I adore all the ones I’ve played for different reasons, what’s great about all these games is they have a different setting or theme, but for the sake of this thread I’ll try and rank them and be more objective.
1. Metal Gear Solid 3
From the closing scene, Big Boss’ salute has entered video game culture as a symbol of a masterpiece. Before this game was released speculation was rife. Was this Snake in VR with Raiden interfering? Was it literally a dream? No this is “OO Snake” Once ‘Operation Snake Eater’ begins; the pace builds up excellently and naturally. Whilst not as fresh or revolutionary like the first game, nonetheless 3 seems to have the greatest balance of weapons and environments. It also helps that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously, having a Major who goes on about a snake shaped gun that'd distract enemies, a save-buddy who goes on about swamp people, having an intelligence officer who goes on about a “huge pile of crap, … shaped like a giant tank, and goin' on a rampage and stomping' on people and houses and stuff. And this giant turd is carrying the nastiest missiles you ever saw. Like whenever it launches one of its turd missiles... whatever it hits - people, trees, buildings - turns into shit.”
2. Metal Gear Solid
It’s the character of the game, the CHARACTER that makes it so good. No other action game has such an original cast. This was the game that developed their origins the best. How many other bosses can you name from other action games, seriously? You’ve seen a big guy with a Gatling gun before, but not one with a raven tattoo that comes to life, you’ve seen a duel before but not one where he asks his opponent not to use the auto-shoot button "I'll know", nor have you seen a ninja that seems to get an electrorgasm from being continuously punched in the face. Most importantly this game turned a cardboard box into a symbol of valour...!
3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
MGS3 was about nature, 4 was about the unnatural. Camouflage is no longer a selection system but an automatic one. The Cobra unit from 3 were a bunch of old soldiers who went into battles with sophisticated weapons and had primitive emotions defining them, only truly alive in battle. The BB unit from 4 were literally sophisticated weapons with basic emotions only giving them the pretence that they might be alive underneath their battle suits. This game was great because it was about how a new age of twisted technology was destroying the age of old heroes that we saw in MGS3. All the best parts; a crummy robot being used in a Metal Gear face-off, the illusions of Octopus, the mid-battle resurrection of Vamp, the microwave scene… well these are all about Snake against technology. Raiden upstaged him, pulling off impossible stunts but losing his humanity, even Johnny is beginning to catch up with Snake and his skill. The boss told about soldiers having undying loyalty, but even this isn’t needed with the SOP system controlling everything with Nanomachines. MGS4 is great because it goes against MGS3, as the game progresses it becomes more about being chased by robots, until culminating in a final psychical brawl between two old veterans, both fighting against the age of ludicrous technology.
Honourable Mentions
4. Metal Gear Solid 2
“What you think you see is only as real as your brain tells you it is” MGS2 was a commentary on and of hype, whilst many developers regularly promise to surpass your expectations, 2 was about destroying them. At the end of the game, the world turns round and citizens walk around normally yet Raiden stands by himself, confused by the lack of pay-off, looking for a purpose beyond the events of ‘Sons of Liberty’ This is a metaphor of the player. In my game, Raiden threw the customizable dog tag “Snake” on the floor and it couldn’t have been more appropriate. It’s only a testament to Hideo Kojima’s artistry that he could create a product where more discuss what was missing rather that the excellence that was included. Stealing guards’ dog tags, disposing them by throwing them into the sea, leading them into collapsing bridges, and distracting them by popping melons were the kind of joys that were introduced. Then there’s everything else, a feminine soldier as a main character who was a killer as a child, bright environments, bosses who refuse to die, Solidus being a potential hero, the organisers of the US being the villains and not the “terrorists” which include Solid Snake himself. 2 took characters like Otacon and Snake and depicted them as enigmatic, dangerous and not always trustworthy. We understand them less than we did in the beginning. Somehow misinformation became a powerful theme for the game.
5. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Does Kojima care any more? He has singing robots, dinosaurs, Big Boss going out with a college student/Master Miller, there’s an in-game conversation about Kojima being a god, a villain called Hot ColdMan and one called Strangelove, usable tanks/ambulances made out of cardboard, a character whose main purpose is to talk about birds, special recruitment for a certain developer, and balloons that kidnap enough soldiers to create a reliable army. After the seriousness of MGS4 this was a welcome change of pace with enough zany Japanese charm. Emphasis is on creating a faithful army, creating the seeds of the ‘Outer Heaven’ for soldiers, mostly recruited from the mundane shacks/ factories, from Costa Rica in the midst of civilian warfare with the world facing a greater world war 3, it’s about creating glory from dirt. However this game somehow remains possibly the most light-hearted in the series. Even the most emotional parts are only because they remind of how dark the other games were. So this game isn’t on the same level as the other games, it’s not exactly 5 but has enough quirks to justify its status as a cult classic.