Once summer starts to come to a close, sports fans know that the upcoming season of NFL football is right around the corner. Every year, fans of America's toughest game make their plans to follow their favorite teams as they carve out a path to a championship. But the love of football doesn't necessarily start and end with the seasons, especially when various sports games can keep fans occupied in the time between seasons. For many people, the aura of American football is always floating in the air in some way. Many different sports games focused on football offer a variety of experiences that are fun to play, and let sports fans represent their favorite teams digitally. But it's not as simple as just popping the latest entry in the Madden NFL Football series onto your console. There are many more options beyond that to choose from across multiple platforms, regardless of who you're a big fan of. Fans of the sport who grew up playing video games know very well how some games took the concept of football into wild, and often very interesting, directions that stuck in their memories. Here are three sports games that you should play now if you're ready for the upcoming 2025 NFL football season. And none of them are the newest Madden NFL game, either!
EA Sports College Football 25
The college league levels up
If you're still craving the simulation gameplay style of a Madden game, but want a different flavor of the sport, then EA Sports College Football 25 is the next best thing. Based on the 2025 teams and rosters of college level American football, this game follows the same design approach as the Madden NFL series, but with a completely different approach to its menu presentation and soundtrack. What makes this football special, beyond being focused on the college level, is that it's the first college football game to be released by Electronic Arts following a lawsuit from players to the NCAA in 2013. The legal issue was mostly about players being compensated for their name, image, and likeness being used. After years of dispute, a settlement was reached and a video game based on college teams could finally be made and released with real player names attached to the teams they played for. At the same time, the 2025 release of the game comes at a time when star players from the college level were also making a transition into the NFL. College star players like Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders were drafted by the NFL in 2025, so their last appearance on their respective college teams was in the game. The developers of the Madden series from EA Orlando were the same team that made EA Sports College Football 25, so many of the gameplay elements from that game are present in this one. The reception of EA Sports College Football 25 was very positive, leading to it selling enough units to become one of the biggest-selling sports games in the United States.
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EA Sports College Football 25
Sports
Systems
OpenCritic Reviews
Top Critic Avg:
81/100
Critics Rec:
84%
Released
July 19, 2024
ESRB
E For Everyone Due To Alcohol Reference
Developer(s)
EA Orlando
Publisher(s)
EA
Engine
frostbite
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
Where to play
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WHERE TO PLAY
SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
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NFL Street
Snap it in the streets
Source: Electronic Arts
Everybody who grew up playing football remembers doing so at their childhood field or local blacktop court in a city. There's a fun charm to it that is nostalgic, which is why games such as NFL Street were so popular among sports game enthusiasts. Following in the footsteps of the NBA Street games that combined the sport with street and music culture, NFL Street simplifies the game of football into a fun 7-on-7 arcade-style game. Players aren't wearing the standard uniforms they would don on an official NFL field, but instead show a creative style of street clothes that express central themes of street culture. The games themselves are basic football, without the constant stoppage of penalties getting in the way, and instead a very fast-paced and action-packed style of football. Players can do wild tricks and perform incredible feats with a flashy style that makes the game very interesting to play. While it wasn't over-the-top in the same way as Midway's NFL Blitz series, NFL Street was still exaggerated enough to be viewed in the same light. The hits were still hard, and the style of play still leaned more on fantasy rather than realism. Like in NBA Street, special actions like a Gamebreaker can clinch victories for teams by performing different moves to build up enough style points and execute them, giving a huge boost offensively or defensively.
Source: Electronic Arts
NFL Street was released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube in 2004, and was under the EA Sports BIG umbrella that included different sports titles of the era. While the development team, EA Orlando, was best known for the Madden NFL Football and NCAA College Football games, the team also had a lot of experience making different kinds of games for the publisher. Following the success of the NBA Street games, Electronic Arts looked to have other sports take on a similar street theme for video games, since it was becoming popular. Upon release, the game was loved by critics and fans, selling over 2 million units in 2006.
NFL Street
Released
January 13, 2004
Platform(s)
PlayStation 2, Xbox (Original), GameCube
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NFL Blitz
Hard-hitting NFL action
Source: (YouTube) Not The Expert
There's no other football video game that takes the tough aspects of the game and dials it up to a thousand. For most fans, NFL Blitz is the quintessential arcade sports game that hyper-exaggerates all the best aspects of American football. Midway Games released the first game in 1997 for arcades and consoles, and followed up with sequels in the following years that updated different aspects of the gameplay, including adding new modes to the experience. NFL Blitz was heavily inspired by the release of NBA JAM in 1993, which was one of the first titles to have an arcade-style and exaggerated approach to sports games. Leaning on basic rules and ignoring aspects like penalties and injuries that were part of the real-life game, NFL Blitz took some of the popular aspects of NBA JAM and adopted them into football. Games in NFL Blitz are set up similarly to how real NFL games are played, but without the additional layers to the real game. You still have the same number of players on the field for offense and defense, similar plays that are run by real teams, and the same distance for running and passing the ball to the end zone. But the amount of hits and the momentum of how plays are run is exponentially greater, with action that is faster-paced than other football games. It's all part of the same tone that NBA JAM had, with the games feeling more impactful and exciting without being bogged down by the more boring aspects of the sport.
Source: Midway Games
The hits and overall violence of NFL Blitz were an attractive part of the experience, which is part of why the game became so popular among football fans, especially those who loved other Midway games like Mortal Kombat. Who doesn't love the idea of body slamming onto a quarterback after getting a sack on them during a drive? While the NFL was originally against this for fear of how it would compromise the integrity of the sport, they eventually lightened up in the years that followed. For many people who enjoy football games, NFL Blitz is the apex of what is fun about the sport and being a fan of it, without getting too deep in the details of football itself. Everyone's favorite NFL teams are there to play, and each of them is just as tough and aggressive as the other. If there's one football series without Madden in the title that can get any fan hyped about football starting up again, it's definitely NFL Blitz.
NFL Blitz 2001
Released
September 14, 2000
Where to play
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WHERE TO PLAY
PHYSICAL
Platform(s)
PlayStation (Original), Sega Dreamcast, Nintendo 64
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Are you ready for some football?
There's an aura of excitement in the air when football season draws near. And when it finally arrives, the level of hype and enthusiasm for the sport skyrockets for another year of NFL action. Gamers who enjoy the sport have many different titles to play that cater to their love of the real game, whether they want to simulate what they see on television or just want to have pure fun. If you want to get hyped up before the first kickoff takes place on an NFL field, any of these football games will get you ready to be in the mindset for when it's finally time.