'College Football 25' Is Incredible, But Has Very Frustrating Feature | REVIEW

"College Football 25" is officially out, and I'm happy to say that it's incredible.

College football fans never really believed the popular games would return once they ended following "NCAA Football 14" in 2013.

It was an incredible day when EA Sports announced the iconic series would make a comeback a few years ago. Yesterday was the day "College Football 25" finally hit consoles for those with early access.

It's absolutely epic.

"College Football 25" is incredible.

I spent Monday night playing three games (more on that soon), and going through the dynasty mode. Before we get into gameplay, let's talk a bit about dynasty mode as a whole.

It's incredibly complex and deep. It's hands down the most complex recruiting system we've ever seen in a college football game. In fact, I found myself thinking at one point that it might be a bit too complex. You're allotted a certain number of hours a week to recruit guys and there's a laundry list of different things recruits want or that can break the deal.

"College Football 25" is incredibly difficult. (Credit: EA Sports)

Unlike in old games, there also doesn't appear to be a way to game the recruiting system by targeting elite prospects that go overlooked. If you're a one-star school, expect to sign pretty bad classes while the top guys go to historical powers.

Gamers were promised that it would take a lot longer to build a dynasty from the ground up. That promise came true. Gone are the days of having an elite powerhouse program by year two or three. It's just not going to happen. 

Gameplay is great, but there's one thing that will drive fans crazy. 

Now, let's get into the gameplay. As advertised, everything about it, top to bottom, is awesome. I played a game against an FCS squad, at Wisconsin, at Alabama and home against Hawaii as Sam Houston. The games against Wisconsin and Alabama on the road were to see what kind of atmosphere schools would have.

EA Sports constantly promoted how much time and effort was put into making the gameday experience realistic and fun. Playing at Alabama and Wisconsin, honestly, felt about as real as you could ever hope for. EA Sports nailed the gameday atmosphere, and anyone who says differently is lying.

However, people expecting to take a small school with a garbage roster and compete against the top teams are in for a rough reality check. I lost the opening game against an FCS team by 20 points, got blown out by Wisconsin and kept things close against Alabama before finally breaking on Heisman mode. Hawaii - the fourth game of the night - was my first win. I virtually never lost in "NCAA Football 14." I was unbeatable, but unlike the old games, the talent gap between bad and great teams is huge in "College Football 25."

UConn isn't marching into Athens and beating Georgia in real life and it's damn sure not happening in "College Football 25."

That leads me to the part of the game that will drive people absolutely insane: revamped passing.

The passing in "College Football 25" on Heisman mode using revamped passing is absurdly difficult. My QB currently has one passing touchdown to seven interceptions. The user is required to control accuracy, ball power, ball placement and any minor mistake is going to end up as an incompletion or interception.

It's unbelievably hard to figure out, and after four games, I'm still awful at it. It's nothing like the old games where you see a guy wide open and just sling it to him. I feel like I need a PhD in engineering to figure out revamped passing. It's not a negative. It's more of a challenge, but that doesn't mean I don't want to throw a controller through a wall.

Overall, "College Football 25" was worth the hype and wait. It's by far the toughest college football game ever released, and while that can be frustrating at times, it makes the wins feel that much better. Let's hope I just figure out how to pass the ball before suffering any more humiliating losses.