College Football 26 review: Another jump forward for CFB
EA SPORTS College Football 26 is a step up in the series’ return, but some elements still fall flat after needing fixing from last year.
In May 2024, EA SPORTS’ College Football made a massive comeback. For the first time in over a decade, football fans could represent their favorite schools on the gridiron. Naturally, it was a huge success, becoming the best-selling sports game of all time.
EA SPORTS have followed that up with another installment, College Football 26, with a host of new graphical upgrades, updates to every game mode, and some much-needed changes that were missing last year.
College Football 26 is a much better game than its predecessor, but it still has a few kinks that need ironing out.
College Football 26 screenshots
What is College Football 26 about?
From the minute you hop into CFB 26, you’ll know instantly you’re playing a better game than last time out. The presentation, from the minute your team starts running out the tunnel, is better than College Football 25.
The addition of new music for those moments is key too. Nothing beats running out to Enter Sandman during a night game at Lane Stadium, especially late in the season. That music continues into the menus, so no fear about the same, repetitive drumline tune playing over and over this year.
Speed of games are key, especially as the CFB series tries to distance itself from being a Madden clone. A clone it is not, but there is a noticeable increase in the speed of players this year, which isn’t a million miles away from feeling a bit Madden-esque.
Dynasty remains the gold standard
At the heart of College Football 26’s success is its Dynasty and Road to Glory Modes. Dynasty is still the best management mode for a sports game out there, especially with the new challenges you’ll face in recruiting this year. Getting a top job feels much harder too, with serious work needing to be done on your side to upgrade your coach.
Things are, at first, a little easier. EA has made it much clearer with regards to the positions that you need to recruit, investing time into sending the house in a recruiting battle does reward a lot more, and no one in the Sun Belt is getting a five-star recruit for a while.
Road to Glory has seen some upgrades, but it is slightly lacking. Sure, High School is back, but it feels slightly tacked on. Any fans of the NBA 2K MyCareer mode who are used to playing a handful of games before being whisked away to the big leagues will get the same feeling here.
The College life side of RTG is a lot better, too. Position Battles and Coach Trust levels actually matter this year, and you will find yourself needing to dedicate a lot of time to those. Like with other things, it is another jump forward, but further work could be done.
Commentary still isn’t perfect
While the presentation side of College Football 26 has been updated, the commentary is still a bit of a problem. For quite a lot of it, the broadcasters miss the emotions of big moments, leaving you feeling flat at times.
Sure, repetitive commentary is a part of sports games that you can’t avoid, but it feels like every time I hit a first down with Marshall that I hear “The Thundering Herd thunders down the field.” It loses its magic after a while. Thankfully, though, you won’t hear Mo Bamba on every third-down play.
Similarly, in games where Field Pulse takes over, the commentary team still feels like they’re not inside the stadium and are hosting a remote broadcast. Another update there would be very welcome to really cement a new era of College Football memories.
Verdict
College Football 26 is a step up from last year, there is no doubt about that. The game looks stunning and plays differently enough from Madden to justify sinking hundreds of hours into it.
The single-player modes are incredibly challenging to master, but once you’ve got a few things down, you very much feel rewarded for putting time into it. It is extremely difficult to quit Dynasty at any point, and it will consume a whole lot of your life.
If upgrades are made throughout the year, or for CFB 27, then EA SPORTS will have given everyone everything they want.
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