![College Football 25]()
It was only a couple weeks ago when EA Sports dropped
the trailer for College Football 25, but that was a mere taste of what was to come for the long-awaited return of the NCAA gridiron video game franchise. Now that the July 19 release date is drawing nearer, we're getting treated to even more gameplay footage.
Friday marked the release of a "gameplay deep dive" featurette, where broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit walks gamers through all the prominent new features in the game.
https://twitter.com/EASPORTSCollege/status/1796557498515681322
One major criticism of the
Madden franchise is its lack of innovation and changes throughout the years. Although college football has been absent from the sports gaming landscape for a number of years, the long wait looks to be well worth it based on the myriad enhancements developers have brought to the screen.
At the center of
College Football 25's upgrades is a trademarked technology known as "Campus IQ." Under this umbrella are a variety of cutting-edge features. Herbstreit first outlines the "Wear and Tear" element that's meant to realistically simulate fatigue, stamina, and durability that factors heavily into the fourth quarter of real games.
From there, Herbstreit goes deeper on player abilities. There's a graphic of all kinds of sophisticated attributes that are designed to separate and elevate the nation's best players from the rest of the pack. Married to that is the concept of home-field advantage. You can see on-screen displays of just how loud the crowd is, and that impacts players who are less experienced or have inferior levels of composure as part of their overall ratings. I guess this stadium meter was a thing back in the day, though?
https://twitter.com/bordeauxyoutube/status/1796557828653801585
Then, we get to the "Unique Playbooks" element of
College Football 25. The older games did a pretty good job of this. For instance, it's not a novel concept to see Air Force operating a run-heavy, triple-option attack. What separates this game from the previous iterations is the level of nuance and detail. Herbstreit alludes to how everything from the wider splits at Oklahoma to the pro-style run game schemes at Michigan are accounted for.
https://twitter.com/bordeauxyoutube/status/1796557963999527352
On top of all that, the graphics are obviously a lot better. While there isn't much difference from the view at the line of scrimmage, the close-up shots of players celebrating, alternate camera angles, and basically anything not to do with the on-field matchup itself are eerily lifelike. With all the advancements in AI expected in the coming years, it won't be long before these virtual players look truly hyper-realistic.
I've only begun to touch on all the cool concepts. It seems like the gaming community generally agrees with my glowing review of what we've seen thus far from
College Football 25. I might even have to buy a new console just to be able to play it.
https://twitter.com/Tiger__Vibes/status/1796558173618540801
https://twitter.com/DKSportsbook/status/1796559672390156651
https://twitter.com/YouUglyToo/status/1796557864519033074
https://twitter.com/TNDTweets/status/1796558062968512662
https://twitter.com/PeteBlackburn/status/1796566183984214099
https://twitter.com/NotTheExpertYT/status/1796563317739389238
https://twitter.com/CFBRep/status/1796569888338899016
