M29 Grizzly

From Mass Effect Wiki

The M29 "Grizzly" Infantry Fighting Vehicle was the standard "battle taxi" of Systems Alliance Marines for 20 years. However, while excellent in long-term planetary campaigns, the Grizzly's bulk and weight made it unsuitable for rapid deployment across the Alliance's expanding sphere of influence. As such, this led to the development of the M35 Mako, effectively phasing the Grizzly out.

M29 Grizzlys sport a similar design to the Mako, although the Grizzly is lower to the ground and larger, with wheel covers and a different turret placement and design. The Grizzly is not drivable, and is never used (aside from as a stationary turret on Noveria).

Grizzlys can be found on various uncharted worlds, usually parked next to outposts (possibly as a rudimentary power source), discovered as wreckage, abandoned in their garages or stripped of necessary supplies. There are at least six on Feros - including two that have crashed into the tunnels and a few on the Prothean Skyway - and several on Noveria along the Aleutsk Valley that have been destroyed by the geth (and, in one case, actually crashed into Peak 15's garage door).

It is speculated that when the Alliance developed the Mako, they stripped down their Grizzly units and sold them cheaply to fledgling colonies or corporations as military surplus, although some still retain their armaments. Despite their poor capabilities in planetary exploration, mercenaries and "wildcat" miners sometimes use them for such purposes, often with bad results.

[edit] Trivia

• According to The Art of Mass Effect this vehicle was an early concept for the Mako, but the developers didn't like how it performed in gameplay. They liked the look of it and kept it in the game as a static object.

• Its name may be a reference to the "Grizzly Tank" from the game "Battlezone" from 1998.

[edit] References

Galactic Codex Entry: M35 Mako.