General Gaming EA Sports College Football 25 | Out NOW! (Reviews From OpenCritic Posted / 88 Metascore)

[Keyser_Soze]

6 hours ago, Best said:

@Keyser_Soze You try this yet? He might be sleeping. 

 

Nah. I don't need convincing the game is good and then waiting till Friday.

[Biggie]

So apparently the 10 hour EA Play trial does carry over to the full standard version of the game on Friday. I’ll be starting my schools Dynasty tonight and digging deep into recruiting. 

[Paperclyp]

I recommend anyone starting a dynasty do so with the offline option. Not only because the servers are currently on fire, but you can manually save, which you can’t do on the cloud option. It’s also not very good at telling you when it saves in the cloud option (major pet peeve of mine in any game). 

[Keyser_Soze]

Everyone should do a Cornhuskers dynasty to make @Paperclyp proud.

[Best]

lol freshman difficulty is so fuckin easy. I'm absolutely dominating. It's a very fun game but I have to raise the difficulty. 

[Biggie]

35 minutes ago, Best said:

lol freshman difficulty is so fuckin easy. I'm absolutely dominating. It's a very fun game but I have to raise the difficulty. 

Bro come on. You’re Penn State. Raise that shit. 

[Best]

2 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Bro come on. You’re Penn State. Raise that shit. 

 

I will. I'm just not experienced in football games. I now have the controls down so I will definitely raise the difficulty. 

 

What difficulty do you play on?

[Biggie]

Just now, Best said:

 

I will. I'm just not experienced in football games. I now have the controls down so I will definitely raise the difficulty. 

 

What difficulty do you play on?

All-American. Heisman is ridiculous. Atleast for me it is. 

[Paperclyp]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Everyone should do a Cornhuskers dynasty to make @Paperclyp proud.

We are overrated in the game already. 

[Best]

32 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

We are overrated in the game already. 

 

Have you played this yet or are you waiting until Friday?

[Paperclyp]

2 minutes ago, Best said:

 

Have you played this yet or are you waiting until Friday?

I’m playing it. 

[Paperclyp]

My impressions after several full games and a couple of weeks of dynasty: 

 

Pros

- The game plays well. Probably the most important thing. I have not kept up with Madden, so I don't know what is all fresh stuff and what has been around, but it feels good to play. There are some things they will need to balance out, and some minor things I think they need to fix, but generally speaking you have a good time controlling your squad on offense and defense. 

 

- Presentation is great (mostly). Multiple play-call teams. Reece Davis seems to really give a shit about his involvement. The flavor of the different stadiums, commentary about players of the past, fight songs, etc is all there and makes it feel like a super-charged version of the good NCAA games of old. 

 

- They didn't skimp on Dynasty. One of the things that turned me off of the 2K basketball games over the years is those games' focus seemed to go toward their my-player and online competitive stuff. 0 interest in that. The dynasty mode takes me back to what I loved about these games and what kept me playing them. It's got decent recruiting (might get a bit old over time), lots of player movement with the portal, hell even coach movement. I think they're tapping into the right stuff here to keep people playing. 

 

- Game looks pretty good in motion. They react pretty realistically to collisions and the transfer of momentum is pretty good. 

 

Cons 

- even with the mini skills games I think the game leaves a bit to be desired in how to teach you the basics. Took me a while to even figure out kicking / punting. It's a fine line cuz I don't want to be babied through it, but there were some basic things as well as a few more complex things I'd like a little more clarification on in the moment (which they do do some of - like the first time you call an RPO they'll give you the gist. I just think it could be a little bit better). 

 

- The simulation of games outside your control is way out of whack. Top ranked teams getting spanked by nobodies. They're gonna have to tweak some stuff 

 

- They don't seem to have the balance of penalties down. I had like 3 roughing the kickers in one game (wasn't controlling the guy who hit the kicker). I get too many illegal man down field on RPO stuff. I've seen the computer make questionable clock decisions (giving me a free play, then one time they just stood at the line of scrimmage and never hiked the ball lol...it's like it kicked in a random "ok they need a delay here cuz they're in a hostile environment and the crowd is going wild," but the way it played out just looked silly). 

 

- I don't mind server breakdown at a game's launch, but they needed to be more clear on what exactly it meant to tie your single player dynasty to their "cloud" as they call it. Lost a full game's progress because the server just disconnected mid-game, never found out until the game was over, then couldn't get back into that dynasty cuz the servers were too full. Also they don't reveal clearly when the game saves. I really, really hate that shit in any game. Tell me when the last save was. Make it obvious. Don't play with my fucking time. 

 

- We'll have to see how they balance out the computer's strategy. On all american the game seems a LITTLE rubber bandy to me (could be totally my imagination), but also the computer is susceptible to certain plays right now. I don't want to draw too many conclusions from just a little play time, but like I can run 4 HB screens in a row and gain 8-20 yards per pop. 

 

- the coach "customization" options made me literally lol. For apparel you can pick a polo or a long sleeve. The coaching models look like PS3 player models. It's fine, nitpicking. 

 

- more nitpicks: I'm not sure if they're hiding load times, but you can't skip the pregame and halftime stuff. I haven't looked to see if you can just turn it off. I don't to take the onus off myself from learning things about the game, but there's a lot of data on any given play that I'm like OK I have no idea what you're trying to tell me (players will have a green check mark - or not, they'll have dots on them, etc). I'll look through some more of the tutorial stuff to see if that stuff is explained better, so I want to withhold too much criticism there, and again I need to just look that stuff up on my own too, but it would be nice if it was more clearly explained. 

[Paperclyp]

Oh one more unrelated thing: I feel like this game must have caught some of the big name media sites off guard? Or they just don't give a shit? I don't know, it's odd. For all the shit those sites do to try to get hits with stupid takes and mining every damn angle they can from the flavor of the week, sites like IGN and Polygon and Kotaku seem to be on their heels about it. 

 

Maybe they don't have anyone left at those places who feels comfortable taking on sports I guess. 

[Biggie]

NCAA has an update 

[Best]

@Biggie I won a game on the varsity difficulty setting. It was not as easy as freshman but I did notice a change.

[Biggie]

First game.  Georgia Tech vs Florida State.  Down 7-0 but driving right before half time. Threw a pick and they take over at my 21. The very next play my corner jumps the slant route and intercepts it. Runs it back 90 yards for the TD. Tied at half 7-7.  Slug-fest in the second half. I get another pick but can't do anything on offence. Two minutes left and my defensive end strip sacks the QB and causes a fumble. My defensive tackle grabs it and rumbles down to the 10 yard line.  I punch it in taking a 14-10 lead with 1:40 left in the game. They drive to my 44 yard line and with no time left complete a hail mary and win 17-14.  I ain't even mad EA. The gameplay is fucking superb. They finally put some love into making a football game and I love it.

[Biggie]

And then in my second game I was about to get upset my Georgia State but drove the length of the field and threw a TD as time expired to win. 
 

This game is a dream come true for me. I love it. 

[Dawnguard2001]

I got the free trial and haven’t played a EA football game since CFB 2008. Is there some kind of trick for the AI blocking on passing plays? It didn’t matter if I was Michigan, Notre Dame or playing as Ball State in the Dynasty mode. The AI pass blocking was atrocious.

 

Am I missing something to better align my pass blocking? 
 

 

[Biggie]

31 minutes ago, Dawnguard2001 said:

I got the free trial and haven’t played a EA football game since CFB 2008. Is there some kind of trick for the AI blocking on passing plays? It didn’t matter if I was Michigan, Notre Dame or playing as Ball State in the Dynasty mode. The AI pass blocking was atrocious.

 

Am I missing something to better align my pass blocking? 
 

 

Offensive line? What difficulty are you playing on?  

[Biggie]

I’ve played them all and when I say this it isn’t hyperbole. This is the best sports game I’ve ever played. 

[Dawnguard2001]

18 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Offensive line? What difficulty are you playing on?  

Yep the offensive line playing on just varsity level. The blocking for the run game was pretty good, but the pass blocking was rough. I was routinely getting sacked 7 - 9 times a game. 
 

I chalked up the first game as it was Ball State as 2 star school, but when playing as Michigan or Notre Dame again some lesser schools I was still getting the crap kicked out and sacked constantly.

 

 

[Biggie]

5 minutes ago, Dawnguard2001 said:

Yep the offensive line playing on just varsity level. The blocking for the run game was pretty good, but the pass blocking was rough. I was routinely getting sacked 7 - 9 times a game. 
 

I chalked up the first game as it was Ball State as 2 star school, but when playing as Michigan or Notre Dame again some lesser schools I was still getting the crap kicked out and sacked constantly.

 

 

I’m playing on all-American and I haven’t noticed anything wrong with o-line blocking. You have to have that invisible clock in your head. Usually i start with my primary receiver. If he’s covered I start to check down immediately. After about 3 seconds I’m either running with my QB or moving out of the pocket and throwing it away. I’m on Series X. If you hold the R trigger the QB will pull down the ball allowing you to move slightly in the pocket until someone comes open. It’ll buy you some time. Don’t just stand there or your O-line will break down and you’ll become an easy sack for the defense. 

[Keyser_Soze]

College Football 25 Reportedly Pulls in as Many as 700,000 Players in First Day of Early Access Period - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

---

EA Sports is seeing early success with College Football 25, with over 700,000 players online playing the game days before its worldwide release.

 

 

Quote

More interestingly, X/Twitter user @Welfare_JBP posted a screenshot from Walmart that over 1,000 Xbox Series S consoles were bought at Walmart yesterday. At the time of writing, Walmart's listing for the 1TB all-black Series S model shows the same banner: over 1,000 units were bought yesterday, and over 200 people have the console in their shopping cart

 

Yeah, this game selling consoles

[Best]

That's impressive numbers. Well deserved for such a quality football game. 

[Biggie]

I’m so glad I got it for the Series X. Runs so good and the controller is the icing on the cake. 

[Best]

14 minutes ago, Biggie said:

I’m so glad I got it for the Series X. Runs so good and the controller is the icing on the cake. 

 

Are you hearing that it doesn't run well on PS5? 

[Biggie]

2 minutes ago, Best said:

 

Are you hearing that it doesn't run well on PS5? 

No not at all. But the Xbox controller is my preferred way to play sports games 

[Best]

1 minute ago, Biggie said:

No not at all. But the Xbox controller is my preferred way to play sports games 

 

Oh I see. Yea, I really prefer the PS5 controller but I'm in the minority. 

 

 

[Paperclyp]

3 hours ago, Dawnguard2001 said:

Yep the offensive line playing on just varsity level. The blocking for the run game was pretty good, but the pass blocking was rough. I was routinely getting sacked 7 - 9 times a game. 
 

I chalked up the first game as it was Ball State as 2 star school, but when playing as Michigan or Notre Dame again some lesser schools I was still getting the crap kicked out and sacked constantly.

 

 

Would have to see how long you’re holding the ball, play call variety, a few other factors. On varsity level to be honest you should be able to get most passes off without too much difficulty. Is your line falling apart or are they sending blitzs, stuff like that. I like to watch the LB right after the snap to see if pressure is coming. If you see the pocket collapsing, know your safety valve and how to throw the ball away. 

[Biggie]

2 minutes ago, Paperclyp said:

Would have to see how long you’re holding the ball, play call variety, a few other factors. On varsity level to be honest you should be able to get most passes off without too much difficulty. Is your line falling apart or are they sending blitzs, stuff like that. I like to watch the LB right after the snap to see if pressure is coming. If you see the pocket collapsing, know your safety valve and how to throw the ball away. 

I throw underneath a lot. Occasionally I’ll take a shot. 

[Best]

One of my biggest complaints about football games in general is how to make an impact on defense.

 

What do you guys do on defense that makes a difference? Like I usually select a linemen and go for sacks. 

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Paperclyp said:

Would have to see how long you’re holding the ball, play call variety, a few other factors. On varsity level to be honest you should be able to get most passes off without too much difficulty. Is your line falling apart or are they sending blitzs, stuff like that. I like to watch the LB right after the snap to see if pressure is coming. If you see the pocket collapsing, know your safety valve and how to throw the ball away. 

 

Also, would ask are you staying in the pocket or not dropping back too far, or not far enough, etc

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Best said:

One of my biggest complaints about football games in general is how to make an impact on defense.

 

What do you guys do on defense that makes a difference? Like I usually select a linemen and go for sacks. 

 

I generally run formations with man coverage and blitzes. If the linebacker blitzes I control them, or if there is a spy I control the spy (sometimes)

Then when I get ahead then I just run dime formations because I know they're going to pass a lot.

 

This game has the road to glory mode, if you make a defensive player for that mode it could be good practice for defense.

[Paperclyp]

8 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Also, would ask are you staying in the pocket or not dropping back too far, or not far enough, etc

Good point if you run out of the pocket you better be committing to running or have a guy breaking open or be ready to throw it away.

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, Best said:

One of my biggest complaints about football games in general is how to make an impact on defense.

 

What do you guys do on defense that makes a difference? Like I usually select a linemen and go for sacks. 

I’m always the free safety on first and second downs. Keep everything in front of me and let my 10 teammates do the  grunt work.  On third down if it’s an obvious passing down I’ll use the left or right defensive end depending on what side the running back is on. I’ll go opposite of the RB side because usually he is going to help pick up pressure or blitz’s.