Last week on Thursday at around 8pm something I’ve been waiting on for a while finally came to reality. The NCAA football game was back and available to the public.

Despite only playing the 06 game I was very fond of it, the dynasty mode was something I hadn’t experienced before in other sports games and I actually enjoyed the aspect of recruiting prospects. I remember for example Reggie Bush was in the game on the Trojans as RB #5 and not by his name, this was the case for every player in the game. Eventually they decided to no longer make the game and the gaming franchise had an abrupt end 10 years ago in 2014 due to legal issues involving players likeness. Thanks to the NIL which allows collegiate athletes to get paid of their image and likeness the game can be made again without any legal issues and with proper names for the corresponding athletes.

In many ways the new NCAA 25 is very similar but it actually has the players likeness. I’m not sure why but my first day playing the game I choose varsity hardness and every game I played (won them all) came down to a last minute score, one game even going to triple overtime. So I enjoy the challenge and hardness I selected but the game is still very much the same as before. In fact this game has no soundtrack only drum lines which you may hear in a college game but can get a bit annoying when you’re in the pre game lobby just messing around recruiting. I do wish they had spent the money to license some songs for the game because more than almost anything else that’s what I remember from the 06 game. Also in the 06 ncaa game you could create a school to start a dynasty with and while that feature is still available in NCAA25 you will have to first go to their team builder website which requires you to sign up for an account as well as a few other extra steps, so I won’t be doing that sadly. That said I have enjoyed the game and will continue to play it even now as I go for my 2nd back to back national championship in franchise mode.

Overall rating 8.5 (fun, good challenging game but lacks heavily in soundtrack and any true innovation to the sports game formula)