By Eddie Lopez
This Monday, college football fans, sports video game enthusiasts and athletes alike rejoiced as the long-awaited College Football 25 video game made its triumphant return to consoles.
The word “rejoiced” might even be considered an understatement as the game peaked at over 700,000 online players at launch according to ign.com. This number is even more impressive when you consider the fact that the game was released to those who preordered the $100 deluxe edition or the $150 MVP bundle.
Public Reaction
The love for the game can even be felt in Westchester.
“I waited two hours just staring at my screen. That’s short compared to the decade I've had to wait for the game. This is by far the best football video game ever made,” said rising senior Frank Rodriguez when asked about what it meant to have the game back.
Collegiate football players were sent into a frenzy as well seeing themselves be put in the game.
“Dreams really come true man,” said Notre Dame Safety Jordan Clark on X after seeing himself get an interception in the game.
Colorado Quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way standout Travis Hunter joined in on the fun by playing against each other live on EA sports’ social media platforms.
The two shared a laugh after Travis Hunter threw a game losing interception to none other than himself.
Why the excitement?
This pent up excitement can all be attributed to the 11 year hiatus sparked by the 2013 lawsuit between EA and multiple collegiate athletes at the time regarding issues with the players not being paid for the use of their name, image and likeness rights or NIL. Thanks to the recent turn of events in the realm of NIL, EA was able to push the envelope and bring the fan favorite franchise back to eagerly waiting fans.
“I knew this game was going to blow up, it’s gonna be one of the biggest console games of the year just taking the hype into account alone, not even if the game is good or not,” said rising senior Samuel Villavicencio
What’s New?
Despite worry from many fans that the game would be a Madden ‘reskin’ and very similar to the gameplay of the previous installments of the Madden franchise, the game was far from it and delivered as its fast paced gameplay style was very reminiscent to that of the previous NCAA football video games that fans so much enjoyed.
The game, under the title of College Football 25, promised players an even more immersive experience by incorporating real sights and sounds from schools all across the country. Fans of prestigious schools such as Penn State, Florida State and Oklahoma got to enjoy some of their long running traditions and pageantry like the Whiteout game, Tomahawk chop and the Sooner Schooner. The developers even went the extra mile making sure that fans of smaller conference schools like FIU and Kennesaw State were well represented by having their fight song and home stadiums accurately depicted throughout the gameplay.
On the topic of gameplay, College Football 25 offers an experience that caters to both the casual and hardcore gamers. Developers made sure they brought back four iconic game modes of Dynasty, Road To Glory Ultimate Team and Online head to head.
For the fans of a more casual experience, the Dynasty game mode allows players to take command of teams as established as Alabama or as small as Eastern Michigan and build from the ground up as a budding head coach recruiting promising young talent. Road To Glory focuses on the other side of the game as players can choose to start off as low as a two star or as big as a five star fighting for a spot to compete for a national championship. Online game modes such as Ultimate Team and Online Head to Head allow for the more competitive player to test their skill with teams made up of Both current and former college football stars.
Dynasty, however, appears to be the most appealing to students.
“I was most excited about the dynasty mode because I get to rebuild a lot of lesser known schools and take them to the natty,” said Rodriguez
“I’ve always done online franchises on Madden with my friends, so to be able to do it in this game with the dynasty mode means a lot to me,” said Villavicencio
The Gift that keeps on giving
The good news didn’t just stop at the game's early access release.
EA released a statement Thursday night on their website ea.com, regarding the highly anticipated ‘Team Builder’ mode which allows players to create their own school.
“Did you think that we forgot about Team Builder? The most important thing to know is Team Builder for College Football 25 will arrive later TONIGHT on web!”
The game was fully released on Friday, July 19 to those who pre ordered the regular edition.
Columbus remains well represented in the collegiate sports realm as you can jump into a game with CCHS alumni such as Fernando and Alberto Mendoza, Gus McGee and TJ Capers.
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