Opinion on ME1's Mako
- Thread starter -Dragmire-
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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.
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.
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.
The problems with the vehicle sections in ME1, in my opinion, were less the fault of the Mako and more the fault of the terrain they expected us to navigate in that thing.
I think those sections would have been a lot easier if the jump jets on the Mako were capable of more than just a short hop. Useful for getting out of the way of an incoming rocket, lousy for getting over a mountain.
And some kind of turbo boost. That would have made those missions much less tedious.
I think those sections would have been a lot easier if the jump jets on the Mako were capable of more than just a short hop. Useful for getting out of the way of an incoming rocket, lousy for getting over a mountain.
And some kind of turbo boost. That would have made those missions much less tedious.
The only thing I liked about the Mako is that is was a valid target for Singularity, Push and other targetted Biotic powers. This made it easy to unlock relevant power Achievements which subsequently allowed a new Shepard to be made with my choice of bonus power. The enemies in Pinnacle Station were cool too as they were valid targets (despite being holographic) for weapon and engineering skill achievements. 1200/1200 baby.
I loved the Mako, far more than the Hammerhead. Controls didn't give me any trouble, quick movements and jumping could keep you safe from large numbers of foes, and it could take punishment (unlike the tissue-paper tank). My problem was with the terrain. If you didn't find the exact narrow path the game wanted you to take, then you were left trying to scale vertical cliffs. More openness and freedom, a little more creativity with the scenery and I would have been very happy.
EDIT:
EDIT:
Damn it, seriously? I wish to hell I had known that. Would have saved me a lot of grief.KingsGambit said:
I hope I wasent the only one to ram humans, armatures and colossi alike with the mako?
One of my fondest memories is a shotout with a colossus with my sheilds drained before the end.
I managed to persevere until I had brought its health down quite a bit. As it fired one of its charged blasts I drove it at full speed at the armature. The blue plasma passed overhead as I continued to drive at the still recovering geth. Just as it rose up on its four metal leggs i rammed it, causing it to fall flat on the roof of the Mako. Then I fired the thrusters and both rover and armature rose up into the air. As the thruster died and gravity took hold the armature slid of the roof and I fired the mako´s main cannon. The geth exploaded at point blank range and it´s charred remains dropped down into the valley.
Then the mako landed on it and squashed it again.
One of my fondest memories is a shotout with a colossus with my sheilds drained before the end.
I managed to persevere until I had brought its health down quite a bit. As it fired one of its charged blasts I drove it at full speed at the armature. The blue plasma passed overhead as I continued to drive at the still recovering geth. Just as it rose up on its four metal leggs i rammed it, causing it to fall flat on the roof of the Mako. Then I fired the thrusters and both rover and armature rose up into the air. As the thruster died and gravity took hold the armature slid of the roof and I fired the mako´s main cannon. The geth exploaded at point blank range and it´s charred remains dropped down into the valley.
Then the mako landed on it and squashed it again.
The mako had its ups and down. On the upside, it made the Mass Effect universe feel very large when you had to drive around on the surface of the planets and put some actual effort into finding things. The vehicle battles were also fun, I found. I loved blasting enemies into ashes, shredding them with the MG, or just charging full tilt and rolling them down under the tires. It also made for some memorable moments when my Mako was belching smoke and fire and I had to ditch it and take on a colossus on foot. In many cases, the Mako was also fun to just drive around and play with. The hammerhead, I thought, was much less fun, as you couldn't get out of it and it was extremely fragile, with just a few direct hits from a bloody pistol causing it to spew flames and alarms.
On the down side, The mako handled like a top-heavy red wagon filled with bricks. The jump-jets were fucking useless in most cases (I always wondered how they could blast the jump-jets all the way from orbit to the surface, but I only got to blast them for a few seconds) and the vehicle was prone to getting stuck in impossible places. The main cannon was also ridiculously hard to aim if you weren't sitting still, and when you did sit still combined enemy fire would rip you apart like a piece of paper. Running enemies over also had its issues when enemies would get plastered to the front of the vehicle, and made it handle like a top-heavy red wagon filled with bricks in ZERO GRAVITY.
The Mako, I think, was a good idea that they just didn't put enough time into working the kinks out of, almost as if they added the vehicle sections as an afterthought. It would have been almost trivial to improve upon it, and would have been a nice addition to the ME2 combat system. I don't see why they had to do away with the Mako in favor of cover-based linear shooting galleries, when it could have been implemented alongside this.
On the down side, The mako handled like a top-heavy red wagon filled with bricks. The jump-jets were fucking useless in most cases (I always wondered how they could blast the jump-jets all the way from orbit to the surface, but I only got to blast them for a few seconds) and the vehicle was prone to getting stuck in impossible places. The main cannon was also ridiculously hard to aim if you weren't sitting still, and when you did sit still combined enemy fire would rip you apart like a piece of paper. Running enemies over also had its issues when enemies would get plastered to the front of the vehicle, and made it handle like a top-heavy red wagon filled with bricks in ZERO GRAVITY.
The Mako, I think, was a good idea that they just didn't put enough time into working the kinks out of, almost as if they added the vehicle sections as an afterthought. It would have been almost trivial to improve upon it, and would have been a nice addition to the ME2 combat system. I don't see why they had to do away with the Mako in favor of cover-based linear shooting galleries, when it could have been implemented alongside this.
I'm being a bit hard on the Mako truth be told. It wasn't that bad. It just wasn't that great. It could be a lot better. I have to admit it really did make a difference in terms of immersion and continuity. Click door, appear on other side of it. Drive Mako, get out, walk to door, enter base. That was great.
My real criticisms...the fact I got more XP killing things on foot meant it was better to park up, get out and do it that way which a) defeated the purpose of having it (eg. variety) and b) actually changed the way I played and approached combat (ie. find a place to park first). It was slow and controlled horribly (perhaps planet surfaces can be blamed for that) but it wasn't fun to do one mile per hour up or across random slopes to try and find a route and it took AGES to get over one rise to find a mountain range ahead. Also the jump was a little annoying...why not just a 5 second directional hover or something? It would have made life 100x easier!
The vehicle you get with one of the ME2 DLCs was much better. The "scanning" bit still sucked but it was better to manouvre, faster and much more exciting.
My real criticisms...the fact I got more XP killing things on foot meant it was better to park up, get out and do it that way which a) defeated the purpose of having it (eg. variety) and b) actually changed the way I played and approached combat (ie. find a place to park first). It was slow and controlled horribly (perhaps planet surfaces can be blamed for that) but it wasn't fun to do one mile per hour up or across random slopes to try and find a route and it took AGES to get over one rise to find a mountain range ahead. Also the jump was a little annoying...why not just a 5 second directional hover or something? It would have made life 100x easier!
The vehicle you get with one of the ME2 DLCs was much better. The "scanning" bit still sucked but it was better to manouvre, faster and much more exciting.
I never really saw what the complaints were about, i never had any issues driving it, yeh the terrains were bleak sometimes but what do you expect half the time your in unhabitable planets. I thought it was better than having to scan planets for a few hours to get all the upgrades.
If it didn't disobey the laws of gravity quite so much, I'd have preferred to see it in ME2 rather than all that silly scanner gibberish.
I thought it was a lot of fun, but at the same time no challenge in combat. You're in the mako, you're virtually invincible except in a few small section, like against the Geth Dropship.
The hammerhead was more fun to ride, since it could jump and sort of hover, but I didn't like the weapons as much. Just one big cannon? No machine gun? Come now.
I also didn't like the lack of health bar on the Hammerhead, it seemed to easy to go from zero to dead. I'd take the Mako over that.
The hammerhead was more fun to ride, since it could jump and sort of hover, but I didn't like the weapons as much. Just one big cannon? No machine gun? Come now.
I also didn't like the lack of health bar on the Hammerhead, it seemed to easy to go from zero to dead. I'd take the Mako over that.
I use a controller, and I loved the Mako. Oh sure the physics were on the far side of bonkers and the new Hammerhead hovertank is a definite improvement, but the ability to actually explore new, wild worlds was my most favourite aspect of the game, because it made the ME galaxy FEEL big. You never knew what you would find, and each planet was unique and beautiful in it's own way. Honestly, I hope they bring that back, because I sorely missed it in ME2.-Dragmire- said:
I liked it.
My favourite part of using it was managing to wedge it through the one section that is supposed to force you to go on foot on the planet with Liara on it.
Cinematic of a geth ambush on foot, followed by you being in the mako. Very, very easy pickings from there. Good times.
My favourite part of using it was managing to wedge it through the one section that is supposed to force you to go on foot on the planet with Liara on it.
Cinematic of a geth ambush on foot, followed by you being in the mako. Very, very easy pickings from there. Good times.
The hammerhead was alright for what it was (basically a ghost from halo with an extra gun and vertical jumpjets) but I vastly preferred the Mako, which was tougher, much nicer to fight in (as you could shoot in a direction other than that which you were facing, had zoom function on the turret and had a main gun which did a decent amount of damage) and a lot more fun to use, partly because you were given effectively sand-box areas to play with it in, and partly because the bouncyness often provided for lots and lots of fun just messing about.
Ultimately, with a few kicks sent in the level designers' direction and a reduction (only slight mind) of the sheer bouncyness of that suspension, the mako would have handled like an utter charm under virtually all circumstances.
Also, having the steer controls also produce propulsive force... yeah that was a foolish decision which probably really did not help.
And I play on PC with keyboard, which from the sounds of things probably helps.
Ultimately, with a few kicks sent in the level designers' direction and a reduction (only slight mind) of the sheer bouncyness of that suspension, the mako would have handled like an utter charm under virtually all circumstances.
Also, having the steer controls also produce propulsive force... yeah that was a foolish decision which probably really did not help.
And I play on PC with keyboard, which from the sounds of things probably helps.
Are most people crazy?? The MAKO was horrible! It handled like a drunken elephant, it would just never go the way I wanted it to go! At least the Halo had mostly flat terrain so the controls were manageable for the vehicles but Christ almighty the terrain is just too rough for the MAKO and it's jet pack wheels! Don't get me wrong, I love the Mass Effect games, possibly my favorite games ever but that was a major flaw in the first game.