Media Favorite Metal Gear Game

[Snake Plissken]

After completing Ground Zeroes this past weekend, and TPP coming out this year probably... it would be good to make a thread to see what is everyone's favorite game from the series up until this point.

For me, the series's peak was here.

It did everything perfectly. Had truly, the first A+ quality voice acting I've seen in a game. And even though, technically it's the third of the series... it almost doesn't feel like it, since almost all the gaps in the story are given to you through the course of the gameplay, as well as the "previous operations" files at your disposal. Plus, the Briefing Files were all kinds of awesome. Which is something never done with the same magic in the series, ever again.

 

[Solidus]

MGS 1 for me as well . It was practically the forefather of cinematic video games, with top-notch voice acting, and a story that was comparable to a big budget Hollywood movie. Up until 1998, I've never experienced anything like it before. It's definitely Kojima's most revolutionary game to date.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Yeah, it definitely felt like the first Hollywood level game ever made. Of all games I've ever played, none, and I mean none have ever enveloped me on the level this did. I could not, stop playing the ******* thing

 

[Plastic Bateman]

Portable Ops.

...what?

 

[Jameson Rook]

I just can't choose between MGS1 and 2.

I love MGS1 because it was pretty much THE game I always wanted to play as a kid. Espionage, action, plot twists, moving music- it had everything! It was (and still is) the closest thing to videogame perfection.

MGS2 on the other hand, was not as good as MGS1 but it was never meant to be. It was a psychedelic trip into interactive lunacy that deconstructed why you loved the series in the first place. It was Kojima at his finest and most intellectual, a genuine work of art that's even more relevant today than it was in 2001, and for my money it still have the tightest gameplay of all the games.

If I were to juxtapose those two games, MGS1 felt like the The Terminator and MGS2 was T2. Both are perfect but if you point a gun to my head, I have to choose their respective sequels.

My third favorite Metal Gear game would be Metal Gear Rising, and the least favorite a tie between the first Metal Gear Acid and Ground Zeroes.

 

[Space Jockey]

I think I like Metal Gear Solid the best too. It was quite a long game with some back-tracking, but it didn't feel like I was back-tracking, I was glued to it all the way through. The whole game was well written and the gameplay balanced throughout.
I've played all the others all the way through except Peace Walker. I have it, but I'm finding the whole get supplies and return them to Mother Base thing is slowing me up. It just doesn't interest me as much as sneaking around and blowing things up. Therefore, I've yet to complete it.
I too just completed Ground Zeroes over the weekend and it's evident to me that I'll need to persevere with Peace Walker to get up to speed with the whole Paz and Chico thing.
I really like the Metal Gear Solid games but sometimes they are very plot heavy with all kinds of stuff going on and it's easy to get lost if you leave the game for a while and forget about them. It's a bit like the third Matrix where that Architect guy was going on about all kinds of crap and it got a little boring.
Ground Zeroes I did enjoy very much. I snuck around and saved all the prisoners, didn't kill anyone. Then I played again, blowing everything up and shooting everything on sight. Very fun...

 

[Frank Jaeger]

Numero Uno

 

[Snake Plissken]

I just can't choose between MGS1 and 2.

I love MGS1 because it was pretty much THE game I always wanted to play as a kid. Espionage, action, plot twists, moving music- it had everything! It was (and still is) the closest thing to videogame perfection.

MGS2 on the other hand, was not as good as MGS1 but it was never meant to be. It was a psychedelic trip into interactive lunacy that deconstructed why you loved the series in the first place. It was Kojima at his finest and most intellectual, a genuine work of art that's even more relevant today than it was in 2001, and for my money it still have the tightest gameplay of all the games.

If I were to juxtapose those two games, MGS1 felt like the The Terminator and MGS2 was T2. Both are perfect but if you point a gun to my head, I have to choose their respective sequels.

My third favorite Metal Gear game would be Metal Gear Rising, and the least favorite a tie between the first Metal Gear Acid and Ground Zeroes.

The Terminator analogy really works here, great point. MGS2 was the last "Metal Gear" game really. It still had the formula from the first game, although it was essentially the same game outline due to the reoccurring plot which breaks the the fourth wall. It's a shame really, we'll never get another MGS game that doesn't hold your hand. I think that's one reason I liked MGS2 so much was that it leaves you with more questions than answers. Where as MGS4 gives you all the answers... and they suck.

Plus the most shining aspect of MGS2, was raising Snake to an entirely different level of badass. Even more than he had in MGS1.

And yes, MGR is the best thing in a good 10 years to come out of the series.

I think I like Metal Gear Solid the best too. It was quite a long game with some back-tracking, but it didn't feel like I was back-tracking, I was glued to it all the way through. The whole game was well written and the gameplay balanced throughout.
I've played all the others all the way through except Peace Walker. I have it, but I'm finding the whole get supplies and return them to Mother Base thing is slowing me up. It just doesn't interest me as much as sneaking around and blowing things up. Therefore, I've yet to complete it.
I too just completed Ground Zeroes over the weekend and it's evident to me that I'll need to persevere with Peace Walker to get up to speed with the whole Paz and Chico thing.
I really like the Metal Gear Solid games but sometimes they are very plot heavy with all kinds of stuff going on and it's easy to get lost if you leave the game for a while and forget about them. It's a bit like the third Matrix where that Architect guy was going on about all kinds of crap and it got a little boring.
Ground Zeroes I did enjoy very much. I snuck around and saved all the prisoners, didn't kill anyone. Then I played again, blowing everything up and shooting everything on sight. Very fun...

I wonder what you'll think of Peace Walker, since a good majority of us hate it around here. The gameplay is fun, but the "story" if you can even call it that was pretty bad. Too anime-ish and hokey.

 

[Jameson Rook]

The Terminator analogy really works here, great point. MGS2 was the last "Metal Gear" game really. It still had the formula from the first game, although it was essentially the same game outline due to the reoccurring plot which breaks the the fourth wall. It's a shame really, we'll never get another MGS game that doesn't hold your hand. I think that's one reason I liked MGS2 so much was that it leaves you with more questions than answers. Where as MGS4 gives you all the answers... and they suck.

Plus the most shining aspect of MGS2, was raising Snake to an entirely different level of badass. Even more than he had in MGS1.

And yes, MGR is the best thing in a good 10 years to come out of the series.

I would say MGS2 is the videogame equivalent of T2. Bait and switch hero? Check. Heavy blue tinted opening? Check.

Hero arrives crouched in a ball of static electricity?
Scene-for-scene recreation/homages of the first installment?
Elevating chiche'd sci-fi themes of the original into something transcending?
Having a surprising message at the end of the story?
Making the main character more cooler than he already is?
Written to be the end of the series?

Check, check, check check check and check.

Interestingly enough, I think MGS4 is also Terminator Salvation. Big, dumb, loud and unneeded.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I would say MGS2 is the videogame equivalent of T2. Bait and switch hero? Check. Heavy blue tinted opening? Check.

Hero arrives crouched in a ball of static electricity?
Scene-for-scene recreation/homages of the first installment?
Elevating a chiche'd sci-fi themes of the original into something transcending?
Having a surprising message at the end of the story?
Making the main character more cooler than he already is?

Check, check, check check and check.

Interestingly enough, I think MGS4 is also Terminator Salvation. Big, dumb, loud and unneeded.

I think it was needed... but with a completely different story. Not to mention the most contrived ending ever given to a big franchise. Kojima pulled it out of his ass to have Big Boss and Snake on screen at the same time.

 

[Snake Plissken]

One thing I'll say, that has been in a big decline since MGS2 especially... was the use of the Codec. MGS1-MGS2 had such great convos you could get, and I was always finding myself calling random characters to see what they would say about situations. MGS3 had some fun stuff, but I found it tedious since you talk to a picture and not a person's face or animation. MGS4 was pretty lacking since you only really got Otacon, Campbell and Rose and I couldn't be bothered. And in MGSV it seems nonexistent.

 

[Frank Jaeger]

i would have said that MGS1 had the overly blue tone while MGS2 had green

 

[Jameson Rook]

One thing I'll say, that has been in a big decline since MGS2 especially... was the use of the Codec. MGS1-MGS2 had such great convos you could get, and I was always finding myself calling random characters to see what they would say about situations. MGS3 had some fun stuff, but I found it tedious since you talk to a picture and not a person's face or animation. MGS4 was pretty lacking since you only really got Otacon, Campbell and Rose and I couldn't be bothered. And MGSV it seems nonexistent.

I swear we would have gotten a MGS1/2 Codec back, but we never did. I think having the same Codec with today's animation would be pretty cool to look at.

I might as well get it off my chest while I'm at it. I LOVE MGS3, but I thought it gets old real quick, especially the campy and hammy cutscenes. I tend to skip them every time I play it and get straight to the gameplay.

Strange thing though, I was obsessed with MGS3 for the longest time but I think the endless supply of Big Boss games and NON STOP reference to the Boss kinda ruins MGS3 as a standalone/send-off game for me. Sorry.

 

[Boba Ben]

Metal Gear Solid 1 is my favorite.

 

[Snake Plissken]

i would have said that MGS1 had the overly blue tone while MGS2 had green

MGS1 blue? I can see that. MGS2 is pretty Cyan.

 

[Snake Plissken]

I swear we would have gotten a MGS1/2 Codec back, but we never did. I think having the same Codec with today's animation would be pretty cool to look at.

I might as well get it off my chest while I'm at it. I LOVE MGS3, but I thought it gets old real quick, especially the campy and hammy cutscenes. I tend to skip them every time I play it and get straight to the gameplay.

Strange thing though, I was obsessed with MGS3 for the longest time but I think the endless supply of Big Boss games and NON STOP reference to the Boss kinda ruins MGS3 as a standalone/send-off game for me. Sorry.

Funny you mention that. I find myself listening to codec convos and watching cutscenes in MGS1-MGS2 way more than any other game of the series. I love MGS3, but it hasn't aged well with me. It's too Bond for me, I can't believe I didn't see that more back then. I never listen to codec convos in MGS4, and I rarely watch any scenes.

 

[ronri]

MGS3 for me still remains as my most favorite. While I love MGS1 for its clean-cut execution and revolutionizing cinematic games, MGS3 took the gameplay, tone and overall absurdity of the franchise up to eleven in doses that I could actually enjoy and feel genuinely touched by, all while still continuing to revisit it even to this day.

Even with the still images, I felt it had the most interactive Codec experience which really played a huge part in making it feel so alive. The jungle elements of the gameplay was something that I absolutely adored (tacky as it was) and while I was sad to see it go in future titles, it basically made MGS3 unique in that regard. I personally enjoyed the campy side of it as well, the Bond references (Snake Eater being a dead ringer) mixed in with classical WWII/Cold War paranoia of super-soldier freakshows like the Cobras were one of the rare times where I could feel like Kojima was really genuinely enjoying himself. The boss fights were also a marked improvement over past games in terms of the depth in the design, and it's literally the only main MGS title where the final boss fight doesn't strip you of your equipment and actually forces you to fight it out with everything you've learned up till then. Just the time-frame and setting itself, it all felt like the ultimate playground for a series like Metal Gear and I just found myself completely immersed with the overall experience.

While MGS1 and MGS2 are a close tie at second, MGS3 tops them both in overall game design and its self-contained story.
Not even the infinite amount of the lesser Big Boss prequels will ever scratch my love for MGS3.

 

[Snake Plissken]

MGS3 for me still remains as my most favorite. While I love MGS1 for its clean-cut execution and revolutionizing cinematic games, MGS3 took the gameplay, tone and overall absurdity of the franchise up to eleven in doses that I could actually enjoy and feel genuinely touched by, all while still continuing to revisit it even to this day.

Even with the still images, I felt it had the most interactive Codec experience which really played a huge part in making it feel so alive. The jungle elements of the gameplay was something that I absolutely adored (tacky as it was) and while I was sad to see it go in future titles, it basically made MGS3 unique in that regard. I personally enjoyed the campy side of it as well, the Bond references (Snake Eater being a dead ringer) mixed in with classical WWII/Cold War paranoia of super-soldier freakshows like the Cobras were one of the rare times where I could feel like Kojima was really genuinely enjoying himself. The boss fights were also a marked improvement over past games in terms of the depth in the design, and it's literally the only main MGS title where the final boss fight doesn't strip you of your equipment and actually forces you to fight it out with everything you've learned up till then. Just the time-frame and setting itself, it all felt like the ultimate playground for a series like Metal Gear and I just found myself completely immersed with the overall experience.

While MGS1 and MGS2 are a close tie at second, MGS3 tops them both in overall game design and its self-contained story.
Not even the infinite amount of the lesser Big Boss prequels will ever scratch my love for MGS3.

 

[Frank Jaeger]

The only boss battle i liked from MGS3 was The End, the rest were below average

Although not a battle i liked The Sorrows part, it was cool wading down the river hallucinating. The Boss' was cool only for the scenery and the revelations afterwards

The setting is what makes MGS3, take that away and put it in a different setting and not even The Boss' storyline can save it, as good as some think that is

 

[Snake Plissken]

The only boss battle i liked from MGS3 was The End, the rest were below average

Although not a battle i liked The Sorrows part, it was cool wading down the river hallucinating. The Boss' was cool only for the scenery and the revelations afterwards

The setting is what makes MGS3, take that away and not even The Boss' storyline can save it

Took the words from my mouth. If it was set in modern times, it wouldn't be revered so much. MGS3 is great, but it didn't impact the gaming industry nearly as the previous two.