Everyone who knows me, knows how I love college football with a burning passion. I’m always watching my West Virginia University Mountaineers and Sam Houston Bearkats. Even when there’s no chance of a national championship short of a deal with every devil in modern mythology, there is something special about being able to watch your favorite teams play each week during the season. But for true fans, another joy is being able to actually coach or play as those teams in video games.
I enjoy college football so much that the release of EA Sports College Football 25 convinced me to pony up enough money to purchase a PlayStation 5 so that I could get access to the new game, which was only available on next generation consoles. I reviewed it, and College Football 25 earned a full 5 GiN Gems score.
But as good as College Football 25 is, we all know that the industry is better with competition. So today we are looking at Maximum Football, which is now available for the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X, and for the PC through the Steam platform. It’s a unique title because it’s totally free to play and makes its money through optional purchases for game modes such as online play and cosmetic upgrades for the various teams and stadiums found within. It’s not a bad business model, and it is great for players who want to check out a new football title without spending any money to do so. So, it earns points in the value department right there and also the thanks of many cash strapped gamers.
In terms of history, the series is the successor to Doug Flutie’s Maximum Football 2020, which was developed by Canuck Play. The 2020 title was not free to play, however, so it struggled somewhat to gain an audience against other titles that had licenses for players and teams. The 2025 version, developed by Invictus Games and published by Maximum Entertainment, will probably not have those troubles. Not only has there been a huge uptick in quality, but it’s totally free on both consoles and on Steam, so there is no reason for football fans not to try it.
Because Maximum Football 2025 does not have licenses to any of the colleges in the game, they decided to just create their own. I just want to make a quick digression, and I promise this is relevant. I was fortunate to grow up when EA didn’t have full licenses to all of the NFL teams. I got to play games from the NFL Quarterback Club series (Specifically Quarterback Club ‘99) and also the ESPN NFL 2K games. I often found those to be more fun than the Madden titles each year. And I really don’t think it’s healthy for one company to monopolize all of the sports teams, so I am a bit of a cheerleader when it comes to alternative titles like Maximum Football.
That said, despite not having access to real college teams, Maximum Football 2025 made an incredible effort for their dynasty mode. There are over fifty pre-made, fantasy college teams that cover a wide swath of the United States. After looking at all of them, I chose the Monongahela Ravens in West Virginia. Team selections in states near me, which means Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, were really great, and pretty much mirrored real teams without infringing on the license or intellectual property of whatever university or team that each of the fantasy ones represent.
Diving into the game itself, I found that it was kind of difficult to get started. Honestly, a small tutorial here wouldn’t go amiss. It was odd because some menu options looked grayed out, but I could still activate and select them. The recruiting module could also use a small explainer as it was a lot to try and absorb all at once. It offered a lot of similar concepts to EA College Football but was just different enough to require a brief primer, especially for new players. The gameplay was slightly awkward when I started too because, once again, things were similar but different from what I was used to. Once I got it all figured out, the fun really began.
There are online ranked matches which I avoided for this review because if there is one thing I hate more than a ranked online match, it’s the average person on a ranked online match. I did not want those interactions to color my feelings towards the title. Also, I really hope that they can do a coach mode that is similar to the old NFL Head Coach games. But in any case, there are lots of cool things you can buy to add to your game right now, and they are not too expensive either, especially considering that the base game is totally free.
In terms of gameplay, there is a wild physics engine driving everything on the field that seems very realistic. It’s not a bunch of highly polished made for YouTube interactions between players like you might find in a Madden game but instead feels real. When you are dodging through defenders and making them miss, watching them as they stumble and fall behind you as you tear down the field, it makes for some great moments of gridiron glory.
Both the running and passing game are well-defined, but the passing really shines. You can easily do lob passes, bullets, screens, and fake handoffs, giving offenses a lot of options. That tends to lead to great play variety, just like you will often see in real college games. On the other side of the ball, the defensive play feels really strong too. With just a little practice and experience, you can start to read the offense and adjust accordingly as the game goes on. It can be quite a challenge on defense, but it feels great when you can stop a huge play or even get to the quarterback for a critical sack.
The publisher for Maximum Football provided GiN with credits to buy a lot of the extra features and cosmetics that are currently available. However, most of this review was conducted with just the baseline, core game. So, we can say that while the extras are really nice and buying some of them is a great way to support the developer, there is nothing wrong with the free, base game. It’s not a stripped-down experience by any means and more than worth the free download.
Overall, Maximum Football 2025 does not feel like a free game. It’s so much better than one would expect. My guess is that people will download it and see that quality, and then hopefully buy some of those extras in order to support the business model that brings us quality, free football games – something that we almost never see.
For me personally, I am already working Maximum Football 2025 into my play rotation. It may not be quite as polished as College Football 2025, but it’s a lot of fun to play. The developer is also constantly adding new features based on player feedback, so it should only get better from here. Grab your free copy and hit the gridiron. You won’t be disappointed.
Developers: Invictus Games
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox Series X