College Football 25 Review Roundup

Here's what the critics are saying about EA's first new college football game in 10 years.

By Eddie Makuch on July 19, 2024 at 11:19AM PDT

After more than a decade away, EA's college football series returns with EA Sports College Football 25. The game was initially released on July 15 in early access but is out now for everyone.

After so many years away, many might be wondering if the wait has indeed been worth it. In this post, we're rounding up review scores and excerpts to help you decide if the game may be worth your time and money.

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Now Playing: EA Sports College Football 25 | Official Gameplay First Look Trailer

If you're curious but don't necessarily want to buy the game right away, EA Play subscribers have access to a 10-hour trial right now; Game Pass Ultimate members have this benefit as well since the membership includes EA Play.

College Football 25 is already doing well, as the game reached 2.2 million unique players during the early-access window, while another 600,000 people have tried the EA Play trial.

EA's last college football game before this was 2013's NCAA Football 14. EA and the NCAA broke off their partnership due to a variety of reasons, including legal problems and lawsuits. Instead, EA brokered separate licensing deals to feature all 134 FBS schools in College Football 25. And in a major change, EA is paying athletes to be in the game as part of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals.

College Football 25 is available on console for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but not last-gen consoles, PC, or Nintendo Switch.

If you're just getting started with College Football 25, you may want to check out GameSpot's College Football 25 launch guide.

You can see a sampling of review scores for College Football 25 below. For more on the critical reaction, be sure to visit GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

College Football 25

• Game: College Football 25
• Platform: PS5, Xbox Series X|S
• Developer: EA Sports
• Release Date: July 19
• Price: $70 for standard edition
  • $100 for deluxe;
  • or $150 for MVP bundle that also includes Madden NFL 25 when it releases in August.

  IGN - Review-in-progress; no score yet

  "College Football 25’s presentation is light-years beyond what developer EA Orlando has been doing with Madden. You can see sweat on individual players, the lighting is exceptional, and everything pops visually in a way that Madden just doesn’t. There’s also just a lot more stuff to enjoy, from the unique intros for each team as they take the field to mascots dancing around when their school pulls off a big play." -- Will Borger [Full review]

  Forbes -- 8.5/10

  "When I heard EA was bringing college football back, I was fully prepared to play a game of Madden with college uniforms. In all honesty, I would have played it and been mildly satisfied. EA delivered a much deeper experience that easily carves its own identity in every way possible. Once EA learns its way around the restrictions of the NIL situation, the series will go to an even higher level." -- Brian Mazique [Full review]

  Polygon - No score

  It’s a testament to what is possible with sports games when teams have longer than a few months to crank out AAA titles. And if this is the foundation for future college football games, then the series is in a very, very good place." -- Matt Brown [Full review]

  GamesRadar -- 4.5/5

  "From nowhere, it's suddenly the sports game that all others have to beat." -- Ben Wilson [Full review]

  Hardcore Gamer -- 4.5/5

  "EA put all of its chips into College Football 25, and it truly paid off. People are buying consoles just to play this game. It's a cultural phenomenon and the experience that's provided isn't replicated anywhere else. All the new additions to help make the game stand out including Wear and Tear, Turbo Mode, different coverage shells and added hot routes for pre-play, and basically everything added isn't just a gimmick, it's a substantial change. While some bugs and logic need to be addressed, College Football 25 is undoubtedly the most fun football game to come out in years. Everything College Football is here." -- Cory Wells [Full review]