The M35 Mako got a lot of grief in the very first Mass Effect game, but as time went on, players came to understand that this was predominantly due to mechanics like checkpoints and difficult terrain. By the end of Mass Effect 2, it’s safe to say that the fanbase downright missed the lovable land rover.
Following an identical path, the ND 1 Nomad in Mass Effect Andromeda was initially criticized for its design and it wasn’t until a few months or possibly years later that fans began to admit their dislike for the game carried over to the Nomad and that it didn’t deserve the reception that it got.
So which of the two is the better vehicle? Well, that all depends on how you measure it, of course.
Utility - Nomad
It’s easy to miss Liara in Mass Effect Andromeda because she’s just so lovable, but when you can customize a vehicle to look and do exactly what you want it to, that can help make the loneliness go away on those particularly bad days.
Do you need the Nomad to protect you while you exit? It can do that. Need it to scan lifeforms? It’s got you covered. Need extra vertical thrust? It’s all over it. You can pick and choose benefits like these as well as the color design which creates an attachment to it that the Mako can’t match.
Firepower - Mako
There’s a reason you never run into the worst villains of the series out in the open: The Mako would absolutely squash them and turn the entire experience into a blasting simulator. It’s got two firing modes, a machine gun and a cannon, and both pack one heck of a punch.
The Nomad doesn’t even have firepower. It’s an escort vehicle first and foremost. So even a pea-shooter strapped to a Honda would outdo it. Even without the comparison, the Mako hits harder than any Mass Effect weapon you can find, making it a real force to contend with.
Handling - Nomad
Everybody thinks they know all there is to know about Urdnot Wrex, but odds are good that if he got behind the wheel of a Nomad, he’d agree that it handles a lot better than the scrapper units that the Krogan are driving.
The Mako is a fishtail machine which is a really cool maneuver unless you’re not doing it on purpose. The Nomad, conversely, is ultra-responsive to left and right controls. Does anybody remember driving the Mako on ice? No? Friends, that’s what’s known as a repressed memory.
Survivability - Mako
It’s worthy to debate which alien races are the coolest in the series, but humans definitely deserve some credit. After all, in the story, isn’t humanity the most alien of all the known lifeforms? And humans are pretty great at making metal as thick as a concrete wall.
It’s not that the Nomad dies easily. It’s that the Mako can absorb dozens of hits from rocket launchers and keep operating just fine. Even after getting the hull damaged, it will continue to drive flawlessly while engulfed in flames. Then the shields come back up and it will stay on fire and handle perfectly forever (if you leave your game on).
Stability - Nomad
It’s probably not right to make a vehicle count as one of the beloved Mass Effect companions, but it’s an understandable sentiment after driving in the Nomad. It takes real intention and effort to get this baby to flip over and, even if it does happen, it will work with the player to get right-side-up.
Compare this to the Mako, which will go belly-up after a large rock or a sudden breeze. Get it in the right position and it can literally go flying, but not in a Hammerhead kind of way. The Nomad fixes all of those stability issues. Turns out fans weren’t ecstatic about starting missions over because the Mako pulled a turtle and couldn’t flip itself over.
Rough Terrain - Mako
There is a very narrow list of habitable planets in the Heleus Cluster. That’s because they brought the Nomad. If they had brought the Mako into Andromeda, you better believe it would be scaling those mountains and finding hidden areas with ease.
The Nomad isn’t terrible offroad, but it’s no Mako. This bad boy will go up cliff walls that are just about vertical. With a driver that knows how to handle the ride, you can find a way to get just about everywhere you could want to go.
Speed - Nomad
Let’s be honest, both vehicles were accused of being particularly slow. Much of this was due to map size because, when you finally passed a town or an encampment in either vehicle, you’d be breezing by fairly rapidly.
Thank goodness the Nomad has a little bit of extra juice in the speed department because the distance between points of interest is outrageous. It’s too bad this transport wasn’t available to track down Saren, Shepard would have caught up with him and learned everything about Sovereign that much faster.
Ramming - Mako
The only real output the Nomad has, damage-wise, is the ability to drive into a target. After a few rounds, you can kill a Kett with a few full-speed collisions. The Mako actually has roughly the same amount of damage at the point of impact.
But where the Mako really shines is in the physics. If you clobber a regular unit, they will skyrocket into the air or drag for several hundred meters across the ground, killing them on impact in either case. It can even ram large geth droids. They don’t fly as far, but they will shut down and become disabled for a bit, allowing your cannon to finish the job.
Style - Nomad
Even if it weren’t customizable, the Nomad is hands down the very best-looking between the two. The monster truck-style tires, the external metallic design, the black smoke exhaust… it’s all the pinnacle of high-class.
The Mako was designed as a military vehicle and it’s predictably not a showstopper. The lights are mostly for show and the red and white paint job has faded. It looks dirty, even after being in a shop. When you factor in player taste with the Nomad, there is no competition.
Dependability - Mako
The Nomad has one job and it does that job well: Get the crew from one place to the next safely and expeditiously. The Mako, however, does jobs that even the engineers who made it couldn’t have predicted.
Come on, the thing survived going into a Mass Effect field and getting launched into the Citadel. It “crashed” but if you survey the Normandy crash site, you’ll find the Mako there in the wreckage and It’s STILL INTACT: Even a crash from orbit couldn’t take it out of service.
NEXT: Mass Effect Andromeda: 10 Things You Need To Know About The Angara
