NCAA FOOTBALL IS BACK MFers

[WelfareBuysMyWeed 5388]

6 hours ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Sometimes the networks throttle your downloads....it happens on Steam as well.

steam downloads will always be quicker than any console even on worse network conditions because Steam downloads are a special compression that requires CPU use when downloading. This is why by default "download when playing a game" option is disabled in Steam, because it steals CPU cycles away from the game. This is also why the Steam Deck cannot download games while in sleep mode, it requires an active running CPU to download and decompress on the fly. This is also why when you download games on steam, you'll see your CPU usage spike. Xbox and playstation don't use similar compression, which is why they can download while asleep and in-game, but are slower to download as a result.

 

1 hour ago, Chooky said:

Ah. It would've been kinda funny if they gathered all this new atmosphere data on different schools and then forgot to render the directional lighting of stadiums. 

If you don't render the directional lighting, you'll get a black screen. The lighting pass for stadium lighting is baked diffuse lighting. I did a game for the Rockets and got to use their toyota center assets for the arena, and until l baked the lighting the entire arena would appear pitch black. With modern game engines, you basically can't forget to render lighting, because the default lighting model isn't full on full bright anymore.

Edited May 23 by WelfareBuysMyWeed

[Chooky 13307]

40 minutes ago, WelfareBuysMyWeed said:

steam downloads will always be quicker than any console even on worse network conditions because Steam downloads are a special compression that requires CPU use when downloading. This is why by default "download when playing a game" option is disabled in Steam, because it steals CPU cycles away from the game. This is also why the Steam Deck cannot download games while in sleep mode, it requires an active running CPU to download and decompress on the fly. This is also why when you download games on steam, you'll see your CPU usage spike. Xbox and playstation don't use similar compression, which is why they can download while asleep and in-game, but are slower to download as a result.

 

If you don't render the directional lighting, you'll get a black screen. The lighting pass for stadium lighting is baked diffuse lighting. I did a game for the Rockets and got to use their toyota center assets for the arena, and until l baked the lighting the entire arena would appear pitch black. With modern game engines, you basically can't forget to render lighting, because the default lighting model isn't full on full bright anymore.

I meant that the shadow made it look like the stadium faces east and west. 

[WelfareBuysMyWeed 5388]

27 minutes ago, Chooky said:

I meant that the shadow made it look like the stadium faces east and west. 

that's what baked lighting is.

[Horn of Gabriel 1614]

3 hours ago, TexEx15 said:

 

Fans wearing long sleeves?  To a day game?  At Texas?  WTF, will not buy.

[Zeus 6014]

On 5/22/2024 at 1:26 PM, Vic Mackey said:

.

OU sucks

[Longboard Horn 40296]

 

[BurntOrange&White 39930]

😂

[Chooky 13307]

Since it's all wild wild west right now can 2k make a college football game and let us benefit from steep competition? 

[hook me 2092]

19 hours ago, Chooky said:

I meant that the shadow made it look like the stadium faces east and west. 

Maybe the people with all the money pivoted the stadium so that they can sit in the shade?

[Chooky 13307]

7 minutes ago, hook me said:

Maybe the people with all the money pivoted the stadium so that they can sit in the shade?

Probably. So typical. The really big money can just rotate the entire city. 

[Dnaguy 11920]

13 hours ago, Longboard Horn said:

 

 

Goal posts are not off center.

Will not buy.

[Longboard Horn 40296]

20 hours ago, Dnaguy said:

 

Goal posts are not off center.

Will not buy.

Head ass..... you know you're gonna buy the game. Come to whooped in the Surly tournament. 

[GhostofDanJones 336]

After years of waiting it's almost here. I preordered for PS5 and my brothers for Xbox. @Longboard Horn you preorder yet? I want my rematch. 

[GhostofDanJones 336]

On 5/17/2024 at 10:56 AM, BurntOrange&White said:

Online Dynasty isn't crossplay, no PC version.

 

RIP

I still think you can crossplay against friends if you send the invite. 

[Longboard Horn 40296]

6 minutes ago, GhostofDanJones said:

After years of waiting it's almost here. I preordered for PS5 and my brothers for Xbox. @Longboard Horn you preorder yet? I want my rematch. 

Yes if you read the thread from a few pages ago I already preordered. Yo ass bout to get murked again! 103-36 last time we played. 🤣

[TexEx15 17509]

Don’t have the full thing but this sounds encouraging!

[Foosters 17840]

15 minutes ago, TexEx15 said:

Don’t have the full thing but this sounds encouraging!

Cont.

Quote

The in-game playing experience is incredibly smooth and realistic

The first team I pulled up was Virginia Tech because I wanted to experience the Hokies’ “Enter Sandman” entrance. Unfortunately, “Enter Sandman” is not in the game — licensing Metallica songs is really expensive. (“Jump Around” is also not played in games at Camp Randall Stadium, for similar reasons.)

If you take one thing away from reading this, it’s that running the ball is actually fun. The blocking AI is really well done, and players are rewarded for hitting the hole. The game has new physics-based tackling, based on where and how hard a hit is made, that looks much more realistic than Madden 24. Breaking tackles or falling forward through them becomes more likely if you follow blockers correctly.

As the quarterback, the ability to layer the football is the key. When you throw the ball, a meter appears above the receiver, similar to an option in Madden 24. Obviously, tapping or holding a button creates the difference between a floater and a rocket, but holding the button as long as you can to the end of the meter can impact the throw’s accuracy.

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.

The average team has four helmets, three jerseys and three pants. Some have 20-plus options (hello, Oregon). 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. Here, it’s used to scan cleats, gloves, helmets, jerseys and more, down to the tiniest detail. While NFL players have mostly the same equipment, college football has different apparel companies with unique designs. Those differences are noticeable in this game.

 

[Foosters 17840]

 

[TexEx15 17509]

 

[Dutch 4465]

59 minutes ago, TexEx15 said:

Don’t have the full thing but this sounds encouraging!

 

41 minutes ago, TexEx15 said:

 

"It's not Madden" is the best thing I could have possibly read about this game. 

 

[mdleast 8289]

The newest episode of the Until Saturday podcast in an hour and half breakdown of the game.

[mdleast 8289]

*is an hour and half...

[Chooky 13307]

Get ready to hear the phrase "guys, this game is nothing at all like Madden" 979 times in the next two days. 

[Foosters 17840]

Quote

Last week, UPROXX Sports was lucky enough to be among the media outlets and streamers invited down to EA Sports’ campus in Orlando for an early look at EA Sports College Football 25. We got to learn a lot about their various game modes, with an extensive look at Dynasty, Road to Glory, and more.

We have full writeups on what we learned about each of those modes (linked above), but while we will have to wait until July to get our hands on how those modes function in full, I did get a chance to get on the sticks and dive into about three hours of gameplay. Here, I’ll run through all of the big gameplay additions for 25, along with my thoughts on how the game feels and plays.

Overall, I think fans will be very happy with the initial offering in the resurrection of the franchise, and there are some real differentiators between it and Madden that make it feel like a standalone, unique game. Here, we’ll look at all of the various elements of the game that EA Sports has added, and I’ll offer my thoughts on how those translated once actually on the sticks. Beware, we’re going deep and hitting on everything I possibly can, so there’s a lot in here.

Playbooks

All 134 teams have a unique playbook to themselves, and it’s pretty impressive the depth in which the game goes to give teams their actual style. In the old games, everyone had their own playbook, but it was from a smaller pool of plays that they put together for each team. In this game, there are 10 specific play styles, from Air Raid to the Triple Option (more on option updates below), but within those styles each team has its own distinct look and feel. For example, if you play with Tennessee, you’ll get their wide splits. If you play with Wake Forest, you can run the long mesh.

The stated goal was to give every fan an authentic feeling of playing with their team. While presentation and visuals were important to that, the gameplay also had to be differentiated so each fan base felt like the game truly understood their style. While the playbooks may not be quite as robust as the real ones, they are finely tuned (with the help of PFF) to what each team actually runs. Having run through about 6 different teams in the time I got to play, from small schools to top programs, I can vouch for them succeeding to an impressive degree in their quest.

You will also be able to create a custom playbook and, eventually, you’ll be able to save custom audibles (this is not expected to be ready for launch, but they did promise it was coming). On defense, the zone coverage shells are much more refined than the old games, and you can even craft your own preferred scheme in the custom playbook if you want. They have half field coverages, so you can zone up one half and go man on the other, and you can also disguise coverages (which is important with the pre-snap recognition feature, which we’ll get to later).

Given how much the game is leaning into player skillsets and talent level mattering more than ever, the variability in picking your playbook (or creating your own) to match your talent is going to be key – and vice versa, making sure in a Dynasty you are recruiting talent that fits your needs.

All-22+ Player Differentiation System

The first thing they talked about was their All-22+ system, which ensures that each player on the field plays to their skill level. With such a wide variance in skill levels in the college game, they really wanted to make sure you felt that. A star player will really stand out in this game, while a backup or freshman with a low rating is going to struggle to make a positive impact.

That was noticeable in playing the game, and you have to know your personnel and make sure you’re getting them the ball in the right spots. A star receiver is going to go up and get the ball over defenders, while a lesser receiver is going to struggle to make a catch in traffic. Your quarterback’s various skill ratings will impact your ability to push the ball down the field, throw outside from the far hash, and accurately fit the ball into windows. Again, that was felt when I bounced around from team to team, testing out how the game plays with top-ranked power conference teams as opposed to a small school. You won’t be able to do the same things with those small schools, and it’s going to be incumbent on you, the player, to manage that.

Enhanced Computer AI

One thing that was immediately noticeable once I started playing the game was how much smarter the computer opponent is now. It used to be extremely easy to manipulate the computer, but that will not be the case in this game – especially at higher difficulty levels. I started at All-American, because that’s what I always played at on NCAA, and I was having absolute fits with the defense. The computer now has all the same tools as the user, and it will use them.

The coverages are much smarter, with windows closing much faster in the passing game than they used to, especially against zone coverage. They’re also better at disguising coverages and blitzes, and you’ll have to really be seeing the whole field as a passer. Defenses will adapt to how you’re playing, with real-time coaching that makes adjustments to what they’re running to force you to continually differentiate your play-calling. No longer can you spam the same few plays over and over to exploit the same coverage the defense keeps running. If you show the defense the same play one too many times, it’s likely headed back the other way.

Wear & Tear System

The biggest addition to the game that is College Football specific is the Wear & Tear system. I also think this will be the most controversial part of the game that will require the most tuning from the EA Sports team. The idea comes from a good place and I think as they tune it, it will be a welcome addition to the game. Basically, they wanted to stop gamers from being able to find success spamming the same play over and over by making it so as players take hits, they lose attributes and ratings.

They made clear that this isn’t a fatigue system (like the old NCAA games had). Instead, the way it works is, each body part is broken out and has different player attributes and skill ratings attached to it. As you accumulate hits over the course of the game, you’ll be able to see where a guy has taken damage, and his skill ratings in the attributes tied to that body part will decrease (i.e., throw power and throw accuracy for a QB’s throwing arm). What kinds of hits you take will matter, as not all hits are created equal in the physics-based system. Getting your QB hit by a big defensive tackle will do more damage than a corner on a blitz. A bigger, stronger player will suffer less wear and tear versus a smaller, speedier guy.

This means managing your players’ health will be vital. If you like to run the read option, you better be careful with your QB and RB, because if they get tagged on hits, they’ll lose ratings. This also means hospital balls are a thing, and if you throw your receiver into a big hit, they’re going get lit up and lose some abilities. That means those players want to spam the slant route against a zone, get ready to learn how to diversify your offensive attack or have all your receivers get hurt.

In playing the game, you noticed the Wear & Tear system quickly and it does make you think about spreading the touches out. That makes life even more difficult with a smaller school team, because with the All-22+ system, you might only have one real trusted receiver or running back on the roster, but you can’t lean on him too much or risk him losing attributes. One of the guys I was talking to had to lead a game-winning touchdown drive with his backup quarterback because his starter got hit so much he had lost 47 points off of his rating. That’s going to be an adjustment that you have to manage, and I expect it to be a point of frustration for some and a spot that needs continual tuning from the EA team to make it impactful, but not such a big thing it takes away from the game itself.

New Passing System

While Wear & Tear will require the biggest adjustment to game strategy, when it comes to actual gameplay, the thing players will have to really get used to is the new passing system. It works like the old MVP Baseball 05 throwing system, where you have a meter for each throw and the longer you hold it, the harder the throw. This allows you to layer the ball, from feathery, high-arcing lobs that drop in over the defense to intermediate throws over a linebacker, to a laser that fits in a tight window before a defender can get there. It gives you much more control over passes than the old “tap to lob, hold to rifle” passing system, but it does require you to really put in some time to get used to it.

I threw a lot of interceptions in my first couple games trying to get used to it, for a couple of reasons. One is, if you hold it down too long, you’ll go into the red and throw an inaccurate ball – sometimes right into the chest of an underneath defender. The meter is skill ratings based, so you’ll have to get used to your guy’s ability and how long you can hold it down before you get into the danger area. That means throwing down the field is much more difficult with worse quarterbacks, so you really need to be cognizant of your guy’s skill set when calling plays. Everyone loves running Four Verts, but if you are playing with Georgia State, you will not be able to push it downfield like you want to (at least, until you recruit/develop a QB into a star).

From there, because there’s some delay for throws that you hold the meter down on, you have to really throw with anticipation. I had a couple picks where I saw a guy getting open, tried to rifle it, but in the half second I was trying to hold the meter down, the window closed. The same can happen trying to float the ball out there, as you have to account for where your QB is going to lay it.

That is, again, realistic to how football works, but is an adjustment you have to make in a video game. While frustrating at first, once I got the feel down with someone and started to see the field a little better, I really enjoyed the control it provides. One of the great frustrations of the old game was trying to throw to a receiver who was open in between the linebackers and safeties playing zone, but you’d try to throw it to them and a middle linebacker would inexplicably leap up to intercept it. That can still happen in the new game, but it’s far more likely to be your fault for not throwing the ball with enough touch or throwing late across the middle than it is for every linebacker in the game to seemingly have a 40-inch vertical.

Runnin’ The Dang Ball and Line Play

The new passing system will likely be a bit divisive among players, as the meter won’t be for everybody (even if I think once you get the hang of it, it’ll be a net positive), but what I think people will absolutely love is how much better running the ball is in this game. If you have not played a recent Madden, you likely haven’t seen the large jump in improvement in how the running game works. To start, linemen function like, well, actual linemen, which is to say, independent of each other. In past games they could only really program linemen to block in collectives, meaning the running game was far more boom or bust, with one half of your line typically either succeeding or failing as a group and there would be one hole you could either hit or not.

Now, running the ball is so much smoother and more life-like, and I found it more enjoyable than ever to run the dang ball. For example, if you run outside zone, your linemen are going to block it as they would in real life, and it’ll be up to you to read and react to hit the hole that opens up. That brings more skill into the running game, asking the player to be patient rather than mashing the right trigger and hoping the designed hole opens up. In the college game, this also impacts running the option, where your decision-making has to be on point – with some updates to how it all works.

New Option System

The new option system in the game will require an adjustment period, as they flipped the functionality of the X/A button (PS5/Xbox) on a read option/triple option. They realized that holding X to hand it off was backwards to how options actually work, where the decision is really for the QB to pull it. So, you now have to hit the button to pull the ball back out of the RBs hand, and for anyone that’s got read option muscle memory with the old franchise, that will take some time. You also have more reads to make on the triple option/speed option, with the read, keep, and pitch option that actual QBs have to find. I tried my hand at running the triple with Navy (who, it should be noted, is awful in the game, so that didn’t help) and did pretty terribly. By the second half I had a little bit more of a feel for it, but there were a lot of plays where I didn’t even get to the keep/pitch portion of the triple because my QB would get swallowed up by a defensive tackle soon after the original mesh point. That is to say, fair warning for anyone trying to start a Dynasty with Navy, as it’s tough sledding out there

I will also note that the read option is no longer the cheat code it was in NCAA 14, where you just read the crashing end and if you were right, you typically picked up at minimum 5 yards. The improved AI will start to send help, with defensive backs and linebacker quickly filling gaps, or adjust the defense with play calls that won’t even give you a read at all. That said, the RPO game is now a feature, and that’s all about timing. I didn’t run many RPOs, but you do have to make sure you get the ball out quick if you choose to pull it to avoid an ineligible downfield call.

Homefield Advantage and Stadium Pulse

Homefield advantage is back and they expanded it to be really impactful. Each home stadium is graded out to different levels, so the Big House will have a bigger impact on players than, say, Center Parc Stadium (fka Turner Field) in Atlanta. Freshman will get rattled, communication gets harder, and, yes, the squiggly lines are back but even more aggressive – they start moving all over the place like you’re playing the game on acid. It is a trip, and you’ll struggle to make audibles and hot routes if you don’t have a quarterback with the right mental abilities (more on that in a moment).

To show it off in the presentation, they recreated this moment from a recent Michigan-Penn State game and it was honestly one of the coolest things I’ve seen – and yes, they got “Mo Bamba” licensed in the game.

I think some fans will think they went a bit too far with the Stadium Pulse — and, like Wear & Tear, I’d expect some tuning from EA along the way — but they really wanted to make this game challenging and give it a real feel. If you have a freshman in real life on the road, chances are they are going to get overwhelmed. You better find a way to quiet things down, or else things will get a little scary for your guys.

Player Abilities and Badges

There are no X-Factors in College Football 25 like there are in Madden, but each player will have five physical abilities and three mental abilities that you can build up to get situational boosts. They are archetype limited – which mean you can’t max everything out – and to keep it true to the college game, they are not guarantees to help you out, unlike Madden X-Factors. That means there’s a chance your big play receiver won’t make that catch in traffic in a big moment, even if he has that physical ability.

The mental abilities are particularly interesting and important, because of the aforementioned Homefield Advantage system. Having a quarterback that can handle the road atmosphere will be critical, and it’s going to make players think twice about thrusting a freshman into the starting role early because they have some physical attributes that you like. Confidence and composure will make a difference in how well a player perform.

Coaches will also have abilities, which can calm their team down on the road and give the team situational boosts as well.

Pre-Snap Recognition

Quarterbacks with strong mental abilities will be able to diagnose coverages before the snap, and will tell you what they see in terms of coverage (so, if they see Cover 4, a “4” will appear over the two corners and safeties) and blitzes. However, they won’t be right every time and defenses can disguise coverages to try and confuse a QB by showing one thing and then going into something else at the snap.

Audibles, Hot Routes, Protection Slides, and Custom Stems

The amount of stuff you can do at the line of scrimmage now is pretty incredible. It’s no longer just audibles and hot routes, as you can slide your protection at the line of scrimmage to pick up blitzers and customize routes completely for your receivers with custom stems. If you want a guy to run a 35-yard post for some reason, you can do it. If you want to turn a 5-yard dig into a 10-yard dig, that’s a couple button pushes away. The protection slide is particularly cool, as you can do full slides and half slides, but beware, because if you misdiagnose a blitz and slide to the right, and someone’s actually coming from the left, the computer isn’t going to bail you out and pick that guy up. They will, instead, do what they do in real life and go where they’re told, leaving your QB 1-on-1 with a blitzer. You’ll also have to be cognizant of the play clock, because if you spend too much time customizing at the line of scrimmage, you’ll run into a delay of game.

Defensive Switch Stick

Rather than having to hit O/B to switch players on defense and hope the computer gives you the guy you want, you can now flip the right stick in the direction you want and it will take you to that player. For those that have that right stick dexterity, this will allow you to effectively play with two guys in coverage, as you can quickly flip from one to another and cover a half of the field as the user. I will admit, defense has never been my strong suit in video game football, so it wasn’t super effective for me, but I’m chalking that up to user error and not a lack of functionality.

New Kicking System

College kickers make their arrival in the game in a big way, as the new kicking system has a side-to-side meter (no longer the old right stick or the Madden “L” shape meter) that has red, yellow, and a green zone in the middle. That meter will move faster on kicks from further away, making it more difficult to hit 40 and 50+ yard kicks. Once you hit A/X and land in the zone, you hold it down to fill up the meter on the arrow for your kick power. If you go into the red, you’ll lose distance. Like everything else now, the kicking system is all based on your kicker’s skill ratings and attributes, so the more accurate a kicker, the less a little miss on the first meter is, and the more power they have, the less likely you’ll need to risk going into the red. On the flip side, a bad kicker is going to require you to be absolutely perfect, or else you’re headed for trouble.

Weather Impacts

As they noted in the presentation, “wet footballs matter.” That means if you end up in a rain game or a snow game, ball security will be tricky, you’ll see more drops, footing on defense will be sketchy, and you might end up with some chaos. From a graphics perspective, the animations for rain on the field and the way it kicks up and splashes looked incredible, but it’s a little annoying when the fumbles start happening – which, again, is how it works in real life, and that was their goal.

Uproxx was invited on a hosted trip by EA Sports for reporting on this piece. They did not review or approve this story. You can find out more about our policy on press trips/hostings here.

https://uproxx.com/sports/ea-sports-college-football-25-first-gameplay-review/

[Deej 76755]

1 hour ago, Foosters said:

https://uproxx.com/sports/ea-sports-college-football-25-first-gameplay-review/

Quote

Overall, I think fans will be very happy with the initial offering in the resurrection of the franchise

And being EA, fans will be less happy with every following offering in the franchise. 

[Vertigo 20276]

I listened to Andy Staples and a couple other podcasts today of people who played and some interesting tidbits I liked:

- Picture in picture of cut scenes and crowd reactions while picking plays

- Pass meter similar to kick meter to control velocity

- RPO's are OP

- Wide variety of playbooks - Air Raid, Option, Read Option, RPO, Go-Go, Pro Style, Borderline Erotic Smash Mouth, etc. I didn't hear specifically, but I would imagine Iowa State 3 safety defense will also be in the game. 

- Switch up in read option mechanics on mesh/QB Keep

- Tackling emphasizes the player doing most of the tackling instead of letting the AI do it - easier to break tackles vs AI

- Road to Glory mode will have NIL component, but you can also flunk out of school and be ineligible. Should my first guy be Ajiye Hall?

- Tons of easter eggs and school specific traditions even down to band formations pregame, Iowa waving to childrens hospital after 1st quarter, etc. 

- Some serious considerations have to be made between portal and HS recruiting in Dynasty in terms of where and how to spend resources

- Big hit mechanics and animations are way better

- Gameplay is about 30% faster than madden, and the star players can really make you pay

- Improved OLine/DLine mechanics including the ability to slide or change protections on the OL

- The campusIQ thing should be pretty dope, but will get more info on that tomorrow with another official release of news

- True home field advantage and impact - way harder to convert 3rd and long on the road

Some things I didn't like

- NIL is not in Dynasty mode in the true sense because it is changing too fast right now. Instead they have abstracted it into a team brand score which can sway recruiting, which substitutes for NIL. 

- Lack of cross platform online dynasty is a bummer, as is lack of ESPN branding

- Texas A&M will be in the game

 

 

 

 

Edited May 29 by Vertigo

[Hook1997 5351]

This pass meter sounds way too complicated for us olds..  Is the qb going to freeze his throwing motion while the meter fills or it’s a split second thing?  

[BigHorn'13 3363]

Sounds to me like the old kicking meters

[Vertigo 20276]

1 hour ago, Hook1997 said:

This pass meter sounds way too complicated for us olds..  Is the qb going to freeze his throwing motion while the meter fills or it’s a split second thing?  

I would imagine you just hold and release, the longer you hold the harder you throw. It shouldnt be too hard.

[Chooky 13307]

Passing meter thing sounds like something that will suck at first until you get used to it. 

I don't really know what "30% faster than Madden gameplay" means, but it sounds almost chaotic. And it doesn't make much sense considering the main thing you hear about the most difficult aspect of acclimating from college to the NFL is game speed.

[Vertigo 20276]

More official stuff from EA today:

Dynasty mode - Up to 30 seasons with up to 32 players at a time. 

Custom conferences - You can't build from scratch, but you can adjust who is in conferences, rebuild the Pac12, kick Baylor out of the B12 for being rapey, etc. 

Non Conference Scheduling - You have some control over your Non Con schedule, but no neutral site games

Coaching - You can start as a HC, OC, or DC. No real coaches in the game

Coaching - Dynasty coach backstories, and you have specific skill trees based on what you chose. You can also hire and fire coordinators.

Redshirting - 4 game redshirt rule will be in the game

Recruiting - Each class has 4000 prospects. You can't create a prospect in this one. You can sign up to 35 players in a season and then "encourage" transfers from existing players. Coaches only have a certain amount of time each week to recruit the portal and high school combined. 

Recruiting - Will have recruiting pipelines that can be as granular as certain cities. Recruits will have "dealbreakers" in recruiting.  

Recruiting - Customizable recruiting trips for recruits, consequences for hosting massive weekends or hosting a single recruit, etc. Wins/Losses will help or hurt you on the visit. 

Transfer Portal - No tampering, will work similar to recruiting but only be in offseason, but portal recruits will remember if you recruited them out of high school. Service academies will be able to take transfers even though they cant in real life. 

Players staying - Coaches will have to persuade players to stay at the end of the season based on going pro or transferring. 

Importing - No college football 25 draft classes can be imported into Madden due to players having different licenses for college and pro football. 

Team Builder - Will be in the game, but not many details yet.

Edited May 29 by Vertigo

[Chooky 13307]

Delightful that I haven't heard a word about ultimate team stuff. I consider that a good sign. 

[Vertigo 20276]

20 minutes ago, Chooky said:

Passing meter thing sounds like something that will suck at first until you get used to it. 

I don't really know what "30% faster than Madden gameplay" means, but it sounds almost chaotic. And it doesn't make much sense considering the main thing you hear about the most difficult aspect of acclimating from college to the NFL is game speed.

They were saying the game plays faster because of the wide open offenses and the difference in speed/ability between star players and lower tier guys. I heard someone say it would be more chunk plays instead of plodding down the field like Madden all the time since players are more equally matched athletically in the NFL. An example would be Jalen Milroe versus Tennessee Chattanooga. It will be easier for him to get outside the tackles and scramble, and it will be harder to get him down once he gets there for their defense. 

Edited May 29 by Vertigo

[Vertigo 20276]

4 minutes ago, Chooky said:

Delightful that I haven't heard a word about ultimate team stuff. I consider that a good sign. 

Oh it will be there, they just havent talked about it. 

[Vic Mackey 47012]

And being EA, fans will be less happy with every following offering in the franchise. 

Yep. The nostalgia will wear off and they will realize EA is lazy as shit with their football games because they have a monopoly. This first offering will be as good as it gets and I'm sure zero improvements will be made as time goes on.

[Brothahorn 10087]

Everything I learned about EA Sports’ College Football 25 after two hours of gameplay

Spoiler

ORLANDO, Fla. — Broadly, there are two kinds of college football video game players: those who drifted away from gaming when the NCAA Football franchise went away and those that have continued to play Madden for their up-to-date football video game fix. I played every NCAA Football and Madden from 2002 to 2014, then got out of gaming after college.

Last week at EA Sports’ office in Orlando, I was back at the controls as part of a small group of reporters and YouTube creators invited to tour the studio, meet the developers, test the game and get a rundown of what to expect in all the other game modes for both Madden and College Football 25. After 11 years away, the college football game is coming back this July, and the people who make the game emphasized that this game is for all of FBS college football. Playing the game makes that very clear.

In the years since the game’s production was halted by fears of further litigation over the NCAA’s name, image and likeness restrictions, I did not play College Football Revamped, the online modern update of NCAA 14, but EA did hire people from that team to work on this game. I have periodically played the recent Madden games and consulted with my gaming friends on their feelings and concerns about modern gameplay coming into this.

To cut to the chase and get to what they and everyone else really want to know: Playing College Football 25 was very fun. We weren’t allowed to take photos or video of gameplay because the game is not yet finished. We couldn’t test Dynasty mode or other modes. A few bugs popped up during games, which we flagged for developers. That’s normal. Although teams and players had ratings, we were told the ratings process hadn’t been completed, and because the numbers I saw may not match the ratings when the game is released in July, I won’t share them here.

The College Football 25 event included a three-hour period for gameplay and interviews, so I played about two hours of game action on the PS5. The refrain I heard several times from people in the building last week was, “Every team is someone’s favorite team.” I didn’t play more than a quarter with any one team because I wanted to experience as many different environments and playbooks as possible. The event offered so much information about College Football 25 that we’ve split this up into multiple stories and will have more to come after today. You can read about Dynasty mode and EA’s approach to NIL here.

As for playing the game mode, here’s what I learned over two hours.

The in-game playing experience is incredibly smooth and realistic

The first team I pulled up was Virginia Tech because I wanted to experience the Hokies’ “Enter Sandman” entrance. Unfortunately, “Enter Sandman” is not in the game — licensing Metallica songs is really expensive. It has been replaced by a generic rock theme that sounds somewhat familiar. So that was a disappointment. (“Jump Around” is also not played in games at Camp Randall Stadium, for similar reasons.) But the feeling quickly dissipated when I began playing the actual game.

If you take one thing away from reading this, it’s that running the ball is actually fun. The blocking AI is really well done, and players are rewarded for hitting the hole. The game has new physics-based tackling, based on where and how hard a hit is made, that looks much more realistic than Madden 24. Breaking tackles or falling forward through them becomes more likely if you follow blockers correctly.

The flip side is that playing defense is tougher. If you’re one of those people like me who used to just use the Hit Stick when your defender was close to a ball carrier, that won’t cut it anymore. For advanced players, the right joystick helps you switch between defensive players more quickly, which helps in the secondary and in some situations where close control of two players is necessary.

This is where 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.

The passing game is revamped, as is kicking

As the quarterback, the ability to layer the football is the key. When you throw the ball, a meter appears above the receiver, similar to an option in Madden 24. Obviously, tapping or holding a button creates the difference between a floater and a rocket, but holding the button as long as you can to the end of the meter can impact the throw’s accuracy.

The same goes for kicking. The new meter has a ball rock left and right; you click and hold to get the accuracy, and then the power meter goes up the arrow. If you hold it to the very top into the red, the accuracy can take a hit. While I was playing as Penn State, Ohio State doinked a kick, so there is real downside. (I couldn’t tell whether there was a “doink” sound because of the noise in the room).

The playbooks have always differentiated college football games from Madden, and that’s the case again. College Football 25 has 134 different playbooks, part of 10 different offensive styles. I committed many delay of game penalties just looking through the playbooks. There are different menus for plays, ranging from coach suggestions to formations to concepts and more. The play menu design is essentially the same as Madden 24.

I spent a good 20 minutes with Wake Forest to test the Demon Deacons’ RPO slow-mesh offense. The RPO options include four different kinds of plays: read, peek, alert and glance. You can choose to throw a quick pass instead of hand off, but you have to do it quickly, or else you’ll be hit with an illegal man downfield penalty. That happened to me several times. I didn’t find any actual slow mesh plays, but a developer said they should be in the final game.

I also spent some time with Air Force to test the triple-option. One change in the option and RPO plays is that you tap a button to pull the ball as the quarterback, rather than pressing a button to hand it off like in the past. That was an adjustment. There are also two options on pitches: Similar to throwing the ball downfield, you can tap LB for a quick pitch or hold it for a stronger pitch.

The pre-snap options are deep

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.

And yes, there are custom playbooks and custom audibles. There’s also a two-minute warning, which will be new to college football this fall. Stadium Pulse is also back, and you can feel the loudest stadiums in the vibrating controller. As in the past, the play art on the field could be difficult to read, and audibles and hot routes may not work, depending on the crowd.

The experiences of playing as the game’s best players and as its worst players are very different. For those gamers coming back from the old NCAA games, linebackers can’t jump sky-high for interceptions and easily run with slot receivers anymore. (The defensive AI still drops easy interceptions from time to time as in the old games.)

To answer the question everyone asks me, is the gameplay just like Madden? Yes and no. I’m not allowed yet to speak on Madden 25, which is built on the same engine (as is normal). But the gameplay in College Football 25 is extremely smooth, and there are differences between the games, such as the playbooks, the kicking meter, player attributes, Stadium Pulse and more.

The sounds and visuals are what really stand out

The pageantry and the environments are what really separate college football from every other sport, and the video game reflects that.

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 game took so long to make because it had to be created from scratch.

The average team has four helmets, three jerseys and three pants. Some have 20-plus options (hello, Oregon). 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. Here, it’s used to scan cleats, gloves, helmets, jerseys and more, down to the tiniest detail. While NFL players have mostly the same equipment, college football has different apparel companies with unique designs. Those differences are noticeable in this game.

I’ve been asked whether helmets can be knocked off from a big hit. They cannot. Along those lines, the game does not have targeting penalties — controlling head placement is difficult to develop, and EA figured fans would just be annoyed about the rule like they are in real life.

The crowds are also unique. 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. As for in-progress renovated stadiums, Vanderbilt is shown post-renovation, but Northwestern still plays at Ryan Field. Kansas’ stadium will be pre-renovation at game launch.

Penn State has the White Out. Tennessee has the checkerboard. Boise State has the Stripe Out. Even the Texas A&M red, white and blue crowd after 9/11 is in the game — I’m not sure how that one activates, but special crowd colors will happen for the biggest games in Dynasty mode. We were told some teams have called EA Sports to let them know of crowd blackout plans later this season to be included in the game.

We saw the turnover chainsaw at Oregon State and the waterfalls at Arkansas State. EA Sports showed how it motion-captured players with the trophies, which included making wooden versions of trophies for virtual mo-cap players to hold. To simulate ripping through a sign, mo-cap players pushed through pool noodles. For Bevo, Ralphie and the dog mascots, an EA staff member pretended to be the animal positioned around mo-capped virtual players.

What makes this game feel as real as anything is the sound. You really notice it when music kicks in after the opening kickoff. While “Enter Sandman” is not in the game, “Zombie Nation,” “Sandstorm,” “Tsunami” and “Mo Bamba” are. We see the Army Corps of Cadets jump up and down for “Tsunami” before kickoff, something the TV broadcast rarely shows. Beaver Stadium plays “Zombie Nation” after Penn State touchdowns. 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. And yes, I saw sheet music for an instrumental version of “Neck.”

Chris Fowler was on hand in Orlando to talk about his commentating for the game, and it was clear he’s still quite upset that ESPN blocked him from being in the game in the past. ESPN itself is not in this game as a brand, but its commentators are. There is no ESPN logo on the score bug, which has been relocated to the bottom of the screen. There is no “College GameDay”. Because I was focused on so many other parts of the game, the lack of ESPN was not something I even noticed; it still sounds like college football with Fowler/Kirk Herbstreit and Rece Davis/Jesse Palmer/David Pollack on the call.

Several camera options can be flipped through quickly with the arrow pad. Most sit at different height levels behind the quarterback, but a broadcast-ish option from the side of the field is available.

What’s not in the gameplay

Mascot mode is not in the game, to answer a question I got a lot. Players do not have X-Factors like in past Madden games. Online Dynasty mode cannot be played across consoles, but that and Mascot mode could come in future games.

You will not be able to edit the attributes of real-life players in the rosters. You can edit created players, but there supposedly will be blocks to keep you from making a player like Arch Manning, who did not opt into the game. In recent days, a handful of starting players have tweeted that they’d like to be in the game and don’t know how to opt in. I don’t know if or when they will get updated.

We did not get any more details on Ultimate Team and college football legends who could be in it, nor was there more information about Team Builder, which allows gamers to create schools. But both features will be in the game.

Did you get all of that? I took 10 pages of notes over two days, hoping to answer as many of your questions as possible. People crave every morsel of news about this game.

There will be player updates throughout the real season as EA sends out patches. If a freshman breaks out, EA will be able to update the rosters to reflect that. The dream for future games is that if a new trick play happens on a Saturday, EA may be able to push it out a few days later.

While most sports video games are just updates from the year before, College Football 25 is a completely new game. Pretty much nothing from NCAA 14 could carry over, and the final edition of NCAA is now two console generations behind (College Football 25 will only be available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S). The entire process of building this game will have taken more than four years, but it creates the foundation moving forward.

It was a surreal experience to play a new college football video game again. It’s really coming back. Do not consider this an official review. That will come closer to launch. This is my attempt to give you as much information as possible based on my limited time. I still want to actually play Dynasty mode and Road to Glory. There may be parts of the new game you and I don’t like. There are just so many things with this game I need to jump back into, and my two-ish hours of gameplay were just a small window.

It’s been a long 11 years, but the wait is almost over.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5523815/2024/05/29/ea-sports-college-football-25-video-game-features/

[CashMcCoy 3199]

2 hours ago, Chooky said:

I don't really know what "30% faster than Madden gameplay" means

I don’t think it has anything to do with the speed difference in the actual NFL vs college, and more so that the players in Madden 24 just feel so damn slow/unathletic.

[NOOBSDUDE 588]

I will spend a a couple of weeks getting a feel for the game agains. That leaves plenty of time for y’all to prepare thy anus.

[BurntOrange&White 39930]

9 hours ago, CashMcCoy said:

I don’t think it has anything to do with the speed difference in the actual NFL vs college, and more so that the players in Madden 24 just feel so damn slow/unathletic.

Madden plays like a simulation instead of an arcade style game. If NCAA is more arcade feeling that will be really good because Madden is sluggish as hell and even a 99 speed player feels slow.

[TexArcher 37767]

8 hours ago, NOOBSDUDE said:

I will spend a a couple of weeks getting a feel for the game agains. That leaves plenty of time for y’all to prepare thy anus.

 

 

[n64ra 1081]

18 hours ago, Vertigo said:

Some things I didn't like

- NIL is not in Dynasty mode in the true sense because it is changing too fast right now. Instead they have abstracted it into a team brand score which can sway recruiting, which substitutes for NIL. 

- Lack of cross platform online dynasty is a bummer, as is lack of ESPN branding

- Texas A&M will be in the game

This was almost enough for me to not buy the game, but then I read you can customize conferences. First order of business is I'm sticking aggy in the Sun Belt where they belong.

[TexEx15 17509]

[Foosters 17840]

[Helobious 9450]

17 hours ago, Vertigo said:

I would imagine you just hold and release, the longer you hold the harder you throw. It shouldnt be too hard.

Probably like how it was in NCAA14. Tap button to lob, press hard to zip. Use joystick to guide ball placement. 

[TotallyLegit 3053]

18 hours ago, Vertigo said:

I would imagine you just hold and release, the longer you hold the harder you throw. It shouldnt be too hard.

This conversation reminds me of the football game made by Miller Beer using Nintendo Wii hardware that I played at The Library Bar (or maybe Aquarium) on dirty 6th one night. Instead of pressing a button to pick who to throw to, you'd aim the Wii controller at the screen to throw to a spot. All the girls around me wearing Miller clothes told me I was really good. I wish more football games used that mechanic.

Edited May 30 by TotallyLegit

[Huckleberry 32848]

45 minutes ago, TotallyLegit said:

This conversation reminds me of the football game made by Miller Beer using Nintendo Wii hardware that I played at The Library Bar (or maybe Aquarium) on dirty 6th one night. Instead of pressing a button to pick who to throw to, you'd aim the Wii controller at the screen to throw to a spot. All the girls around me wearing Miller clothes told me I was really good. I wish more football games used that mechanic.

Yep this was a tremendous possibility for the Wii that wasn't used on major games. 

[BigHorn'13 3363]

3 hours ago, TotallyLegit said:

All the girls around me wearing Miller clothes told me I was really good.

If coach would've just put me in... State Champs!

[Vertigo 20276]

 

[NCMountaineer 100]

22 hours ago, Vertigo said:

More official stuff from EA today:

Dynasty mode - Up to 30 seasons with up to 32 players at a time. 

Custom conferences - You can't build from scratch, but you can adjust who is in conferences, rebuild the Pac12, kick Baylor out of the B12 for being rapey, etc. 

Non Conference Scheduling - You have some control over your Non Con schedule, but no neutral site games

Coaching - You can start as a HC, OC, or DC. No real coaches in the game

Coaching - Dynasty coach backstories, and you have specific skill trees based on what you chose. You can also hire and fire coordinators.

Redshirting - 4 game redshirt rule will be in the game

Recruiting - Each class has 4000 prospects. You can't create a prospect in this one. You can sign up to 35 players in a season and then "encourage" transfers from existing players. Coaches only have a certain amount of time each week to recruit the portal and high school combined. 

Recruiting - Will have recruiting pipelines that can be as granular as certain cities. Recruits will have "dealbreakers" in recruiting.  

Recruiting - Customizable recruiting trips for recruits, consequences for hosting massive weekends or hosting a single recruit, etc. Wins/Losses will help or hurt you on the visit. 

Transfer Portal - No tampering, will work similar to recruiting but only be in offseason, but portal recruits will remember if you recruited them out of high school. Service academies will be able to take transfers even though they cant in real life. 

Players staying - Coaches will have to persuade players to stay at the end of the season based on going pro or transferring. 

Importing - No college football 25 draft classes can be imported into Madden due to players having different licenses for college and pro football. 

Team Builder - Will be in the game, but not many details yet.

So should I resurrect the program at Vermont, Northeastern, or Pacific for my second dynasty mode game? 

[Chooky 13307]

6 minutes ago, NCMountaineer said:

So should I resurrect the program at Vermont, Northeastern, or Pacific for my second dynasty mode game? 

Guam.