This game has so many issues that I don’t know where to even begin… But let’s start with the tutorials… Which you don’t even have. You have to scan aQR code and go watch a video. You don’t even get to play through it yourself so you can understand what it actually means. Nothing “actual game play” is really explained either. I’ve always hated Madden and how it played in comparison to NCAA back in the day and now College Football 25 is just the college version of Madden. My favorite part of the game dating back over a decade ago now, was playing with my friends through a dynasty. We’d pick the trashiest teams, and try to take them the the National Championship. Recruiting, playing ranked teams, and grinding our way to the top. Now, it seems the team rating system is completely arbitrary. The tough teams were the ones you either played at their place and had a tough atmosphere, or they were rated way better than you and you had to play smart. Teams that were rated worse than you could put up a fight, but it was never a guaranteed loss for you. It’s like the game is completely pitted against you now, and not just an objective observer. You start to win big, your defense then completely falls apart all its own. You get the momentum on a big drive downfield, your receivers stop running their routes and watch DB’s, Linebackers, AND EVEN DEFENSIVE LINEMAN, jump their routes and pick it off. They just STOP AND WATCH THINGS UNFOLD. It’s crazy. I played D3 football. Not a brag. It’s nothing compared to D1 as far as skill, athletic ability, top tiered coaching. But as a D3 wide receiver, the thing drilled into my head more than anything else every single day was, NEVER GIVE UP YOUR POSITION. Wide receivers become DB’s when the ball is in the air and it’s not where they can catch it. They do not watch the worst unfold like they are completely unaffected by it. They do not let anyone just jump in front of them and take their ball. They are taught to go get it. Get to the highest point and catch it, go out to meet the ball and don’t wait on it. Don’t drift lazily backwards and wait for it to come to you. It’s absolutely maddening, pun intended, to watch that be what every single receiver does in this game. The exact opposite of what they are actually taught to do, especially at that level. I’m not saying it never happens, but I am saying that it is certainly not the standard. If any receiver does that consistently, you don’t see them play for very long. Or possibly even touch the field again.
