The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

When MGS came out on PSX, I loved it. It was fresh and innovative and fun. The voice acting had the right amount of quality and campiness and the story was a fun sci-fi sorta thing. Great game for it's time.

MGS2 had some "advancements" in the gameplay area, but it just ended up losing a lot of it's magic. I really disliked the whiney, low self-esteem Raiden character, and we were stuck with him throughout most of the game. The story itself became far too convoluted and it added some supernatural aspects which killed most of the sci-fi intrigue for me.

MGS3 lost even more of the magic when it gave up the soliton radar and went all jungle survival. Top-down view with no radar in a stealth game is just a bad idea. Having to constantly stop and go into first-person sucks all the fun out of it. The story was less convoluted than MGS2, but I felt the characters in MGS3 were less interesting and relatable.

MGS4 regained some of the fun in the gameplay, but it was still nowhere near as nice as MGS1. There was a little too much scripting and too many cutscenes (and I'm not normally one to complain about that). And I just hated the story. It was depressing and held absolutely no intrigue for me.

I've also played some of the offshoots like the PSP games, but never cared for any of them.

I own all four console releases and I'll probably buy MGS5 when/if it comes out. But I have to admit that I'm not expecting much. Though the new Raiden slasher looks interesting.

MGS series is easily m favorite after AC I just love every aspect of it, from the stealth gameplay, to the subtle humor (sometimes not so much), to the story which is easily one of the best and most developed of all videogames (thou it sucks that much of it is told through codec conversations. I love the series so much I have painted the FOXHOUND logo on my room's wall (next to the companion cube ) and have the codec sound as my official ringtone, and have cosplayed as Big Boss for several years on Halloween (no pictures )
I have played all the games for NES and I owned the first two games for PS2...
Then, my PS2 got screwed up a week before Snake Eater's release and then I just decided that I was done with Sony so I bought the Xbox. I think I almost cry when I saw how beautiful Guns of the Patriots was in the PS3, even more when I found out there was an Altair outfit for Snake. Apart from that I have finished all games in every console thanks to the cooperation of some friends that stayed true to Sony.
Apart from the the music, as FLAE exposed on the other topic, is beautiful and every piece is perfect for the mood of each level.
The only way MGS could be better is if Raiden wasn't such an emo on MGS2.

Imo MGS4 was the weakest in the series, it had almost 0 originality and it seemed like one big easter egg, a tribute to the other games. The bosses names and weapons are all based off the previous games bosses, and many characters are brought back for no reason at all.

Im guessing you didnt get the subsistence version of MGS3, it has a 360 camera just like MGS4, it completely changed the game. I personally like MGS3 because of its time period, no nanomachines, old school weapons and tactics etc, felt more "survival" and I didnt feel like playing another indoor sneaking game, I felt MGS1 and 2 mastered that already. However the bosses were lacking a lot, the fights were good as usual but their characters were pathetic

MGS2, yes il agree the plot got ridiculous towards the end. Many fans say its so philosophical, complex and deep that it blows MGS3 out of the water, although it may be those, I feel a great story doesnt have to be complex and such to be a great story, MGS3 was like a good james bond spy/espionage movie, pretty simple but good. As for Raiden, he gets better towards the end and thats what I like about him, and you seeing Snake through someone else's perspective makes Snake seem that more badass. Then they throw away his character development in MGS4 to please the fans, by turning him into a badass ninja, this I hated.

MGS1 will always have the perfect atmosphere to me, the music and the dark gloomy stages will never be beaten

MGS4 Spoilers

Returning to MGS1 stage the helipad with "The best is yet to come" playing in the background was one of my most nostalgic moments in gaming. Then they ruined it with those dwaf gekko... anyway thats enough from me il start writing huge essays if im not careful

Oops, I recently commented on a comment by flae to make a post about mgs. Here's my opinions on the games:
The only one I ever played was mgs2 Sons of Liberty. It was pretty good as a stealth shooter game, but had some flaws that made it irritating. The camera view wasn't good in third person, and it was awkward to switch between third and first person view, especially since you couldn't move in third person. It wasn't linear, but had the feeling of being trapped in the small ares you played in. And as for the story..........

I hope to play some of the other ones in the franchise, and also Splinter Cell, another stealth shooter of which I only played one game. I've also seen walkthroughs of the first two mgs on youtube by a game reviewer.

I've never played MGS 1,2 or 3. Should I get 4?

If its for the gameplay, any MGS game is worth being bought, played, re-played, 100% completed and then being put on a pedestal made out of gold. If you mean the story, then you might want to do some research or read a summary to know what has happened in the story so far.

Jack is the real expert so he should know what exactly to say.

Without playing the other games you will probably enjoy MGS4 a lot. Im not sure of your taste in games, but if you like 3rd person shooters this might be for you, I think you can get the demo now from the PSN store.

However although you might enjoy it, you will not get the full experience from the game. The story is a huge part of the game and the series, without playing the others you will be lost and probably frustrated with the amounts of cutscenes. Im guessing it would be like saying you could get ACB without enjoying the others, you will enjoy the gameplay and such but you wont get the full experience due to missing the others story and character development

Fair enough, can you skip the cut scenes at all?

Yeah you can, but some are really awesome

Well you can skip most of the cutscenes. However, there are some that are unskippable which is what makes completing a "Big Boss" run through challenging. (you have to finish in under 5 hours while meeting certain conditions and cutscene time counts toward your playtime.)

I have played all of the Metal Gear games and absolutely love the series. I remember how innovative MGS 1 seemed to me when I played it for the first time. Then years later I finally got the chance to play Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake on the Subsistance version of MGS 3 and learned that many of the things that seemed so innovative to me had already been a part of the series. MGS 1 will always be my favorite game. While I enjoy playing all of them, none of the sequals ever quite gave me the same feeling of epicness that I got while playing that first one.