EA Sports activities’ sophomore return to the faculty gridiron is right here, and after per week with School Soccer 26, the decision is obvious: it is positive. Not nice. Not horrible. Simply… positive. A superbly okay follow-up to final 12 months’s triumphant but turbulent reboot.
When CFB 25 dropped, the fanfare was huge. After a decade-long hiatus and a authorized gauntlet, the franchise got here roaring again, solely to instantly journey over its personal cleats. Lacking options, buggy simulations, anemic commentary, and undercooked sport modes shortly cooled the hype.
I used to be one of many many caught within the hype. I reviewed CFB 25 final 12 months and confidently claimed it was “higher than Madden.” And hey, I stand by that — however let’s not faux that’s a excessive bar to clear. Street to Glory mode felt like a placeholder, and Dynasty lacked even primary quality-of-life instruments. Sim stats broke immersion. Chris Fowler’s voiceover — regardless of his public pleasure — sounded prefer it was phoned in from a bunker. The hype of a franchise revival couldn’t masks the cracks in its basis.
School Soccer 26 is a greater sport than its predecessor, but it surely’s additionally nonetheless deeply flawed. The core expertise has potential, and the enjoyable is actual, however EA continues to deal with the franchise like an annual obligation quite than a flagship alternative.
With that in thoughts, listed below are three issues I like — and three issues I can’t stand — about CFB 26.
Love: Highschool in RTG is again
Credit score: EA Sports activities
An extended-requested characteristic from NCAA Soccer 14 lastly makes its return in School Soccer 26: highschool soccer in Street to Glory. The idea stays easy — gamers start their profession underneath the Friday night time lights, the place their efficiency earns them recruiting stars and scholarship affords. Rack up sufficient stars, and top-tier packages will come calling, with a beginning job seemingly ready. Fall quick, and you’ll nonetheless stroll on at your dream college — however you may should grind your means up the depth chart by way of practices and place battles.
It’s a stable basis, and seeing highschool return to the mode is genuinely thrilling. However even this addition comes with a catch.
Hate: Highschool RTG is half-baked
For all of the reward I simply gave about highschool lastly making its means again into Street to Glory, what we really bought is an enormous downgrade in comparison with what we used to have.
In earlier entries — particularly NCAA Soccer 12 — gamers might play by way of a full highschool season earlier than committing to a school. It began small in NCAA 08 with simply the state championship playoffs, however shortly advanced into one thing far more immersive. Now, in CFB 26, it has been decreased to only 4 video games—and never even full ones. You’re solely taking part in remoted “spotlight moments.”
Credit score: EA Sports activities
Earlier than every sport, you decide from a handful of pre-set eventualities — issues like a “2-Minute Drill” or “Crimson Zone Risk” — with particular targets tied to them. Succeed, and also you earn factors towards your recruiting star ranking. Fail, and your inventory drops. As you acquire curiosity from faculties, some eventualities grow to be school-specific, supplying you with additional possibilities to impress a program with a spotlight tailored for his or her scouts.
It’s a good idea in principle, however in execution, it’s clunky and needlessly restrictive. A few of the targets are outright damaged—like a “scramble for 50+ yards” problem that doesn’t register for those who additionally rating a landing on the play.
This stripped-down, gamified model of highschool feels arbitrary and disconnected. No one requested for this chopped-up method. Gamers simply wished the total highschool season again. What we bought as an alternative seems like a rushed compromise.
Mashable High Tales
Love: Historic knowledge/Trophy Room
Credit score: EA Sports activities
Considered one of my nerdiest gaming obsessions is the Soccer Supervisor collection. I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into its glorified spreadsheets, poring over knowledge, charts, and graphs as I information some no-name Scottish membership to Champions League glory. There’s one thing deeply satisfying about monitoring each milestone, each stat, each tiny piece of historical past your group creates.
That’s precisely what was lacking from CFB 25. For on a regular basis I spent in Street to Glory or Dynasty, there was no method to look again on the legacy I used to be constructing. No archive of previous champions, no file of bowl sport winners, no hall-of-fame second to revisit the legendary 2027 Nationwide Championship between Clemson and North Texas. I couldn’t even mournfully revisit the Independence Bowl trophy I fought tooth and nail to win.
Fortunately, CFB 26 fixes this. EA introduced again historic data and made some extent to spotlight it—and for good motive. Immersion has all the time been one of many defining strengths of this collection, and options like these matter. These little particulars aren’t simply fluff; they’re how gamers join with the tales they create.
Hate: RTG’s working again AI nonetheless sucks
This could be a distinct segment gripe, but it surely drove me loopy in CFB 25 and it’s nonetheless an issue in CFB 26: the pathfinding logic for AI working backs in Street to Glory is genuinely migraine-inducing.
Take a easy inside handoff out of a pistol formation. The offensive line opens up a clear hole up the center—however as an alternative of hitting the outlet, the working again bounces the play extensive, drifting towards the sideline like he’s allergic to constructive yardage. It’s not a rankings situation, both. This occurs whether or not you’re taking part in for a bottom-tier college or a Energy 4 powerhouse.
It’s a constant, irritating quirk that turns primary working performs into unpredictable messes, and after two straight years of it, it is sporting skinny.
Love: Dynamic subs
Credit score: EA Sports activities
Quite a lot of this quasi-review has centered on the options round CFB 26 quite than the gameplay itself — and that’s largely as a result of the gameplay remains to be rock stable, similar to it was final 12 months. EA has lastly nailed down a basis that’s genuinely enjoyable, so the year-to-year enhancements are going to be marginal at greatest. When the inspiration is robust, you don’t must tear the entire thing down simply to make progress. (That stated, I’ll most likely by no means personal a home on my wage, so what do I learn about foundations anyway?)
I name this a “quasi-review” as a result of most of what I stated about CFB 25 nonetheless applies right here. Doing a full, conventional overview once more would really feel redundant. That stated, one gameplay characteristic did stand out sufficient to enhance the expertise meaningfully: dynamic subs.
Substitutions have all the time been a clunky afterthought in sports activities video games — both buried in menus or too gradual to matter mid-drive. However CFB 26 streamlines it fully. With a fast press of the D-pad, you possibly can immediately view who’s on the sector, cycle gamers out and in by tapping left or proper, and your modifications stick without having to dig again into the depth chart. It’s fast, it’s intuitive, and most significantly, it’s deliberate — your selections now matter within the second.
It goes a step additional with tailor-made sub-filters, letting you handle your total protection or offense in logical teams. Wish to swap simply your linebackers or ability gamers? Straightforward. Wish to reset every thing again to your starters after giving backups some reps? One button press (Sq. on PlayStation, X on Xbox) and also you’re good. It’s small on paper however makes in-game technique smoother and extra responsive, particularly in Dynasty or Street to Glory when fatigue and matchup administration really matter.
Dynamic subs don’t reinvent the wheel — however they don’t must. They lastly make roster administration really feel like a part of the on-field motion as an alternative of a separate chore, and that’s an enormous win for gameplay movement.
Hate: Final Group
Credit score: EA Sports activities
The inclusion of Final Group in any sports activities sport is already a blight—however what actually grinds me down in CFB 26 is its creep into the coaching mode.
One of many largest hurdles in trendy sports activities video games is how complicated they’ve grow to be. Ten years in the past, passing was easy. Now there’s “placement + accuracy” mechanics, or bizarre finger-twister combos like holding L1 whereas flicking the best keep on with correctly execute a excessive lob fade. I’m solely 26, however generally it actually does really feel like I’m yelling at clouds. Sports activities video games was once accessible. Now they demand some understanding of programs layered on prime of programs.
Which might be positive — if studying these programs didn’t funnel you into EA’s glorified slot machine. If you wish to learn to move, learn protection, or execute an RPO correctly, you’re doing it inside Final Group underneath the mode’s Challenges part. That’s the one place the place the tutorials and ability challenges dwell. So for those who’re a mum or dad with a full-time job and barely an hour of free time to study a sport like this, you are compelled to do it inside a digital on line casino full of microtransactions, pretend foreign money, and card packs.
There’s nothing redeemable about Final Group. Not right here, not in Madden, not in FIFA, not anyplace. It’s a hole, predatory mode — and the truth that CFB 26 ties its primary coaching instruments to it’s a good instance of how cynical trendy sports activities gaming could be.
And if I’m doing a love/hate listing for CFB 27 subsequent 12 months? Spoiler alert: this part’s coming again.
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