So how bad are Mass Effect 1's driving segments?

[lumenadducere]

Not that bad at all. You get used to it fairly quickly, and as long as you actually use the zoom the aiming function for the cannon is easy. And you can cut down a lot of the driving segments by reducing the fluff sidequests that you do in the game.

 

[Leonemian]

I had a love/hate relationship with the Mako. At one point, I nearly tore my own hair out and turned off the game in frustration when a time limit ran out as the Mako was stuck on an invisible bump, but as much as I tried to hate it, I could not deny the extreme satisfaction I had in accelerating as much as I could and then using the jump jets to catapult myself into the face of an enemy. Seriously, there was one bit on a remote planet where some pirates put up some barricades and I had the clever notion of driving up a cliff and then jump jetting down on their collective faces. I defy you not to feel a rush of euphoria when you smash a bunch of destructible objects and enemies to pieces with a giant heavy brick of pain and firepower. Good times.

 

[Kathinka]

depends, really. if you are part of the glorious pc gaming master race and play on gods platform, then thanks to the superior controls it's really no problem. if you play on one of those heathen console thingies though the inaccurate-by-design controller will make it a torture.

 

[Da Orky Man]

I3 played it on the Xbox, and actually quite liked it. Sure, it's infuriating when you have to restart a good half-hour of driving because you forgot to save, but it's not as bad as everyone says.

 

[loc978]

I thoroughly explored every planet you were capable of landing on, found everything in the game... and I'd have to say that I'm not sure what people are complaining about. The physics are a little exaggerated with jumping and such (the vehicle acts as though it is a lot lighter than it should be... which can be explained away with Mass Effect fields), but truly there are a lot of techniques in real life off-road driving that apply just fine to the Mako. "being able to climb an 85 degree incline but being thrown for a loop by a little bump" is kind of a silly thing to complain about, considering rock crawling tends to happen at less than 5mph, while striking a bump hard enough to throw you off happens at 30mph+... I think the game actually has a better understanding of basic physics than most folks complaining about it.

 

[floppylobster]

I loved them. Favourite part of the game. But I'm a retro gamer, so I'm completely used to shitty controls.

 

[Sonicron]

Actually, I found Yahtzee's analogy quite accurate; driving the Mako really did feel like piloting a shopping trolly in a bouncy castle.

 

[silasbufu]

I actually enjoyed it. You would think everyone hates it because you see a handload of people crying about it on the internet giving you the feeling that it's the general opinion, but it's not.

P.S. What the fuck, Captcha?

 

[brainslurper]

Just started playing mass effect finally. Finished 1 and halfway through 2. The driving sequences aren't worth not playing the game over, and they barely occupy any game time.

 

[Zeraiya]

I don't get why everyone bitches and whines about the Mako driving sections. They are mostly optional for exploration - aside from the one or two times it's required for plot development - and the handling isn't that bad.

In fact, I thought it was kinda fun. I mean, you basically get to drive up a 90 degree cliff face and then speed down a perrilously rocky slope and no harm can come to you. It's even fun watching how the game tries to flip you over once you've landed on your back. However, the car is so light that you careen off into the sky if you hit a jagged pebble a bit too fast.

But, the car basically has a jetpack! How awesome is that?

 

[AwesomeNinjaPowers]

The driving is awkward but once you work out the jump on the Mako it's actually quite fun XD

 

[kahlzun]

I quite liked it. The massive cannon provided a nice "F*** You!" if you got bored plinking at enemies with your rifle.

 

[scar_47]

I wouldn't let it stop you from playing the game I'll admit their will be some spots where it becomes a chore but the rest of the game more than makes up for it, and if your just doing mostly the main missions theres not that much driving, the worst are the driving combat sections but those are pretty rare.

 

[Dense_Electric]

Honestly, I don't know what the hell people are talking about when they say the driving sections were in any way bad. Oh sure, the Mako was a little awkward to handle until you got used to it, but once you figured it out it was a hell of a lot of fun. Granted, I might just have some magical ability to handle vehicles in video games (I seem to be the only person who can successfully land helicopters in GTA IV), but if you can keep a cool head for a few moments and figure it out it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

I really never thought it was bad and heard people complain about it after I beat the game.

I honestly enjoyed it (from what I remember), but back in those days I was easy to please.

 

[repeating integers]

Honestly?

I thought they were the best vehicle sections ever included in any game. I'm not even joking.

 

[MindBullets]

It was a bit tricky, but it's tolerable for the sake of the rest of the game.

 

[pearcinator]

Its only really frustrating in the sidequest missions...seriously some of the planets you go to are just huge mountain ranges and they place the mission marker in the middle of a wall of mountains so you have no choice but to waste 5 minutes driving up the bloody thing.

Apart from that, I didn't hate the Mako but I also think the Hammerhead in ME2 is a much better improvement in the handling, speed and fun department(at the cost of it being made of tin foil).

 

[Spectral Dragon]

It was actually kind of fun. Friends agree that it's pretty much a horse on roller skates with a cannon strapped to its back. Some planets that were randomly generated were hard to go through, but otherwise it wasn't bad. The story missions involving it were nice too. With that aim, you have a pretty badass sniper cannon.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't the best thing I've driven in a game. It was also kind of fun to fuck about on Luna. And almost flying on some parts. I liked it the way it was, didn't love it, but it was alright.