EA Sports College Football 26 Review – Homefield Advantage

As someone who took a hiatus from football games (that’s gridiron to folks in Europe) after EA said adios to its NCAA series in 2014, I was anxiously looking forward to its return last year. In the past, I placed Madden and NCAA Football on equal footing—NCAA had the fun pageantry, while Madden offered deeper systems. But ever since College Football 25, I’ve preferred the NCAA experience over NFL.

Now with College Football 26, that’s especially true. You just can’t beat having 136 lavishly detailed stadiums accompanied by their marching band fight songs. But I’ve always liked the presentation of NCAA more than Madden; what’s tipped the scales this time around are the added immersive features.

One thing I appreciate about EA’s catalog of recent sports games is their insistence on customization. Want pure immersion? Turn up the clock to 15-minute quarters, wear and tear on, and simulated injuries (or just put it on Heisman difficulty). Want an arcadey experience? Well, turn pass slowdown on and manually adjust the hundreds of different gameplay sliders. The Even Teams setting adds a bit of competitive fairness to the playing field by equalizing player stats across the board, eliminating ratings and RPG mechanics entirely, if that is desired. The options are endless for how you want to experience gameday.

"The Even Teams setting adds a bit of competitive fairness to the playing field by equalizing player stats across the board, eliminating ratings and RPG mechanics entirely, if that is desired."

But back to immersion. The player movement and physics feel realistic, yet fair. Playing defense is more viable than in previous EA games thanks to the enhanced tackle variety. You still have your hit stick, bull rush, dive tackles, and ball strip options, but the directional physics add a extra layer of engagement to tackling.

For example, the enhanced animations make it easier to notice when a runningback is protecting the ball or just trucking forward, allowing you to make split-second decision to strip the ball or bull rush. It’s just easier to see what players are doing when each body part is this well-animated—though, of course, it’s not perfect. The realistic physics make it more likely for players to trip and get caught up in heavy traffic, which can result in some funky plays.

On one end zone play, I threw the ball to an open receiver near the left post. He should have caught it, but instead tipped it with a tiny bit of his shoulder pad (which didn’t technically touch the ball, but it counted as the hitbox anyway), causing the ball to float awkwardly atop groups of linebackers only to finally get intercepted. So, yeah, there’s some shoddy hit detection at times, partly due to the complex player movements and physics, but it’s not too noticeable.

Now, I know I haven’t gone too in-depth regarding all the gameplay features and changes, but my overall impression of how it all coalesces together is pretty positive. Throwing feels nice and malleable with the pass leading and strength modifiers, and pre-snap options are expanded and more plentiful than ever.

If you really want to get the most out of the suite of gameplay enhancements, Dynasty Mode returns with even more depth and customization. I went into Dynasty a bit overwhelmed, especially because of all the new transfer portal additions and coach expansions.

I mean, this year’s iteration features realistic portrayals of all the teams’ head coaches, down to their individual archetypes, playbooks, and statistics through the years. The commitment to realism continues with players. Those who follow college football closely will be hard-pressed to find a team without their real-life roster completely intact; and with each player having their own particular suite of Physical and Mental Skills to keep track of, it’s easy to get lost in the micromanagement weeds.

"There’s some shoddy hit detection at times, partly due to the complex player movements and physics, but it’s not too noticeable."

Getting lost in the weeds is welcome in Dynasty, so this added depth is a positive. But if you’re like me and want to get to the action a little more quickly, the option to automate the minutiae of recruiting is always available via the League Settings. I didn’t realize it was possible to automate any of this, so I got a good taste of the recruiting process before finally letting the computer handle that aspect of coaching.

I hit my recruiting limit when I realized I was basically just doing what amounts to repetitive paperwork and I never looked back. The game makes it feel like busywork thanks to the recruiting interface and its lack of convenience. You have to do a series of button presses just to accomplish one action—one out of hundreds that must be met each week during the recruiting phase.

For example, in order to gain the interest of a quality prospect, it’s necessary to first offer a scholarship and then do various little actions like meet with family members, contact through social media, and even schedule a visit before pitching a hard sell. Each action takes up between five to 50 units of time, of which there is a cap of around 700 for the week.

"Players willing to spend time doing these menial tasks have a lot to dig into here with the revamped Transfer Portal and more realistic coaches."

I lament the absence of a bulk action option because individually going into each player’s sub-menu and ticking off these little actions just to get a chance of them committing gives me a micromanagement headache. As someone who was a fan of NFL Head Coach games back in the day, this takes it to another level with its user hostility in interface design. Just add bulk actions and that would fix the assembly-line headache of recruiting by a decent margin.

That said, players willing to spend time doing these menial tasks have a lot to dig into here with the revamped Transfer Portal and more realistic coaches. My time in Dynasty improved drastically when I turned automatic recruiting on and just focused on leveling up my coach and playing games.

The coach tree satisfies the RPG-lover in me without bogging everything down in the weeds. Each coach starts out with a handful of archetype trees containing their own unique abilities to unlock within. Tacticians like Steve Sarkisian of Texas improve their players’ chances to perform well, as well as shake up the opposing team with demoralization debuffs.

What’s more, you can create an entirely unique coach from scratch and set up all the parameters yourself, though I found the default to level 1 a tad difficult to live with in a sea of level 40 coaches. But for those who like a long dynastic journey, starting from scratch might become your obsession.

Speaking of obsession and long journeys, Road to Glory offers a similar kind of experience, albeit with much less micromanagement. I initially appreciated the expanded high school section from last year’s iteration. Playing through senior year (about four games) of your chosen high school helps immerse me in my player’s story and individual progression. Though, I have to say, the execution of these high school games leaves me ambivalent.

The lack of any kind of roster or depth chart with your high school leaves any kind of strategy out of the question. Want to study the opposing team’s strengths and weaknesses? Too bad. I’m guessing every high school team is scaled evenly here, so as to avoid a superstar cornerback from ruining your pass randomly, but either way, the inability to know which players to avoid and which to work with leaves the high school experience almost best left automated.

"The execution of how the Road to Glory mode handles high school games leaves me wanting more."

As much as I tried to love it, the high school section didn’t feel as immersive as it should’ve and actively made me play worse due to the blind strategy involved. Automating these high school games leaves much of the draft out of your hands since game-day performance influences which school will be interested in you. That said, seeing school offers come in after a game felt pretty exciting, and checking off challenges to boost the tape score makes for a fun progression loop.

Once my player made it to one of my schools of choice, Washington State, it was time to impress the coach enough to leave the bench. That’s another fun thing about Road to Glory; you can either start with a five-star player out of the gate or a one-star underdog. Your player’s journey is entirely customizable. Want to make it as realistic and gritty as it can get? Well, start off as a one-star and iron-man it through high school games. Perform badly? Tough luck getting recruited by any notable schools. But there’s always the transfer portal once you gain some experience.

The most fascinating part of my Road to Glory experience was discovering how much I hated my coach’s play-calling. Unlike other modes, you must follow the coach’s limited pool of plays until you’ve gained enough trust with them to call your own shots.

I wasn’t getting any screens or curls whatsoever during game day, leading me to consider transferring to a team whose coaching I gelled with more. If it weren’t for the coach trust mechanic here, I probably wouldn’t have considered transferring. I mean, it’s the local middle-of-the-road school I wanted to build my player’s story off of, and the colors and fight song are great, so why transfer, right?

"The abilities gained from reaching milestones in Weekly Agenda activities encourage a careful balancing act of where to place points."

Another aspect of immersion I rather enjoy is balancing academics, social life, and training. You have a set number of points to put into a weekly agenda. I found myself on the cusp of failing my grade due to a focus on improving leadership and gaining XP from training; after all, I was a freshman with lots to prove. Then right before a test, some classmate asks to join her for an outing.

Of course, I refuse and tarnish my brand by a bit, but my academics evened out from the studying. The abilities gained from reaching milestones in these activities also encourage a careful balancing act of where to place points. Overall, I felt pleased by this year’s Road to Glory mode. It’s got a lot to offer in terms of customization and RPG mechanics, even if the high school section still needs some fleshing out to truly appreciate.

For those looking forward to online play, Ultimate Team is the big returning mode, and as usual, it can be played solo. The way the live service structure functions remains pretty much the same as last year. A rotating selection of events offers various limited-time rewards such as card packs and points upon completion. Building up your team feels as clunky and grindy as ever.

"Opening packs and getting new players feels really stale, lacking the kind of fun flair that overseas gacha games have mastered."

Opening cards and managing depth charts always feels delayed by about half a second. The game even crashed twice on me right as I was grabbing my rewards from challenges. By contrast, playing ball on the field while in UT mode didn’t have these lag issues; it only pervaded my menuing experience. On the presentation end of things, it’s not much better. Opening packs and getting new players feels really stale, lacking the kind of fun flair that overseas gacha games have mastered.

Getting a rare player card should feel special and grandiose with unique animations and sounds, but it’s just the same boring card unveiling (and the cards don’t even look interesting) accompanied by notable load times. All in all, I didn’t bother digging much into this year’s Ultimate Team, mostly due to those issues. But for players who’ve enjoyed pitting their team against friends and engaging in the rotating challenges, it’s more of the same.

Finally, it’s well worth giving game day atmosphere its own discussion before closing the review. Considering the authentic representation of all 136 NCAA FBS teams here, the unique commentary for each freshen up the broadcast experience considerably.

The rotating group of seven commentators remark on recent team successes or failures, talk about each team’s general strengths and weaknesses, and even go into a bit of team history. Of course, if you’re mostly just engaging with a single Dynasty team, you’ll be hearing lots of repeat commentary lines. But thankfully, the commentary attempts to dynamically adjust to how you’ve been playing to vary things up.

"The dynamic lighting and detailed buildings are true to their real-life counterparts."

Hearing Michigan’s wonderfully composed fight song, The Victors, blasting from the marching band after scoring a touchdown always feels special, but it’s especially glorious with this game’s live band recordings. And no game’s college stadiums look better than this. The dynamic lighting and detailed buildings are true to their real-life counterparts. I begun to realize how cool all the little stadium touches are when I played as the Iowa Hawkeyes at home and the camera and commentary focused on the building overlooking the field. Hearing how the players and crowd raise their arms to the children’s hospital up above Kinnick Stadium before each game was some cool real-life stadium lore.

It’s a nice touch that divulges school lore and traditions; and with over a hundred of these, there’s a lot to enjoy. One of this year’s coolest graphical improvements is the dynamic day/night cycle. One of the very few times I gasped in shock at a sports game (when I didn’t fumble the ball or throw an interception, that is) was starting the game during daylight only to notice the sun setting into nighttime in the fourth quarter. That kind of time progression just isn’t noticeable in other sports games that I’ve played, and I certainly didn’t expect such dynamic cycles to be included here.

And of course, the returning hype meter amplifies the home-field experience with the thunderous chants disrupting the away team’s composure. It’s a shame, then, that the new Road to Glory stadium entrances are so quiet and devoid of sound. Where’s the thunderous cheering and band noise? Where’s the player banter while storming onto the field? There’s an issue with audio balance in RtG entrances that desperately needs attention, and it’s something I didn’t notice elsewhere. But overall, I simply adore the rich on-field presentation of this year’s NCAA title, even if Road to Glory entrances need some major work.

"I simply adore the rich on-field presentation of this year’s NCAA title, even if Road to Glory entrances need some major work."

As a holistic package, College Football 26 supplies what fans of the series want, improving upon the previous iteration in meaningful ways. It’s not a perfect package, considering the clunky recruiting interface in Dynasty or Ultimate Team’s terrible menu lag, but these issues can be mostly be overlooked.

The school pageantry adds a ton of flair to the football experience, helping it stand out from the more muted and stale Madden sibling. And I’d dare say the rich wealth of teams and unique coaches and players make for a more replayable and deep experience than other sports games on the market. Despite the obvious growing pains with the rebooted series’ sophomore year, College Football 26 is a winner.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.