mason Graham, Kelvin Banks Jr., Shedeur Sanders, Omarion Hampton, Carson Beck, Caleb Downs, Quinshon Judkins, and Quinn Ewers.

College Football 25 best pipelines – our top recruiting systems for Dynasty Mode

Recruiting is key in College Football 25, which is why the best pipelines are important. The pipeline system is an effort to replicate how real-life recruiting works. Of course, big schools will be able to land players from anywhere, but in general, things are surprisingly local.

High school players from North Carolina generally want to go to UNC, NC State, or somewhere else close by. The same is true for kids in Georgia, Florida, California, and most other places. If you’re recruiting in Dynasty Mode, you should know what pipelines have the best players to look through.

4) Georgia

Georgia is a great pipeline to try in College Football 25 – just ask Kirby Smart. There’s a good reason so much talent is always flowing through Georgia, and part of it is because of the sheer talent they have close by to draw from. The only thing that makes this last on the list is because, unless you’re controlling Georgia in Dynasty Mode, you have to contend with the top school arguably in the entire game. It’s hard to out-recruit the Bulldogs, and Georgia is a smaller area than some other pipelines.

3) Texas

Texas is another excellent pipeline to try out in Dynasty Mode. It’s full of talent, and historically, it has produced some elite college football players. Unfortunately, a similar problem plagues it. If you’re trying to turn a lower program around, you’re going to have to fight with Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech for the top recruits. That’s a tall ask, but at least it’s a bigger region than Georgia.

2) Florida

Florida is arguably the best pipeline in college football in the real world. It’s the source of so many current and past football phenoms. Many of the best in college and the NFL came from Florida, so it’s a really reliable place to recruit. However, with this pipeline, there’s plenty of competition and it’s a smaller state. Florida, Florida State, and Miami to name a few are all trying to get these recruits, but the talent is just too hard to ignore.

1) California

It’s no surprise that California, one of the biggest states in the United States, is the best pool to recruit from. California has so many good players and the added benefit is that, while there are good teams, there are more than enough to recruit from. Say you’re running San Jose State. You are competing with California, UCLA, and several other top schools. There’s still plenty of recruiting to be done there.

It is worth noting that the pipeline you choose doesn’t have to be the best, but it does need to fit what you want to do. If you eventually want to coach for the University of Miami, you may not want to set your pipeline as California. Everything matters, and you can move around, but it will impact your recruiting. Additionally, each above state is broken down into a couple of regions, which are largely inconsequential. For example, North Florida and Southwest Texas are both great.