EA 25 College Football
I always tell people, “You can show me something better than you can tell me.”
Using that same logic as I evaluate EA’s upcoming College Football 25, it’s clear that delivering a deep and immersive Dynasty Mode was essential to the developer’s mission for the rebooted series.
The declaration has been made, whatever happens in the next six months. However, there is one aspect of the game that still does not seem clear.
On Tuesday, EA published an 85-page blog explaining Mass Mode, and honestly, it would be nearly impossible for me to cover everything the blog discusses.
If you’re on a plane for the next four hours and are looking for some reading material, you can read it all. here.
Even if you’re not going to read the entire blog, you can get a sense of just how deep Dynasty Mode will be in College Football 25 by watching the six-plus minute trailer released simultaneously with the blog.
Rather than trying to repeat the blog, I’ll focus on some key points and concepts related to the most significant areas of the reveal. I’ll also point out the area of the game that still needs further explanation.
32 users for 30 seasons
Dynasty mode can be played online with up to 32 people, and that group can play 30 seasons together. I don’t know if a large group can last that long, but it’s nice to have that option.
If you and your friends can play five or six seasons together, you’ll create an experience you’ll remember for years to come. There will be fictional players who take on a life of their own.
I say this because I’ve had similar experiences with other sports games. Thanks to the depth of College Football 25’s Dynasty mode, this experience could possibly be the best version of an online franchise mode we’ve ever seen.
12-team college football playoffs
College football is introducing the new 12-team playoff system in real life. However, fans who pick up EA’s game will have the chance to play with the future of the real sport on their PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
I expect to see a lot of season simulations, with users sharing the teams that won the national championship dozens of times before the actual college football season begins.
Recruitment and transfer portal
If you played college football, you probably remember how good the recruiting system was in that game. I did a lot of stuff with the recruiting system over a decade ago, but what College Football 25 offers is miles ahead of what we had before.
More player tags add layers to the recruiting process. I expect to see some level of on-screen effects when you move up to a recruit’s top three schools.
Something similar to the effects you see when you draw a key card in Ultimate Team would be a great reward for convincing a recruit to choose your school.
The transfer portal didn’t exist in 2013. In 2024, it has become the free agency market in college sports.
In College Football 25, this aspect of team management works very similarly to free agency, but drafting high school players is still the best way to build a great team.
While I played four full games of College Football 25 during a preview, I didn’t get a chance to use the drafting engine.
Aside from the section below, this is the part of the game I’m most looking forward to playing on launch day.
Personalization
While I’m pretty excited about all aspects of College Football 25, I’m starting to care more about the game’s customization with each new reveal.
I’m aware that EA had to cut back on some of the customization options in the older NCAA football games. That customization partly led to the game’s absence for over 10 years.
While I accept the concept of limitations for the return of college football, how bad is it?
The section on the long-awaited Team Builder was minuscule considering the amount of words written about Dynasty mode in general. I could put the whole section here and it wouldn’t make my post too long.
EA wrote this about TeamBuilder on the blog:
“TeamBuilder is back! You can import up to 16 TeamBuilder teams into a private online dynasty. The commissioner must replace the existing FBS schools with the TeamBuilder teams they wish to add when setting up the dynasty. Including TeamBuilder schools is only available at league creation and can only be used in private online dynasties, so make sure your commissioner knows which school you want to use when starting the online dynasty.”
The brevity of this section and the limitation to just 16 TeamBuilder teams is concerning. In most cases, 16 would be more than enough, but considering that the level of customization for all schools and players will be limited, the number seems a little small.
Adding teams via TeamBuilder is also not allowed once you have started your Dynast mode.
It may not be as big of an issue as it seems, but we really need to know how much freedom we’ll have with editing players and recruits. It’s an important part of the experience for many of us, and there are still a lot of unanswered questions.