Opinion on ME1's Mako

[King Kupofried]

The Mako itself was fine, the planets you drove it on were not.
Thresher Maws were a bit irritating, but killing mercenaries with the Mako was good fun, especially hilarious when they are positioned just right for you to go flying off a hill and land on top of one.

The problem was that otherwise exploring planets was the most dull, mind numbing activity ever. You explore the same three types of planets, for the same five different cycled landmarks, discover the one same 'dungeon' that you've seen in a thousand different places for rewards that are largely useless.
It doesn't add a sense of bigness to the universe so much as a sense of 'I hope to Jesus that whatever rewards I get for carrying this data over to #2 are good or else I might just kill myself right now.'
Planet Scanning might not have been any more stimulating, but it is at least much quicker and with much more obvious rewards. I would rather have seen them make the Mako areas more interesting, but I am perfectly willing to live with Planet Scanning.

 

[Jabberwock King]

I was a bit surprised at first to hear about how some people didn't like the Mako. It worked fine for me. The mountain scaling was easier once you realized that the paths that were easy to climb usually had a different terrain texture. Turrets and armatures were not too much of a threat since the boosters could easily jump their attacks, and fighting only got hairy if you encountered large amounts of infantry and snipers stripping your shields, but when your shields did get stripped, they took forever to recharge. I play on the 360, so I can confidently say that the controls were fine and accurate.

With ME2's Hammerhead, my biggest complaint was that it was made out of tissue paper, tissue paper that could re-nit itself back together, but tissue paper non the less. It was fast, it could hit hard, it could escape, but it could not go up against an enemy force for anything longer than 5 seconds. I also like having a HUD, because it makes things feel like the future while simultaneously giving me useful information on my own abilities and my opposition, so why the fuck doesn't the Hammerhead have one?

UPDATE: Something I've noticed long ago is that all of the enemies in the vehicle sections have one massive weakness, they are essentially immobile.

 

[Mistermixmaster]

Loved the Mako. Played on a keyboard and mouse. Not quite as much a fan of the 'new one' (Hammerhead or something?) in ME2 though, wasn't quite as epic, and the vibrating of the whole darn thing when scanning the ground and whatnot was just wierd...

Give me the Mako in ME3 and I'll singlehandedly stop the Reapers! The cannon, the boosters, the machine gun, all amazing to use in a wonderful symphony of death! >=) Also, I loved how one could (if timed properly) use the suspension and the boosters on the Mako to get some crazy height and land on enemies to kill 'em xD

The fact that the Mako could climb almost anywhere that wasn't 80 degrees or steeper also made it amazing to explore in.

 

[veloper]

Thge vehicle was fine.

The scenery was the problem.
Or more specificly: the bland level design and enemy placement was bad.

 

[karloss01]

the problem i had with the Mako was not the vehicle itself but the locations i used it in, the vast majority of the planets were empty except for some mineral deposits. if they made each planet interesting to explore then i would like it.

the planet probing in ME2 however was mind-numbingly dull.

 

[RA92]

The thing controls like it has no mass, so I was never real fond of it.

Erm, it did have a small Mass Effect core inside it. Which is why it didn't leave a crater every time it landed on a planet.

OT: I loved the Mako. The problem was with the bland environment, not the vehicle itself.

All those people saying removing the Mako was a good decision - I'm guessing you really enjoyed planet scanning.

 

[Casimir_Effect]

It was absolutely fucking awful and always makes me think twice before playing ME again. There's just so much wrong with it; not least of which is the ignorance Bioware seemed to have when it came to the limitations of the vehicle, and so made most of the planets mountainous as all fuck. Those green, "garden of Eden" planets were the absolute worst. They can choke on a dick for all I care.

I wouldn't be as hostile if it weren't so unnecessary. This game uses the same engine as Unreal Tournament 3, which had great vehicles. Lots of them. So how could they not make one decent one?

The best system would have been to make the planets all really hilly with smooth inclines, then implement a Tribes-style jetpack + skiing mechanic. It would be glorious.

 

[Platypus540]

I actually liked it, it controlled fine. The only problems were the bullshit mountain planets (I can remember two green ones that were just insane).

 

[Platypus540]

Also, off-topic, but when do you actually use the Hammerhead? I'm on the second disc of ME2's story, about 15 hours in, and I still don't even know what it looks like.

 

[RA92]

Also, off-topic, but when do you actually use the Hammerhead? I'm on the second disc of ME2's story, about 15 hours in, and I still don't even know what it looks like.

The Hammerhead was part of the Firewalker DLC.

Here's how it looks and plays:

<youtube=RmhU1-6aqcs>

 

[razer17]

I liked the concept, and it made the game seem much bigger, certainly bigger than in ME 2, but the controls were such a bloody pain. I hear the PC controls were much improved, but I played mine on xbox.

 

[deth2munkies]

The Mako broke physics...a lot. And the planets all had way too many mountains.

That said, I liked it a bit more because it allowed you to scout around for stuff like hidden pirate bases and approach them in a sneaky fashion (like sniping their sentries from 2 miles away then rolling in and mopping up the ground troops).

I really, REALLY didn't like ME2's "here's a linear set of corridors with chest high walls, have fun" approach to gameplay even if some of the actual mechanics and story elements were vastly superior to ME1.

 

[Lawyer105]

Some of those planets were nothing but mountains and canyons, and were hell on earth to get around in.

Oh, they were not. They were clearly hell in places that /weren't/ Earth.

Hahahahahahaha! Fair point, ya got me! Still... you can't deny that even the worst driving stuff was better than the planet scanning!

 

[Silent Anima]

I actually liked the MAKO. I came here expecting less people feeling the same way, but to my dismay it is liked by others as well. I'm not sure how it handled on a computer but it was fine on my xbox.

 

[Caligulove]

When it worked well and there were few gigantic hills, it was great! Added so much to the feeling of exploration and the being out in the middle of a well-made game universe. Floaty at first, but you learned it pretty quickly and got around it. It was only horrible when there were giant hills that couldnt be passed by finding a slope or road around it- then yea, that was an exercise in total frustration.

I would like for Mass Effect 3 to have that same kind of free roam exploration with something with easier and faster controls like the Hammerhead(?) in ME2. Biggest gripe with ME2 was that lack of exploration and immersion, with the game shuffling you along when I honestly wanted to look around a little

 

[hermes]

While I liked the exploration, the Mako handled like sh*t.

Check a video of "Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing". Notice how the vehicle seems to have no weight, accelerates from 0 to 100 in 0,0001 seconds, and can climb 80° mountains without loosing any speed? That is the Mako in a far more uneven terrain.

 

[PuppetDoctor]

I liked the Mako and didn't find it hard to control on a controller. The only problem I had with it was on those stupid grassy hill planets.

I personally find the Warthog in Halo to be MUCH more difficult to control.

 

[silasbufu]

Wow I was excpecting alot more hate. I actually enjoyed it.

 

[TornadoFive]

I really liked it. I played on the Xbox and thought it controlled fine. It really felt like you were exploring another planet with different gravity. I was disappointed when ME2 replaced it with the ridiculous planet scanning thing.

That said, I did once manage to get trapped once. I took the Mako to the top of a mountain to snipe some geth in a base. I took out a sniper, moved around a bit to find a better spot for aiming and fell off the mountain. Without the Mako, there was no way back up.

 

[coffeenebula]

I loved the Mako. I particularly enjoyed jumping it to avoid incoming fire while spamming Geth with rockets. That thing was fun to drive. I rode all over those planets testing how it drove on different terrain. It was immersive and felt like you really were exploring the galaxy. Hammerhead...is okay, but I miss my Mako. What kills me is all the people who griped about Mako but love that bloody Warthog, which seems to have an autopilot who likes to fly. Off cliffs.