What a wonderful time for entertainment releases - there's a new Pink Floyd album, a new Call of Duty game and the latest Farming Simulator.
Wait, what? One of those things is not like the other.
Pink Floyd hasn't released an album since The Division Bell in 1994, and it is unreleased material recorded in that period that forms the bulk of The Endless River.
It's an album of mostly instrumental tracks that sound like jam sessions, many representing a different era of the psychedelic rock band's past. Many numbers sound like segments of previous hits, only expanded out into full tracks.
There's no high concept bringing the album together like there was with Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall and Wish You Were Here - the band's best and three of the greatest records ever released, full-stop - but it still has that unmistakable, classic Pink Floyd sound.
I dig it. It's not one of their best albums, but it's up there with A Momentary Lapse of Reason and The Division Bell for quality.
It hasn't been 20 years since the last Call of Duty, but rather one. The 2013 edition was Ghosts and it was a bit of a fizzer, but the latest release in the world's biggest first-person shooter franchise is the best in years.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the first in the series to have a three-year development cycle and the first from Sledgehammer Games, and they've raised the bar.
The single-player campaign is driven by a Kevin Spacey performance and is the sort of epic, action-packed thrill ride fans have come to expect from Call of Duty, only with the best graphics it has ever exhibited.
Multiplayer, however, is the main course of this gaming feast and it is incredible. It takes the best elements of past Call of Duty multiplayer experiences, adds some fresh ideas and ends up being the pinnacle of modern first-person shooter action.
My full written review will be published this week.
While everyone knows Call of Duty is a huge franchise, not many people are as familiar with Farming Simulator, but it too has sold millions of copies.
Farming Simulator 15 was released on PC recently and it is exactly what the name suggests. You do things like plough a field in it, in real-time, slowly driving a tractor back and forth up and down a paddock.
To me, it's a very boring game, but it obviously has a big market and it shows what a diverse and exciting medium gaming is.
My colleague Dan Satherley has reviewed the game in full.
I appeared on Firstline this morning to discuss these releases.
Watch the video.
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source: newshub archive
