Masochists can choose to keep the Mako's rubbish handling in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
"For those people out there who do like pain"
Which Mass Effect has the best control scheme can be a pretty dividing topic. Now I don't want to shame anyone who enjoyed how Mass Effect 1 controlled, but to be clear, I do think you're all masochists. I was delighted to find out that BioWare would be bringing the first game more in-line with the sequels with the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. As well as tweaking the combat, the devs are making some much-needed changes to the Mako. However, if for some reason you want to experience the infamously unwieldy vehicle just like old times, you can.
"For those people out there who do like pain, we've left the option to leave it back kind of closer to the original controls as well if you want," environment director Kevin Meek told PC Gamer.
The old Mako was a bouncy and frustrating six-wheeled tank, but for the Legendary Edition it's been tuned up to be a much smoother experience. Its shields recharge faster and it has improved camera controls so you can better aim at enemies on the ground (though let's be honest, we're all just going to plow through them anyway). The Mako's main use, of course, was charging straight up the sides of cliffs that you should absolutely not be able to climb. The devs have added better thrusters for the remaster, so scaling those cliffs should be easier now too.
"Playing the Mako today versus playing the Mako back in the original, especially on PC, it's like night and day. I don't want to thrash my keyboard and mouse after every encounter with the thresher maw or trying to climb a mountain," Meek adds.
"Whether or not you loved how the Mako moved around, I don't think anyone loved almost making it over that hill, then pressing their jump jets buttons and falling back on their back and just never being able to go up."
I won't miss landing upside down like a weaponised space tortoise.
Lots of other nice changes are coming to Mass Effect 1 in the Legendary Edition, such as improved ADS and accuracy in combat, faster weapon cool downs and more. You can check the rest of the calibrations on EA's website.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition comes out next week, on May 14th. In the meantime, check out all the lovely freebies BioWare released ahead of the launch - there's music, comics, digital art books and more.