As I admitted back when I reviewed College Football 25, I’m not the biggest sports fan or follower, but that game had many things that hooked it. It had style, smooth controls, and even a great amount of immersive systems in the Road to Glory mode. However, it had a few issues that held it back from reaching a higher score. Still, it was the most memorable sports gaming experience of 2024, hands down. Now, with the announcement of EA Sports College Football 26 and its imminent release in the Summer of 2025, the ball is on the developers’ side, and with a few tweaks, College Football 26 could be the greatest sports game of the year.
Go Short, Not Long
While the announcement of EA Sports College Football 26 is great, I couldn’t help but feel a bit skeptical. See, one of the things that many sports games tend to do is create something entirely new to change the formula a bit. Maybe a wild shift on some modes, maybe a new way to obtain players, you name it. By doing so, some of the systems that worked in previous iterations are sidelined and usually leave many players with a sour taste, which is my biggest worry for College Football 26.
On its own, College Football 25 already had great things. Personally, I thought the Road to Glory mode was one of the best and most fun to play. Plus, it offers a lot of replayability and experimentation. Still, it had a few issues that could’ve made the experience much better, but overall, it was a fantastic mode. I didn’t delve much into the other game modes, but the core gameplay and look of College Football 25 were great. Now, as long as EA Sports takes notes of the previous iteration’s strengths and works to improve them, the next game could be a major success.
If It Succeeded Once, It Can Do it Again
One of the reasons behind the success of College Football 25 was that it finally brought competition to a Madden-centric market. Madden was quite comfortable in its throne, and even if it had some bad things, it was the only proper football game out there. However, College Football has shown it is here to stay and fighting for the crown. As we always say, competition breeds excellence, and having two of them around will only inspire developers to up their game.
Then again, EA Sports College Football 26 has to be careful and not let the excitement behind the recent announcement go up to the team’s head. If it took the lead once, it can do so again easily. Yet, it should be careful not to repeat the same steps as Madden. As long as College Football 26 brings back the systems we loved, tweaks a few of them, and polishes some aspects of 25, we could be looking at yet another hit for the year. Summer is still far away, but these months should be crucial to preparing a new iteration that improves upon everything that College Football 25 did and, hopefully, brings more players to the field.
