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  "path": "/post/what-i-m-playing-spring-2026-edition",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-25T00:31:41.000Z",
  "site": "https://brandons-journal.com",
  "tags": [
    "impressed with this throw-back commercial"
  ],
  "textContent": "2026 is shaping up to be an interesting year for me. While I still really enjoy watching/playing/listening to things from the past, I’m having a lot of fun exploring new things. While, maybe not as drastic as when I decided to explore sword and sorcery a few years ago, I am trying to watch movies I haven’t seen, play new games, and experience new media. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m trying to keep up with the newest releases, just stuff I haven’t seen or experienced before.\n\n## Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War\n\nThis game really impressed me. It’s a boomer shooter (like __Doom__) that looks like a game that would have come out in the late 90s when __Starship Troopers__ was released. Despite the dated graphics, the game has modern controls and it features some fun voice acting and great vignettes between missions. The game is presented as a video game marketed towards people in the world of __Starship Troopers__ to be used as a recruiting tool for the Federation. In a strange way, it’s not too different from the __America’s Army__ game a few years ago, but it’s way more tongue in cheek.\n\nThe game is short, but I had an absolute blast playing it and I haven’t even tried the missions where you play as the bugs yet. The world of Starship Troopers works so well for video games, and I’d love to see some more missions as DLC. I also see myself replaying this game on a higher difficulty level, which is not something I often do.\n\n* * *\n\n## ****Sonic Racing: Crossworlds****\n\nI have a strange relationship with Sega. Growing up, I loved Sega. The Genesis was probably my favorite video game system, and I happily carried around my Game Gear and a ton of batteries in an old camera bag. But after that generation, I didn’t buy another Sega system until I bought a Dreamcast many years after it had been retired. Still, I can’t help but love __Sonic, Crazy Taxi, Super Monkey Ball__ , and many of the Sega properties.\n\nWhen it comes to kart racing games, I’ve always strictly been a __Mario Kart__ fan. I tried a few __Sonic Racing__ games, but it was usually during free demos or maybe a game was free with PSN or Xbox Live. I never put much effort into it, because in my mind, I just prefer __Mario Kart__. But with the high price on the Switch 2 and a lack of games that I want to play, I just haven’t had much interest in the new system outside of Mario Kart. After hearing a lot of hype behind __Sonic Racing__(and being thoroughly impressed with this throw-back commercial) I decided to buy it on sale and I’m very happy that I did. It took an hour of playing to really get the feel of the game, but once I did, I fell in love with the controls and the speed of the game. The online racing is fantastic and I was so impressed with the game I decided to buy the upgrade for all of the extra characters.\n\nDo I prefer it over __Mario Kart__? Probably not, but it’s a damn solid game and something I’m really enjoying playing.\n\n(Random thought: Since when did Sonic’s world expand to so many characters! Sheesh, there are so many hedgehogs/characters in this game I couldn’t even begin to guess their names.)\n\n* * *\n\n## NFL 2K5\n\nI still need to finish my homemade emulation/Steambox (I had to return the wrong power supply and I just got my new one yesterday), but until I get that complete I’m still playing games on my Xbox 360 from time to time.\n\nI’m in my second season as the Pittsburgh Steelers in __NFL 2K5__. The game is still a lot of fun to play and difficult to master. My only complaint is I wish I would have chosen a different team. I like the Steelers in real life, but man, that was not the best team in 2004 when __NFL 2K5__ was released and the roster isn’t deep enough to make too many trades. I’ve had to bulk my team up in free agency.\n\n* * *\n\n## Powerwash Simulator\n\nWhen this game first came out, I played the hell out of it. I reached a level featuring a huge building that took me a very long time to make progress on. Then I cancelled my PSN and in the midst of all that, I lost my save. So I never finished the game. Well, now that I have PSN again, I’ve been able to access my save from the cloud and occasionally when I need something to screw around with, I do a little virtual power washing.\n\nDon’t judge me, it’s soothing.\n\n* * *\n\n## Honorable Mentions\n\nI did play a little __Battlefield__ last night for the first time in months and I had a good time. I also picked up __The Mummy Demastered__ , which has been on my wishlist for years, since it was five bucks. But I haven’t tried it yet, nor __TMNT Splintered Fate__ , which I picked up for $3 the other day. I really wanted to finish up Starship Troopers first. After reading the new __Darkness__ comic, I decided I wanted to replay the video game from 2007. The game looks and feels pretty great, until you get to the point of controlling The Darkness. Sheesh, it took me just one level of using the Darkness to infiltrate an air vent to make me remember the frustration that was those controls. This is a game that deserves a remastering and updated controls.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​",
  "title": "What I’m Playing - Spring 2026 Edition",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-25T00:31:41.000Z"
}