EA SPORTS College Football 25 is the long-awaited return of college football video games. EA SPORTS delivered an incredibly authentic experience that really puts players in the shoes of their favorite teams and players. Part of what makes the experience so great is CampusIQ, a suite of features designed to bring the unique world of college football to life. CampusIQ is broken up into four main categories that players will need to understand to fully grasp how it impacts the game.
Wide Open, Fast Paced Gameplay
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but it is arguably the most important. What makes college football so special is that it is significantly faster and more exciting than the NFL. EA SPORTS College Football 25 uses a wide range of player and team ratings to make the gameplay feel as different as it does in real life. Faster players can zip right past slower ones, so those ratings really do matter.
The new passing mechanic also helps with making the gameplay more wide open. Players have an unprecedented level of control over where they place their passes and how hard or soft they throw the ball. Combined with the college playbooks, this makes it easier to make the highlight plays that fans get to see every Saturday.
Wear & Tear
One of the new mechanics in EA SPORTS College Football 25 is the new Wear & Tear system. Simply put, the more players get hit the more they wear down. Running it up the gut with the same player over and over again will wear him down, decreasing statistics and increasing the risk of injury. This system forces players to watch the health of their players, rotating in backups or calling plays specifically to avoid tiring out players. It adds a level of strategy to gameplay that other football games do not have.
Pre-Snap Recognition
Playing on offense in EA SPORTS College Football 25 is not as simple as just snapping the ball and scoring points. Pre-snap recognition has always existed in football games, but the difficulty and realism are ratcheted up a notch here. Pre-snap options to change how the offensive line blocks or which blitzing linebacker to pick up give a much more in-depth level of control.
With that, however, comes a new level of difficulty. Reading defenses is not easy in real life, and that is replicated here. Defenses can do all sorts of things to disguise blitzes and coverage in order to trick players into making certain offensive shifts. This is what really makes EA SPORTS College Football 25 challenging but in a very realistic way.
Homefield Advantage
Playing at home matters, and the more you win the harder it is for opponents to come to your house and beat you. Loud crowds cause all sorts of distractions like the screen shaking, play art being mixed up, or player icons missing. Going into a White Out at Happy Valley is hard enough, but homefield advantage makes it so much more challenging.
Player and team skills can be updated to give more composure in tough circumstances. Older players tend to be less affected by this as well. Still, playing in some of the toughest places in college football can be unnerving for even the most experienced players. It makes upsets that much harder, but so much more enjoyable.
There you have it, CampusIQ in a nutshell. Grasping these changes and how they make EA SPORTS College Football 25 more realistic is vital in order to master the game and take your team or player to glory.
EA SPORTS College Football 25 is out now on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.