GamesStrategyBattlezone 98 ReduxI tracked down the guy who gave a negative review to Battlezone 98 Redux after playing for over 8,000 hours, and came away convinced he was rightWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesStrategyBattlezone 98 ReduxI tracked down the guy who gave a negative review to Battlezone 98 Redux after playing for over 8,000 hours, and came away convinced he was rightWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Rebellion)
No one is as vicious about a game as its most dedicated player. Take a jaunt over to the forums for WoW, or CoD, or Overwatch sometime and you’ll see what I mean: Scores of people who play almost nothing but the game in question but have almost nothing positive to say about it.
But not a single irritated MMO player is a patch on my own personal icon of this genre: Herp McDerperson—real name Scott Smith—who I discovered one day when I stumbled on thenegative reviewhe left on Steam for Battlezone 98 Redux (BZ98R), Rebellion’s 2016 remaster of the original RTS/FPS hybrid from 1998. A negative review which he left, says Steam, after 8,461.1 hours of playtime, then followed up with 600 more.
(Image credit: Rebellion)
I’ve been curious about Smith since before I even began writing about games—a product of both the disparity between his hour-count and his attitude and the authoritative tone of his review (it pretty much kicks off with the statement “This review involves numerous statements of objective fact”). It’s a relationship with a single piece of art that I can’t really fathom. My favourite game of all time is Morrowind and I’ve poured a paltry few hundred hours into that. My most-played, according to Steam? Fallout: New Vegas with 650ish hours, a mere 7% of Smith’s total in BZ98R. I have only positive things to say about either. Naturally, I had to leverage my position as a PCG writer to reach out to Smith and see if he’d chat about what makes him tick.
Moon units
“I don’t blame people for thinking that something is wrong with me after playing over 8,000 hours of a game only to leave a negative review,” says Smith. “Anyone who came back to either BZ1 or BZ2 after a decade or more, specifically the multiplayer, and also sticks around to this day, has something seriously wrong with them.”
But Smith clearly still lives and breathes the game, even if he’s long-since fallen off the BZ98R train. His chatter is peppered with references to obscure devs, infamous community figures, niche bugs, and a litany of grievances. “I believe that I received Battlezone along with a handful of other games from my mother for Christmas in 1999… I can tell you that I still had 56k [dial-up internet] as I remember downloading the 1.31 and 1.4 patches… and suffering.”
(Image credit: Rebellion)
Those were the Battlezone salad days. Before Rebellion, before the remaster, perhaps even before the “ever-present malignant force” of a player Smith remembers as “Captain Choes”—“he’s a troll who, I think, has always been there. There may have been some gaps, but there’s reports of him being around in ‘98, ‘99.
“He’s not very smart, obviously, because he can’t spell ‘chaos,’ [although] he spells it correctly now.” Per Smith, Choes’ reign of terror is so pervasive and enduring that there are players who only play skirmish matches “alone in passworded games” to this day, the better to ensure he doesn’t pop up and start ruining their fun.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
“He’s not very smart, obviously, because he can’t spell ‘chaos.'“Scott Smith, on Captain Choes
“He’s not very smart, obviously, because he can’t spell ‘chaos.'”
But Choes/Chaos wasn’t as infamous in ‘99, and besides, Smith was “single-player only” for years before he fell off the game altogether for a while. Besides a brief dalliance in 2008, it was only around 2012—when he discovered the1.5 unofficial patchfor the original game—that Smith resumed playing “pretty consistently.” The original Battlezone never got a Steam release, of course, meaning none of that play is even factored into his legendary hour-count.
Redux, undo
“When BZ98R came out, it was something I flat-out DID NOT WANT,” says Smith. “When I first heard about it, one of the first things I did was email Rebellion in a panic regarding the future of 1.5 and whether they’d interfere with its continued existence.
“(They did not respond).”
(Image credit: Rebellion)
But the answer soon became clear anyway: The existence of an ‘official’ modernised, dolled-up version of the original Battlezone was pretty much the apocalypse for the existing community scene. “[BZ98R’s] release largely killed 1.5’s multiplayer scene,” says Smith, “It’s very very dead now.” That’s one of the key reasons he migrated over to Rebellion’s version of the game in spite of his misgivings (the other was, admittedly, the studio had made some “QoL changes I couldn’t really give up again.")
When he got there, he didn’t like what he found. Smith’s “list of grievances” with BZ98R is long and detailed, both in his original review and in the elaboration he provided me over email. They range from seemingly niche and obscure—at least to a Battlezone neophyte like me—to downright “DAMNING,” in Smith’s words.
(Image credit: Rebellion)
The kind of bug that might annoy an old-timer, sure, but you probably wouldn’t warn new players away for it. But others are worse. One bug lets players detonate a specific kind of bomb in their own base without taking damage themselves, providing a hacky way to vaporise invaders. Another? The remaster’s minimap reveals everything where the original only showed the areas your radar covered—essentially abolishing fog of war from the game’s RTS layer.
There are plenty more besides, but Smith’s most trenchant criticisms go back to the multiplayer. His number one complaint is the netcode. Community legend holds, says Smith, that BZ98R’s multiplayer code was ginned up “‘in about a week’,” though he isn’t sure if that’s really true.
(Image credit: Rebellion)
Still, the fact itcouldbe believed says a lot. “Players get disconnected too easily and it often has nothing to do with the quality of their internet connection… In the past, both Battlezone remasters had repeat issues with their multiplayer servers and I was DEEPLY involved in trying to get that addressed. Rebellion was often VERY slow to address these kinds of problems… As a result of my interactions, I have an adversarial relationship with one of them (who I will not name). Naturally, I blame the other party for this.”
Detective mode
Smith’s unnamed nemesis isn’t the only acrimonious relationship he has with members of the BZ98R team. After expanding on the various bugs and design changes in the remaster that went into shaping his negative review of the game, he references a story he considers both emblematic of the project and of his relationship with (some of) its creators: “The BZ98R Bot Fiasco.”
Over the course of an hour-long call including time-stamped chat logs and audio files from the game, which Smith has unpacked on his computer, he tells the tale of the time he played Discord detective, rubbing some feathers the wrong way and—if such a thing were possible—perhaps souring him even further on the remaster.
(Image credit: Rebellion)
In essence, the game’s official Discord had a channel which showed when multiplayer games began and ended. “What we started to notice is that there were players in there that didn’t talk, had really weird names, and one would create a game that was locked, and a bunch of them would filter in there, and then, at some point, the game would end.”
Phantom players playing phantom games. In other words: A mystery. Smith dimly recalls someone telling the community—after complaints about this weirdness—that the players were “Indian beta testers.” Unsurprisingly, that explanation didn’t fly.
Smith decided to do something about it. He sent support requests, but they were closed without answer. He took a look at the players themselves and, where usually a tag would list if a player was on Steam or GOG, theirs would just say “Other.”
(Image credit: Rebellion)
Smith operated in gumshoe mode for a year, “collecting all this information,” and eventually settled on a theory. Some of the phantom players used names—or variations of names—historically associated with some of the devs. His conclusion? These were bots spun up to generate a “false sense of activity” in the game’s multiplayer—multiplayer that was, in Smith’s eyes, rife with newly created problems that weren’t present in the old game and that had been built on the razed foundations of the previous community scene.
And I would play 600 more
Smith says he no longer plays BZ98R, though he does boot up the remaster of the sequel—Battlezone: Combat Commander—from time to time. He wrote his review in August 2021, five years after the remaster came out. “I don’t think anything in particular triggered me to finally write my review. I had meant to do so for YEARS,” he says. He just happened to get around to it (it is quite lengthy) at that time.
But the question remains: Steam the eternal tattle-tale says that, even after he wrote that review, Smith poured almost 600 extra hours into BZ98R, a game that had destroyed the multiplayer scene he was part of and that was still riddled with bugs he considered unforgivable. Why?
(Image credit: Rebellion)
Turns out the answer is pretty wholesome. “For a long time now, I’ve only opened the game to help someone, usually modders, with problems. I possess(ed) some rare institutional knowledge and I like helping people with what I know. I’ve spent easily a couple dozen hours doing tech support,” says Smith.
I think that kind of gets to the root of it. I admit it, when I first considered writing this, I never imagined I’d trulygetSmith’s point of view. It felt like he and I simply played games too differently to bridge that gulf of understanding; I’d never really parse how you could play 8,000 hours of a thing and then say it’s bad.
(Image credit: Rebellion)
But I think the gold thread running through everything Smith says is a mourning for the Battlezone community as it was, and that was disintegrated when the remaster arrived on the scene. That I understand better than anything, and dipping back into a game you don’t really like very much in order to help out whatever embers of a community remain? That makes sense too. As someone who still dips into the dying MMOs of his youth to relive thinning and faded memories, I get it.
Plus, I have to admit, some of those bugs really do seem unforgivable.
More about strategyWhen 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 modsCivilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next monthLatestPlayers are still finding edge-case Baldur’s Gate 3 scenes, like one where you play as a kidnapped Astarion even if you made your own player-characterSee more latest►
More about strategyWhen 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 modsCivilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next monthLatestPlayers are still finding edge-case Baldur’s Gate 3 scenes, like one where you play as a kidnapped Astarion even if you made your own player-characterSee more latest►
More about strategyWhen 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 modsCivilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next month
More about strategy
When 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 modsCivilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next month
When 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 mods
When 2K removed its annoying launcher it broke a bunch of XCOM 2 mods
Civilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next month
Civilization 7 has been Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next month
LatestPlayers are still finding edge-case Baldur’s Gate 3 scenes, like one where you play as a kidnapped Astarion even if you made your own player-characterSee more latest►
Latest
Players are still finding edge-case Baldur’s Gate 3 scenes, like one where you play as a kidnapped Astarion even if you made your own player-character
Players are still finding edge-case Baldur’s Gate 3 scenes, like one where you play as a kidnapped Astarion even if you made your own player-character
Players are still finding edge-case Baldur’s Gate 3 scenes, like one where you play as a kidnapped Astarion even if you made your own player-character
See more latest►
Most PopularDragonflight got WoW back on its feet, now we get to see if Blizzard can make the Worldsoul Saga runThis bizarre roguelike has a new take on the Vampire Survivors formula: letting you build your own custom weapons out of brains, eyeballs, and chimpanzee spines18 games the PC Gamer team can’t wait to play in 2025The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 42024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for meTrain like you game with this adventure-inspired workout’It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raidsPlease join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual funCall of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doingThese are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre
Most PopularDragonflight got WoW back on its feet, now we get to see if Blizzard can make the Worldsoul Saga runThis bizarre roguelike has a new take on the Vampire Survivors formula: letting you build your own custom weapons out of brains, eyeballs, and chimpanzee spines18 games the PC Gamer team can’t wait to play in 2025The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 42024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for meTrain like you game with this adventure-inspired workout’It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raidsPlease join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual funCall of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doingThese are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre
Most PopularDragonflight got WoW back on its feet, now we get to see if Blizzard can make the Worldsoul Saga runThis bizarre roguelike has a new take on the Vampire Survivors formula: letting you build your own custom weapons out of brains, eyeballs, and chimpanzee spines18 games the PC Gamer team can’t wait to play in 2025The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 42024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for meTrain like you game with this adventure-inspired workout’It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raidsPlease join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual funCall of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doingThese are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre
Most Popular
Dragonflight got WoW back on its feet, now we get to see if Blizzard can make the Worldsoul Saga run
This bizarre roguelike has a new take on the Vampire Survivors formula: letting you build your own custom weapons out of brains, eyeballs, and chimpanzee spines
18 games the PC Gamer team can’t wait to play in 2025
The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 4
2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me
Train like you game with this adventure-inspired workout
‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids
Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)
Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun
Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing
These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS
1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
1
Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads
2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
2
Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop
3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
3
Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most
4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
4
Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands
5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
5
Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested
1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits
1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits
1
Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits
2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback
2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback
2
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback
3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
3
WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review
4Ikea Utespelare desk review
4Ikea Utespelare desk review
4
Ikea Utespelare desk review
5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
5
Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review
