Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Includes Options for Classic Mako Controls

Among the many changes in BioWare’s Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is Mass Effect 1’s Mako. As one of the more despised aspects of the game, it’s now more durable and easier to control. That being said, if you were somehow a fan of the original controls, then the option is still available in the remaster.

Project director Mac Walters and environment director Kevin Meek confirmed this to PC Gamer. As Meek notes, “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.” Walters says that the reason for its inclusion is that, “You’ll never get consensus, whether some people love it, or some people hate it.

“We’re making a big point of it often in marketing, but it’s a lighter touch than I think some people might think. And the optional control scheme is optional, so you can drop back and forth.”

One nice change that hasn’t been highlighted is having better aiming at lower angles. Earlier, it was next to impossible to hit anything that was about 20 meters from the vehicle but that will no longer be an issue. “We actually forget to talk about that. Anything that was within probably 20 meters of you was almost impossible to track and hit. And then also things in the distance that were at a different altitude than you were just like, ‘It says I’m aiming there but I’m shooting down here? What is going on?’ Fixing some of that too makes it a little bit more fun.”

There’s also a boost button for making steeper climbs. “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.” He also added that, “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.”

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is out on May 14th for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. It will also run on Xbox Series X and PS5 with the platforms capable of 4K/60 FPS along with other performance options. Stay tuned for more details on the remaster’s release in the coming week.