EA Sports activities’ sophomore return to the school gridiron is right here, and after every week with School Soccer 26, the decision is evident: it is advantageous. Not nice. Not horrible. Simply… advantageous. A wonderfully 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 right away journey over its personal cleats. Lacking options, buggy simulations, anemic commentary, and undercooked recreation modes rapidly 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. Highway 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 recreation than its predecessor, nevertheless it’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 fairly than a flagship alternative.
With that in thoughts, listed here 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
A protracted-requested characteristic from NCAA Soccer 14 lastly makes its return in School Soccer 26: highschool soccer in Highway to Glory. The idea stays easy — gamers start their profession beneath the Friday evening lights, the place their efficiency earns them recruiting stars and scholarship presents. Rack up sufficient stars, and top-tier packages will come calling, with a beginning job doubtless ready. Fall quick, and you’ll nonetheless stroll on at your dream college — however you will should grind your method up the depth chart by means of practices and place battles.
It’s a strong 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 method again into Highway to Glory, what we truly received is an enormous downgrade in comparison with what we used to have.
In earlier entries — particularly NCAA Soccer 12 — gamers might play by means of a full highschool season earlier than committing to a school. It began small in NCAA 08 with simply the state championship playoffs, however rapidly developed into one thing way more immersive. Now, in CFB 26, it has been decreased to simply 4 video games—and never even full ones. You’re solely enjoying remoted “spotlight moments.”
Credit score: EA Sports activities
Earlier than every recreation, you decide from a handful of pre-set situations — issues like a “2-Minute Drill” or “Pink Zone Risk” — with particular goals tied to them. Succeed, and also you earn factors towards your recruiting star ranking. Fail, and your inventory drops. As you achieve curiosity from schools, some situations grow to be school-specific, providing you with further probabilities to impress a program with a spotlight tailored for his or her scouts.
It’s an honest idea in idea, however in execution, it’s clunky and needlessly restrictive. Among the goals 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 needed the total highschool season again. What we received as a substitute appears like a rushed compromise.
Mashable High Tales
Love: Historic information/Trophy Room
Credit score: EA Sports activities
One among my nerdiest gaming obsessions is the Soccer Supervisor sequence. I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into its glorified spreadsheets, poring over information, 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 crew creates.
That’s precisely what was lacking from CFB 25. For on a regular basis I spent in Highway to Glory or Dynasty, there was no strategy to look again on the legacy I used to be constructing. No archive of previous champions, no report of bowl recreation 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 information and made some extent to spotlight it—and for good motive. Immersion has all the time been one of many defining strengths of this sequence, 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 may be a distinct segment gripe, nevertheless it drove me loopy in CFB 25 and it’s nonetheless an issue in CFB 26: the pathfinding logic for AI working backs in Highway 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 a substitute of hitting the opening, the working again bounces the play extensive, drifting towards the sideline like he’s allergic to optimistic yardage. It’s not a rankings problem, both. This occurs whether or not you’re enjoying 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 carrying skinny.
Love: Dynamic subs
Credit score: EA Sports activities
Plenty of this quasi-review has centered on the options round CFB 26 fairly than the gameplay itself — and that’s principally as a result of the gameplay continues to be rock strong, 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 muse is powerful, you don’t must tear the entire thing down simply to make progress. (That stated, I’ll in all probability by no means personal a home on my wage, so what do I find out 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 evaluation 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 utterly. 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 choices now matter within the second.
It goes a step additional with tailor-made sub-filters, letting you handle your complete protection or offense in logical teams. Need to swap simply your linebackers or talent gamers? Straightforward. Need to reset all the pieces 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 Highway to Glory when fatigue and matchup administration truly 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 a substitute of a separate chore, and that’s a giant win for gameplay movement.
Hate: Final Workforce
Credit score: EA Sports activities
The inclusion of Final Workforce in any sports activities recreation 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 advanced 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 correct 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 accessible. Now they demand some understanding of programs layered on prime of programs.
Which might be advantageous — if studying these programs didn’t funnel you into EA’s glorified slot machine. If you wish to discover ways to cross, learn protection, or execute an RPO correctly, you’re doing it inside Final Workforce beneath the mode’s Challenges part. That’s the one place the place the tutorials and talent challenges dwell. So for those who’re a father or mother with a full-time job and barely an hour of free time to study a recreation like this, you are compelled to do it inside a digital on line casino stuffed with microtransactions, pretend foreign money, and card packs.
There’s nothing redeemable about Final Workforce. Not right here, not in Madden, not in FIFA, not wherever. It’s a hole, predatory mode — and the truth that CFB 26 ties its primary coaching instruments to it’s a excellent instance of how cynical trendy sports activities gaming might be.
And if I’m doing a love/hate checklist for CFB 27 subsequent 12 months? Spoiler alert: this part’s coming again.
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