EA Sports College Football 27 review

I love American Football. It’s the one sport I follow intensely, and it’ll most likely stay that way for the rest of my life (though the WNBA has been a lot of fun to watch). I’ve covered both College Football 25 and College Football 26 over the last two years and was right on that train of loving College Football 25. I then had some issues with College Football 26 and the semi-broken AI at launch, and the issues with glitches. This year, I was so excited by my preview in which I got hands-on with the gameplay itself, which is phenomenal overall. Now that College Football 27 (CFB 27) is fully out and I’ve had a chance to play the different modes, I’m struggling to think of anything past “wow, but why though?” 

DYNASTY MODE

This is my favorite mode in the game and where I place the majority of my time every season. This year holds some amazing new upgrades to the game while leaving me wanting more in some areas (and don’t worry, we’ll be discussing the elephant in the room). 

I absolutely love the new Athletic Director (AD) Expectations in CFB 27. These expectations will help guide where you might want to focus your efforts, especially when doing rebuilds or taking on a big-time team. Everything from on-field results to recruiting can be an expectation, and each school has its own, just like in real life. If you want to start your career as the Head Coach of Alabama, congrats, you can! You just have a hard road in front of you, as your character probably will not gain the necessary experience to do all of the things a school like Alabama would require. Meanwhile, even some of the smaller schools have heavy expectations in specific areas, such as beating rivals (which is a MUST for a LOT of teams).

My favorite way to play with these expectations is to start at a medium (3-star) school as an Offensive or Defensive Coordinator. When I have the experience, I go for a Head Coach job with a lower-rung team (1-star or 2-star) and build them into a contender. When I feel I’ve done all I can, I move to a bigger school (4-star or 5-star) and really make a big push for my Legacy. Everyone has their own way to play, and the new job mechanic makes it even easier to have a chance to do some cool things. 

Unlike other entries, CFB 27 allows you to at least apply for any job you wish that is currently open. However, the more jobs you apply for, the more you risk hurting the team you’re currently coaching if it doesn’t work out as you thought it would. Just because you CAN apply for the HC job at Ole Miss as the OC at Kent State doesn’t mean you SHOULD. However, this option saves me from having to make my coach specifically cater to a team I would like to coach in the future in hopes that the coach gets fired and the team wants me. 

NIL takes things to a whole new level as you’ll need to keep in mind your NIL budget as your players grow on the field and as you try to bring in new players. While it might seem like a good idea to blow 50% of your NIL on a 4-Star Quarterback (QB) to come to San Diego St., it doesn’t leave much room for the rest of your players, and a QB alone won’t win you a championship in CFB 27. You’ll also need some of that budget to upgrade your facilities and bring in new staff along the way. This adds another layer of difficulty, but it definitely needs to be tweaked a little as time goes by, as there seems to be a lack of distinction between why a player wants more NIL, even if that player has the same stats as another player asking for 0 NIL. This all takes time to figure out as it’s new, but keep in mind it could fully ruin your career if you “experiment” at a bigger school. 

I am a fan of the addition of the Heisman Trophy ceremony; however, I would love it if it were made skippable, especially if there isn’t a chance one of my players won the award itself. Meanwhile, the other awards look the same as previous years, with your player and then the non-Heisman award and some confetti. I would like to see some sort of ceremony or in-house moment for players who win awards. This would mean a lot for a smaller school Dynasty where winning a national award would be a big moment. 

Throughout my playthrough, there were a few issues I ran into multiple times. The recruiting menu lags quite a lot when moving from left to right through menus and then up and down on the main recruiting board. Small, but frustrating. I also found myself having an issue where I would try to replace a player pre-snap for the next play, but it would not only sub the player I wanted, but also a majority of my offensive line. 

This is going to be the first time I’ll discuss the microtransactions in CFB 27. I was not made aware during our preview that there would be microtransactions inside of Dynasty Mode. You can pay real money to upgrade elements of your coaching experience. While you apparently CAN make it to Level 100, coach, the grind to get there is going to take a long time (I’ve seen others mention 25-30 full seasons), a very long time. Meanwhile, you can just pay your hard-earned dollars to help you move a little faster or skip the leveling process altogether. Considering I play Dynasty Mode offline only, this was a wildly unfortunate addition to the game. 

Microtransactions and small bugs aside, Dynasty has clearly grown as the team has implemented more and more over the years, while the CFB landscape changes before our eyes. Based on experience, the issues stem from insufficient time for developing the brand-new game after fixing the last one. 

ROAD TO GLORY

While some of my issues with Road to Glory have been addressed, there are still some ways it could feel cleaner. The decisions you make week to week heavily affect the amount of energy you have to do the things you need to do, such as studying or keeping your body fit. You’ll have distractions like upperclassmen demanding rides to places or Audrey, but these still seem a bit more bare-bones than I would like to see. Most conversations aren’t as much a conversation as a sentence: you say yes or no, and then move on. 

During my two seasons played, I never did a school test, which was something I was really excited about trying. Maybe it was only because I studied very hard every time, but if that’s true, I would have loved to see the test happen with a circle around the right answer because my character knew the answer. The only test I did was a test from my Offensive Coordinator about plays on the field. 

I really enjoyed the transfer portal this year as you’re able to see every deal from every team available to you before making your decision. 

On the field, everything is as it should be, with QB, RB, WR, TE, EDGE, MIKE, CB, and FS open to you. From experience, defense and TE are much more difficult on higher difficulties, and I've seen myself players lowering the difficulty just to have more fun (especially with EDGE and MIKE). I wouldn’t know where to start to fix the issue, especially if the player is choosing to start as an Underdog, but it just felt sad getting laid out over and over, play after play, even if I know where to go and what to do. The game is supposed to be fun foremost. 

Now, again, we have to discuss microtransactions. In Dynasty, you can use in-game currency to help boost your player even higher than you have the experience to do so. For instance, you can use your currency to make a freshman as high as possible for that archetype. It just seems wild that this wasn’t communicated to me before launch. Microtransactions in a single-player offline mode seem like such a lack of awareness of what the consumer is looking for from your product.

Microtransactions aside, I see the vision for Road to Glory, and EA Sports has taken more steps in the right direction; we’re just still not quite there yet. 

ON-FIELD GAMEPLAY

The gameplay in College Football 27 feels different, but I enjoy it quite a bit. The defenses are clearly tighter, and there are more “players making plays”-type moments. I’ve enjoyed being able to see how the CB or MIKE will shift what they’re doing mid-play to find where the ball is or might be going. This aspect alone ramps up the difficulty as the margin for error becomes quite small. 

Alongside that change comes the new revamped passing system, which focuses on making the best pass possible, followed by the best catch possible. Your goal is to make the bar fill as much as possible without going over. This timing becomes even harder when your offensive line breaks down. This new revamped passing feels solid, using a player’s stats to help show if a player will be able to make some spectacular catches even if the ball doesn’t come out perfectly. I found it most visible with the teams lower on the rating list as the variety of QB and WR play is more drastic. Defenses feel MUCH faster than they did before and offense takes some time to learn. 

I truly love how the running game feels as I can see my player bend and move much more while keeping their head down, running the rock. I found myself drawn to teams where I could effectively run the ball while focusing on play-action passing. CFB 27 allows you to play the game the way you’d like (for the most part) with sliders for everything from running and passing to how often the referees might call something. 

Depending on your skill set, some of the changes might take you some time to master. Once you do, though, you can have some really cool moments of HOLY CRAP HE DID WHAT?

PRESENTATION

The game itself is simply stunning to look at visually. The graphics are the best yet, and the sound design increases in quality every single year. The sheer number of items, uniforms, stadiums, light shows, celebrations, and more is something to behold. 

I was also impressed by the weather effects, as they keep things feeling fresh in a sport that can feel repetitive without them. I recently visited San Diego and loved the city, so this year I chose San Diego St. as my Dynasty starting point. The clear skies and lighting changes were amazing to see, but there was enough variety in the teams I played against that allowed me to see the weather, unlike last year, when I went full seasons without even a rain game. 

The music has been such a fun addition to separate CFB from Madden. Hearing a marching band rendition of Panic! at the Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” was hilariously amazing for this former band kid. You also have everything from “Take on Me” to “APT,” “Trap Queen,” “Since U Been Gone,” and more! CFB 27 also now includes the fight song from every single school in the game. 

OVERALL

College Football 27 brings a lot to the table, expanding on what went right in College Football 25 and 26. To me, the time crunch seems to have been a major factor in why some of the finite details weren’t fully fleshed out.

Dynasty has come along nicely with many major additions that add to the fun of fully controlling a team. Road to Glory has a true direction and simply needs more of what is working. The gameplay also seems more fleshed out than ever, with defense taking a HUGE step up. Meanwhile, the addition of microtransactions outside of Ultimate Team brings a shiver to my spine with how much money could be spent in offline modes nobody but that player will see.

If given more time, and a removal of microtransactions, this team on CFB 27 knows what to do and how to make a great College Football game. However, given the time constraint and lack of communication about microtransactions, this game has taken a step back from last year. 

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