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[Xyber]

I like how split it is when it comes to MGS2. It's either at the top or the bottom, very few in the middle.

MGS2
MGS1
MGS5 (40-ish missions in with 45 hours of playtime, so this can still go either up or down depending on where the story goes)
MGS3
MGS4

And just because 4 is last doesn't make me think it's a bad game by any means, it did a pretty good job of wrapping up the story even if it's far from perfect. Lack of gameplay and the B&B bosses drags it down.

The things that drags down 3 was the whole survival bit (eat, treat wounds), I didn't really care for it at all.

 

[Sakura]

I haven't finished 5 so I don't want to list it, but I do enjoy it.
For me
1.MGS2
2.MGS4
3.MGS1
4.MGS3
5.MGSPW
Don't care about the rest.

 

[QuantumZebra]

Well, I'm only a quarter of the way through MGSV, but I'll play along with the ones I've played:

1. MGS3: Subsistence / HD
2. MGS4: Guns of the Patriots
3. MGS: Ground Zeroes
4. MGSV: The Phantom Pain
5. Metal Gear Solid
6. Metal Gear
.
.
.
.
.
9001. Peace Walker
9002. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
.
.
.
9000000000001. Portable Ops

1. MGS 2
2. MGS 1
3. MGS 3 (The end of 3 = GOAT all time ever)
4. MGS 4


Working on PW and then MGSV

 

[Kudo]

1. MGS3
2. MGS2
3. MGS4
4. MGS1
5. MGS5
6. MGSPW

I'll say it though that I'm only 20 hours in to MGS5, but I already know it won't be better than MGS1. If the first 20 hours of the game are mostly filler missions it's not MGS to me, it's a shame they took this big change in direction but it's still a very fun game to play.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

3 > 5 > 2 > 1 > 4 > PW

 

[watdaeff4]

Just started V

MGS1, MGS3, MGS4, MGS2, Ground Zeroes

 

[JTripper]

1. MGS3
2. MGS:1
3. MGS2
4. MGSW
5. MGS4

I'm loving MGS5 so far but I'm not gonna rank it among the others until I get all I want out of it.

 

[Hatty]

3 > 2 > 4 > 1 > PW
Too early to rank ive but it'd probably put it between two and four

 

[WooHooAlex]

1. Metal Gear Solid 2
2. Metal Gear Solid
3. Metal Gear Solid 4
4. Metal Gear Solid: PW
5. Metal Gear Solid 3

 

[Kurt Angle]

4 at the bottom

5 at the top

 

[The Emperor]

1. MGS4
2. MGS2
3. MGS3
4. MGS1


10000. MGS5

Basically the first 4 are close together and all in my top 30 of all time.

MGSV is a forgettable boring game so far, great gameplay but absolutely one of the worst told stories of any game I have ever played. Screw needing to listen to optional tapes with crucial plot, screw no cutscenes. Heck this is far worse than the datalog BS FFXIII pulled

The games story better pick up (im 20 hours in) or this will rank as the biggest disappointment ever for me.

 

[Caramello]

1. MGS5
2. MGS
3. MGS3
4. MGS2
5. MGS4

 

[Ghost Slayer]

MGS3 > Peace Walker > MGS:GZ > MGSV > MGS1 > MGS2 > MGS4 >MGR

 

[UltimaPooh]

I won't be playing MGSV since I didn't at all care for either Peace Walker or Ground Zeroes.

What was wrong with Ground Zeroes?

 

[Lion Heart]

1. MGS4

+Best gameplay, non stop roller coaster ride with great cutscenes (outside of Drebin). Awesome soundtrack. Some great bosses.
- BB corp are weak. Drebin.

2. MGS

+ Pacing is perfect like a 2 hour movie. Boss fights all around. Sound track. Self contained story.
- a little short

3. MGS3

+ Great consistency, best boss battles in series, best ending.
- Menus (camo),

4. MGS2

+ Best opening and tanker is top level in series. Great soundtrack. Okay story.
- Raiden. Level design (big shell), story, mediocre boss fights,

MGSV** TBD

First three are almost tied, MGS2 is a big drop.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

All I know is that I would rank MGS2 last. To this day I remember the unbelievable disappointment of thinking I would get to play as Snake again any moment and have that time never come.

Then you got Liquid's arm, Olga decides to become a ninja, and the long forgotten Solidus Snake that even Kojima never mentions anymore. The worst escort mission I had played at that time was in the game too. Keep in mind there's no such thing as an enjoyable escort mission so this had to be especially bad.

Big Shell, bad bosses, a hilariously ridiculous story.

 

[Charlouie Jonesman]

All I know is that I would rank MGS2 last. To this day I remember the unbelievable disappointment of thinking I would get to play as Snake again any moment and have that time never come.

Then you got Liquid's arm, Olga decides to become a ninja, and the long forgotten Solidus Snake that even Kojima never mentions anymore. The worst escort mission I had played at that time was in the game too. Keep in mind there's no such thing as an enjoyable escort mission so this had to be especially bad.

Big Shell, bad bosses, a hilariously ridiculous story.

You mean the one where you simply drag Emma along?

You don't even have the usual downfalls of bad escorting missions, the AI having pathfinding troubles, blindly running into danger, constantly losing sight of you, etc.

MGS2's escort mission is pretty harmless.

 

[NightShift]

MGS3
MGS1
MGS2
MGSV
MGS4

As much as I am loving MGSV and think it is a phenominal game, it just doesn't feel like a Metal Gear game most of the time. It is by far the best playing one but the story isn't there just yet. I am still only about to do mission 16 though so their is still time for it to turn around. Hopefully.

 

[Sanke__]

1
5
4
3
2

 

[FlyingSaucer]

1. Ghost Babel
2. MGS1
3. Sons of liberty
*. the rest

Spoiler

I have never succeded in "getting" Snake Eater; I suspect one of the major reason is that I felt the gameplay was already old by the time the game was released.

 

[paragonpro]

Of the ones I've played,

1.) snake eater
2.) Phantom pain/ground zeroes
3.) Guns of the Patriots
4.) original
5.) AC!D
6.) Rising
7.) Sons of liberty

 

[Zushin]

MGS1 = MGS4
MGS 3
MGS 2
Ground Zeroes
Peace Walker
Portable Ops

Haven't gotten far enough into MGSV yet to comment.

 

[Mexen]

MGS V > MGS 3 > MGS 1 > MGS 2 > PW > MGS 4 > Rizing > GZ > AC!D > PO > MG 2 > MG 1 > Ghost Babel > Twin Snakes > Touch



( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[TheXbox]

3 > 4 > 2 > 1 > Peace Walker > MG2 > MG1

I don't know where Phantom Pain goes. Still too early. Definitely above PW.

 

[kris.]

1. MGS3
2. MGS2
3. MGS1
4. MGS4
5. MGS PW


MGSV is probably gonna sit either in between 2 and 3 or 3 and 4. I'm 22 hours into it so only time will tell. Never played Portable Ops or the original Metal Gears, but I just recently bought the HD remake of MGS3 which has them included so that may change.

 

[User 479360]

3>1>2

I've played the first parts of Peace Walker (too busy/not a big fan) and MGS 4 (need to revisit).

 

[Trumpets]

MGS1 = MGS2 = MGS3 = MGS4 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> MGSV

 

[Brandon F]

Sure, why not:

MGS3: Full of content and neat ideas, best level design in the series, story isn't too intrusive but still has some great moments.

MGS1: The gameplay is fairly simplistic, but fun, the boss fights are still the best designed in the series and it has the best story/gameplay pacing in the series imo, the game throws new challenges at you at a breakneck pace and the story constantly moves forward.

MGS2: It's the perfection of the classic top-down 2D stealth gameplay, but while I like the story it has some real pacing issues in the Big Shell episode. Also, the boss fights aren't that great.

MG1: It's the very first game and really simplistic. It gets frustrating on a first playthrough to figure out what to do at times, but is very fun on repeat playthroughs, when that's not an issue anymore and you try to get through the game with as little alerts and kills as possible. Viewing each screen as it's own little challenge.

MG2: It's full of ideas ahead of it's time, but the execution isn't always that great. It's really held back by it's technical limitations. And there's lots of backtracking, that, unlike the first game, you can't always circumvent if you know what to do, making it a slog on replays.

Peace Walker: Really dumb story, even by MGS standards and very simplistic stealth mechanics. It's fun to play in short bursts, which is how it was meant to be played, I guess, but it's basically a collection of short and simple VR missions with a story on top.

MGS4: The first two acts were great, but after that, the gameplay mostly disappears and the story takes a huge nosedive. This and Peace Walker are also the only games were I dread certain boss fights.

Though I can't say that any of those games are downright bad.

I would mirror this listing and descriptions exactly. Bravo.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

You mean the one where you simply drag Emma along?

You don't even have the usual downfalls of bad escorting missions, the AI having pathfinding troubles, blindly running into danger, constantly losing sight of you, etc.

MGS2's escort mission is pretty harmless.

It's also a boring waste of time that went on for what seemed like an eternity.

 

[KTO]

2
4+MGR:R
1
5
3
PW

I'm horrible at MG1+2 so it doesn't seem fair to judge them.

 

[Enter the Dragon Punch]

1. MGS2
2. MGS1
3. MGS3
4. MGSW
5. MGS4
6. MGSV:TPP
7. MGSV:GZ

 

[brickarts295]

1. The Phantom Pain
2. MGS (PS1)
3. Snake Eater
4. Sons of Liberty (sorry GAF)

Spoiler

not really

5. Guns of the Patriots
6. Ground Zeroes

 

[Hunkasaurus Rex]

This is really hard for me to rank.

1. MGS3
2. MGS
3. MGS2
4. MGS4
5. Ground Zeroes
6. Peace Walker

I could see 5 ending up somewhere between MGS and Ground Zeroes. I wish there was a bit more narrative besides the tapes. 4 would be higher if the cutscenes weren't so long and it didn't do the awkward Sunny cooking eggs scenes. Not to mention the Japanese humor got a bit excessive with the Johnny pooping his pants all the time. On my first playthrough, I would've ranked it higher but it really gets bogged down with nonsense when you try to go back and play it. I'm not counting Rising since that's a completely different genre.

 

[Sinatar]

Of the ones I've played:

1. Rising
2. Phantom Pain
3. Snake Eater
4. Metal Gear Solid
5. Sons of Liberty
6. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
7. Guns of the Patriots
8. Peace Walker
9. Metal Gear
10. Snakes Revenge

Haven't played P:Ops, the ACIDs or Ghost Babel.

 

[Interficium]

Metal Gear Solid is #1. Groundbreaking, nothing like it presentation-wise at the time Incredibly influential and basically invented the modern stealth genre.

The later numbered sequels are far more fun to play, of course, mainly due to refinements to mechanics, systems, and the camera, but they didn't have that sort of sea-change feeling that booting up MGS did.

Looking back over the series, MGS had the most fully-realized setting and atmosphere, as well.

 

[n0razi]

3 is the only one that matters, all the others have glaring flaws

 

[JawzPause]

About 40 hours into MGSV i guess i can comment now.
1. MGS2
2. MGS1
3. MGS5
4. MGS3
5. MGS4
6. MGSPW

 

[mcz117chief]

1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - best story and characters, great re-play value, on PSP, best theme song

2. Metal Gear Rising - best gameplay, great characters, best OST

3. Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes - 2nd best gameplay, best graphics

4. Metal Gear Solid - super stylish graphics, fun dialogues, great gameplay, great music

5. Metal Gear AC!D 2 - fun gameplay, lot of fanservice, funny 3D, great re-play value, on PSP

6. Metal Gear Solid 4 - great graphics, sound/music, animations, gameplay, serviceable story

7. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker (PS3 version) - meh story, great final boss, great gameplay, good re-play value

8. Metal Gear Solid 3 - decent story, good gameplay, fun bosses (Fury, Boss), great music

9. Metal Gear Solid 2 - didn't enjoy very much, awkward gameplay, worst camera I have ever had to endure

 

[Reckless Onion]

If you base it purely on gameplay, phantom pain just takes a crap on all the rest IMO.

 

[30yearsofhurt]

MGS 3
MGS
MGS 4
MGS PW



MGS 2




Still playing MGS V.

 

[Matt Attack]

Haven't finished 5 yet, so its position could change. I also haven't played MG2: SS.

1. MGS2 (I love everything about this game)
2. MGS (I also love everything about this game)
3. MGSV (I don't dig how they handled the story but it's so much fun to play)
4. MGS3 (I love the story, music, and atmosphere but I don't really enjoy the actual gameplay)
5. MGSW (Made for a great portable game)
6. MGS4 (I like it a lot, just not as much as the ones above)
7. MGS: PO (I don't like the gameplay, but the story is okay)
8. MG (It's pretty cool for such an old game)

 

[Soodanim]

1. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - best story and characters, great re-play value, on PSP, best theme song

2. Metal Gear Rising - best gameplay, great characters, best OST

3. Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes - 2nd best gameplay, best graphics

4. Metal Gear Solid - super stylish graphics, fun dialogues, great gameplay, great music

5. Metal Gear AC!D 2 - fun gameplay, lot of fanservice, funny 3D, great re-play value, on PSP

6. Metal Gear Solid 4 - great graphics, sound/music, animations, gameplay, serviceable story

7. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker (PS3 version) - meh story, great final boss, great gameplay, good re-play value

8. Metal Gear Solid 3 - decent story, good gameplay, fun bosses (Fury, Boss), great music

9. Metal Gear Solid 2 - didn't enjoy very much, awkward gameplay, worst camera I have ever had to endure

I see this man has decided to go with a "Ten is best, one is worst" approach, and is reserving the 10th slot for TPP.

Either that or he's insane, because opinions CAN be wrong when you put 3 and 2 last.

 

[TheBowen]

MGS3
MGS1
MGGS2
MGS4
Ground Zeroes
Peace Walker


Playing 5, roght now the gameplay is great but then again im barely into the story as ive been doing a shit ton of side quests

 

[mcz117chief]

I see this man has decided to go with a "Ten is best, one is worst" approach, and is reserving the 10th slot for TPP.

Either that or he's insane, because opinions CAN be wrong when you put 3 and 2 last.

3 is fine game, only that the others are better. 2nd I barely enjoyed, mostly thanks to the frustrating camera which killed me most of the times.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

They're all great, but I like MGS3 the most.

Won't be playing MGSV though.

 

[Mechazawa]

1. MGSV(subject to change I guess)
1. Peace Walker
2. MGS3
3. MGS4
4. MGS1

Never played 2 and after playing 1, I don't really ever intend to. Just watched Giant Bomb play through it instead.

 

[MajorTom]

1. Metal Gear Solid 2
2. Metal Gear Solid
3. Metal Gear Solid 4
4. Metal Gear Solid V:Ground Zeroes
5. Metal Gear Solid 3
6: Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker

I haven't finished Phantom Pain yet but so far I'd probably rank it at number 3 or 4.

 

[BocoDragon]

I cannot rank MGSV at this time. I love it so far, but it is so far outside my understanding of Metal Gear that I will need to evaluate it at the end.

1. MGS3
2. MGS1
3. MGS2
4. Revengeance
5. Ghost Babel
6. MG2 Solid Snake
7. Peace Walker
8. MGS4
9. MG1
7. Snake's Revenge
8. Portable Ops

 

[Woodchipper]

Of those I've played (not finished TPP)

1. MGSV: TPP
2. MGS3
3. MGS
4. MGS2
-
-
-
-
-
10. MGS4 (Act 1 & 2 are decent, but the rest... you know)

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Undisputed canon

1. MGS3
2. MGS2
3. MGSV
4. MGS
5. MG2
6. MGS4
7. MG
8. PW


The rest:

1. Ac!d
2. Ac!d 2
3. Special Missions
4. Ghost Bable
5. Snake's Revenge
6. Portable Ops.
7. Portable Ops +
8. Digital Graphic Novel
9. Digital Graphic Novel 2
10. Rising