Wednesday, August 21, 2024

EA College Football 25

I've played about ten exhibition games at this point, including a few against Eli 23.0, and here are some general impressions. I'm waiting on Dynasty mode until they release one more content patch (around the 27th), which should update rosters and fix a few issues.

First off, I'm surprised, because many things in this game are done very well. 

The atmosphere is top-notch. The stadium entrances for teams are usually accurate (based on a sample of about 15 teams) and they're outstanding. Fight songs are accurate. There's plenty of detail, even down to showing accurate hand gestures from fans (for instance, Texas Tech and Hawaii). The stadiums are accurate too, in the vast majority of cases. All in all, it's very impressive.

The presentation is improved from Madden because it's not nearly as bulky. Madden is so weighed down by cut scene after cut scene between plays, and they show the coaches constantly (which drives me insane). So far, I haven't seen one coach so far, which is a huge pleasure. Oh, and another bit of authenticity: accurate crowd chants for the teams I've seen so far.

All they needed to do was not f*ck up the gameplay, and they didn't. It's fast and smooth, and so many little improvements have been made, like receivers and cornerbacks turning to look for the ball, as well as excellent and varied catch animations. 

It's much more fun than I expected. 

I haven't started a Dynasty, as I mentioned, but I'm looking forward to one feature in particular: the ability to set up a relegation structure with multiple tiers. Conferences mean almost nothing in college football now, anyway, so having a fictional structure that promotes and relegates teams at the end of each season is fantastic. I'm looking forward to seeing it progress through multiple seasons.

In short: it doesn't suck, and it's quite good in many ways. Which is more than we could ever expect from an EA game.

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