Here's my gripe (and I consider myself a HUGE MGS fan):
The MGS games that are set pre-MGS1 on PS1 (universe timeline) are disappointing for me. Gameplay, graphics, ticks, etc. all evolve nicely with each new game, but the reason I got disappointed with say MGS3 is due to two lacking aspects of many great bullet points for the franchise;
MGS3 has disappointing bosses (not necessarily boss fights and not necessarily all of them).
The Metal Gear in MGS3 was a let down and forgettable.
In MGS3, you meet members of Team Cobra (iirc) and they all just jump in and start fighting. One of the cool things MGS games always due up to the release of that game is build up their boss characters. Before you encounter any of them (aside from probably the very first one) you know a lot about them. You know why they are fighting, their abilities, etc. The game builds them up beautifully so once you get to fight one of them, you are excited. Also, it is cool to see the interaction and dialogue and ideological debate Snake has with his enemy boss fights before and after the fight is over. It builds up character depth and connection with the player. In MGS3, aside from maybe a couple, you hardly knew anything before a fight and once an enemy is down, everybody forgets he existed.
And for god's sake, the Metal Gear robots at the end are the big reveal that every game expects at the very end of the game. Both Rex, Ray and the original MGS game all had kickass Metal Gears at the end. I think one of the PSP games had a cool one too at the end (Ac!d 2?), but I can't remember much.
Finally, MGS has always been about tech (bosses have advanced tech, use of advanced tools by both Snake and the enemies, and there is a Metal Gear at the end for crying out loud!) but in the Big Boss games, you can't help but feel everything is low tech and unimpressive...
That is why, to me, MGS1,2 and 4 are the best IN THAT REGARD!
I will say this; Kojima ended 4 beautifully and tied all the loose ands wonderfully, so am satisfied.
On the plus side, Ground Zeroes did show that cool retro, yet advanced map device. I hope they do more of that and I CERTAINLY hope we'll have memorable characters that people will be talking about and discussing for years.
P.S. having said all that, what does a fan have to do to get ANY reference or appearence of Grey Fox? Past, present, I dom't care, I just want to see, play, or fight him! He was the best part and the ONLY reason I kept playing that first non-Ac!d MGS PSP game.
Why is this game's story a continuation of Peace Walker's story when most players won't have played it and most of those who played it won't have unlocked the actual final ending of the game? Most people won't have any idea what's going on with Chico and Paz etc.
I think I completed that game, but I have NO idea who these characters are. The BB games seem very forgettable in terms of characters or boss fights...