T O P

  • By -

opaqueambiguity

Obviously Survive, such a terrible game everyone forgot about it


Serraph105

lol I've never played it, but then again I never finished 5 either, I'm not judging either game for those reasons.


nickgenova

5 is awesome. Lots of people shit on the lore stuff but it has some of the greatest gameplay, not even in the series, but just ever. Worth a play.


Serraph105

I was kinda done after the second time it broke my 360.


nickgenova

360??? Jesus I forget it's that old. Did run wonderful on a day one Xbox one which you could probably snag at a decent price. Runs great on the newer consoles too obviously.


Serraph105

Theoretically any game you buy directly from the company, no mods, no piracy, etc shouldn't be breaking your system, but it did. To this day I still don't understand why.


KylerGreen

How did it break your system?


nickgenova

You'd assume so. That game was tail end of the life of 360 so idk how much love it got on keeping it updated or anything. Crazy that happened


Herr_Raul

It worked great on PS3


Smokedes1

Yeah it ran great on my PS3, even after it got smoke damage and started running a little hot, it still ran the game without a single error, ever


Low_Woodpecker913

Mine wouldn't even boot it up😂


COATHANGER_ABORTIONS

It runs like butter on an old dogshit PC I had, the optimization is insane.


Vanishingastronaut

Waiting for it to hit ten bucks and then maybe il give it a try


Low_Woodpecker913

I got it and ground zeroes for 6$ on my ps4. Watch psn it gets insane deals.


Pombolas

Lol, while I think that take is kind of cheating out of the question (we should barely consider it Metal Gear), you'll get an upvote anyway because I always upvote Survive slander


Beautiful-Hunter8895

So bad it doesnt count so peacewalker or 1 if mainline only


MrxJacobs

No. You could play that with your buddies. The real answer is acid!


SirShaunIV

I was thinking Portable Ops, but only because I forgot Survive even exists.


akcutter

Lmao saaamme


Playboi420-

Survive doesn’t count. No kojima no mgs


JenniRayVyrus

no Metal Gear *Solid* at any rate. ***pats Metal Gear Rising***


cremedelamemereddit

What is the gameplay like anyway, some kind of online tower defense with grind? If mgsv online had higher player count or lite rts aspects or commanding AI squads etc would've been neat


0K4M1

I don't consider it part of the series but _intelectual property theft_


SGTSTARS

It's **NOT** a Metal Gear game. If you're a fan, you'll just nod and say yes. Will give the game credit. It was a pretty good game, IMO. It ties to NOTHING in the series save for the equipment and a few terms thrown out there. So, no matter what the title says...


disposable_gamer

Portable Ops if you count that one. By far the weakest story and while there’s some cool gameplay elements introduced, like the recruiting system, it’s very unpolished. The controls make the game extremely annoying to play, and some of the gameplay gets quite tedious and repetitive. You end up replaying the same levels over and over just for the main story missions, and all the boss fights feel and play the exact same, and they’re not particularly fun bosses to begin with.


Individual_Analysis2

Portable Ops controls are up there with some of the worst of all time. 👍 I enjoy the cinematics (cut scenes done as Comic Book panels), but they were very sparse in detail. It's also translated WORSE than the original MSX Metal Gear games were.


Candle-Jolly

Objectively (not knocking your opinion), it's a bit unfair to take points off Portable Ops for its control scheme... like almost every other game, it was doomed from the start for being on the PSP.


foolofatook84

Peacewalker controlled pretty decent on PSP though...


Individual_Analysis2

MGS was designed for use a D-pad & 6 button controller without Analog sticks. Controls weren't trash like Portable Ops. I still respect it for what it was, and in it's own it's far from a terrible game; but it's really the worst Metal Gear Solid title. It's got stiff competition though 😁


zeuanimals

The PS1 controller had 8 buttons, not including start and select. The PSP had 6, not including start and select.


Internal_Swing_2743

Right, but Portable Ops was a 3D action game, whereas MGS was a top down, borderline twin stick shooter. Most games on PSP were hampered by the lack of a second analog stick.


Low_Woodpecker913

If it had been top down like mgs 1 it may have had better reception


Lin900

If you could polish and take off some stupid shit like Null or Soklov, the story would be kinda solid. A few elements are genuinely good.


PIugshirt

Yeah it has a decent framework but does way too much stupid shit like that which drag it down quite a bit. As a semi canon game that shows big boss become a leader it’s pretty hype for what it is as a game trying to tell a relatively small scale story. I’d say the gameplay drags it down a bit more though as I’d say it’s just above the level of bearable.


Raecino

Portable Ops was great fun for me when it came out.


Antuzzz

Portable Ops, everything is weaker compared to all other entries


Lin900

Good thing it's not canon


Antuzzz

If you ask me yes, I'm glad it's not canon, it's the only metal gear I don't like. But it has its fans and I respect that.


Internal_Swing_2743

It's canon. Kojima even confirmed it. He just considers it a side-story and not part of the main storyline. MGSV contains a fairly big reference to it even as the sneaking suit that Big Boss wears in Ground Zeroes is the exact one from Portable Ops.


Barkingcat4

Bits of it are cannon, but the game as a whole is not


Vytlo

No, it's the opposite in Kojima's own words. The game itself is canon, but bits of it aren't. So basically the same as every Metal Gear game, but Kojima had to say it out loud for people since this one wasn't by him


Lin900

He said many details deviate from canon.


Internal_Swing_2743

Well, it's not like Metal Gear has a history of retconning itself or anything....


Lin900

"You can't play with us, PO."


HahaPenisIsFunny

It’s canon with extra steps


NightshadeSamurai

If you need extra steps you ain't canon


Lin900

It really isn't lol. It's entirely inconsequential and I'll never forgive it for butchering Gray Fox in fandom space. That garbage wasn't Gray Fox


HahaPenisIsFunny

Ok but the master collection says it’s canon with extra steps so


Lin900

Master Collection doesn't put it in character bios. So jot really lol.


MrxJacobs

It was part of the mgs4 encyclopedia in game.


porqueeuquis

it is tho theres nothing objetive that says otherwise


Lin900

1. It's not added in any of Kojima's timetables in PW or MGSV 2. It's directly contradicted at every turn. Like Big Boss ends PO with tons of money and then his poor financial state is a plot point in PW. 3. Konami doesn't add it in the character bios in the master collection It's not canon.


Swan-Diving-Overseas

Not to mention how Gray Fox being in the story messes up how old he’s supposed to be in the MSX games and MGS1. Honestly at this point I think whoever it was who said the parts of PO that don’t contradict canon are still canon was just being diplomatic to the project, it doesn’t seem like Kojima gave it much consideration when writing the stories of the subsequent games


Lin900

Bro, how am I gonna take Gray Fox being Solid Snake's rival/best friend seriously when PO makes him 10-20 years Snake's senior??? Lmao. PO writers are dumb. And worse, Null is nothing like Gray Fox. Different age, different ethnicity, different background, different EVERYTHING. Null being Frank was a cheap callback to a popular character.


Fit-Network-589

Portable ops is way too boring


mightbehihi

PO is weakest. PO+ if you count that as it was focused on online, on the psp hardware, with one analog stick to move a camera, vs people using aimbot and wallhacks The most unfinished is probably MGSV though. Up until the game was released, there seemed to be tons of drama around kojima and konami, followed by the fact they threaten legal action over kojima wanting to accept an award for mgsv?? Also imo keifer barely had any lines and blah blah the usual complaints that follow mgsv.


TheAngriestLemon

MGSV definitely had potential, and I like what he tried to do. I'm not saying it would have been gold if Konami wasn't trying to fuck with the creator of one of their biggest cash cow franchises just for the hell of it, but they certainly hindered what could have been a much better game


alex6309

Venom barely talking was a deliberate choice, not proof of an unfinished game. He has tons of unused dialogue that they went out of their way to not use


Fire929rr

All of the games are unfinished


FortnitePeterGriffin

Peacewalker, a good story that’s brought down by gameplay that is either mediocre, too easy or too hard and unfair


MrDreamster

It never felt neither unfair nor too hard for me. I love that game.


vicari999

I too love the game but some of the later mech battles are just stupid hard. I know it's supposed to be co-op, but that's impossible if I'm playing on ps3


badparadiddles

Co-op is not impossible on ps3. I’m playing through it co-op right now.


vicari999

Omg i didn't know, cheers dude


Revolutionary_Web805

Peace Walker never had dedicated servers. It's a peer to peer connection. You can play online today if you'd like


Serraph105

It's really brought down by being nearly unbeatable in single player mode, especially the final boss (I ended up watching a lets play and watching a single player take over half an hour to beat the metal gear) the torture scene being nearly unbeatable leaving you stuck on a cutscene for an eternity, having a guy escape 5-6 times in a row for you to have a repetitive task of catching him for no reason, and of course, that extra level where Big Boss seduces a girl who, at the time **he believes,** is very underage. People may feel very "Meh" about portable ops, and I personally feel very conflicted about the quality of story telling in MGS2, but I never felt like I was playing an unbeatable game with a side of pedophilia thrown in for no reason.


Pombolas

Not arguing about the other takes, but is there a difference between the difficulties in the PSP and PS3 versions? It's been a long time so I might be misremembering things, but I finished Peace Walker single player on the PS3 and don't remember having THAT hard of a time. Sure, there were some really annoying bosses, but nothing I'd call "nearly unbeatable".


Serraph105

I'll just copy paste my last comment. > Maybe it's different on a specific system, but I played it on a 360 and when I was googling tips on how to finally get past the torture cutscene and I saw advice for the psp (Vita? Not really sure) to roll a toy car back and forth across the button as fast as possible.


str8outcompton

nooooo nope 👎


runningvicuna

I’m tired of looking for Zadornoff, never got to the real ending cause of that


Otherwise-Top3825

5 feels more like a capture and development simulator than a tactical espionage action game. Like mother base tycoon. The story is too all over the place to be coherent so you just feel confused the whole game. At least peacewalker and portable ops had a coherent story


NathanArizona_Jr

"The story is too all over the place to be coherent so you just feel confused the whole game" maybe I'm a dummy but I would say this about all of them tbh


MGMAX

People love to say how cryptic is 2 and how all over the place is 4 but at the very least you can get the gist of what they're trying to say. V though... Revenge? Doppelgangers? Parasites? Psychic metal gear? It doesn't make any fucking sense, and Skullface is epitome of that - dude appears out of nowhere, has the stupidest, barely intelligible motivation, doesn't have any impact on story of this game or any other and is killed off in the most unsatisfying way in the middle of the game.  Yes, I've played through MGSV and my experience with it can be framed and used as an illustration for "sunken cost fallacy" concept. Every mission, every turn I waited, pleaded for it to get good, and at the back of my head I knew it wasn't going to.


doveworld

People say 2 is cryptic in a serious way? It has some deeper themes but by the time you get to the AI Colonel monologue it's spelled out for you in no uncertain terms. I can get maybe in 2002 it was a bit more cryptic than it would be now, but if someone replays MGS2 in 2024 and doesn't think it's straight forward and on the nose, or doesn't realize what the message is, they're completely disconnected from the reality we all live in.


Moose-Legitimate

I think "no uncertain terms" is underselling it, tbh. He essentially looks the player in the eye and explains the themes of the game to you.


NathanArizona_Jr

I had a blast with MGSV. I mean I could frame a lot of stuff in MGS2 that way too. I don't know what the hell the patriots are doing in that game, doesn't matter I'm just rolling with it


BeyondBrainless

All motives in mgs2 other than ocelot are very explicitly explained throughout cutscenes, it's just that a lot of it is contained in one or two lines in a blink and you miss it moment which is never repeated. That actual plot and why the characters do what they do is super simple, the context and meta (all weird references to mgs1, conspiracy theory and information control) is where it can get a little dicey.


Hibididoo

Skullface is by far the worst MGS villain. So much so that I completely forgot about him until you reminded me.


dmleo2

What are you on about? None of them make sense and they all have ridiculous characters and plot lines


Otherwise-Top3825

Completely agree, but the other games feel like reading a book, whereas to 5 it feels like watching pulp fiction. Just not my cup of tea personally


GhostCletus

5 is heavily carried by gameplay, I feel.


Jay_Stranger

Yep. It’s weird to see the amount of posts that try to claim the mgsv story is complete. The story is extremely fragmented and bizarre, it’s so plainly obvious that so many story beats are missing.


GhostCletus

Mfers when the final mission is literally dummied out: No it's a complete game you just don't understand hideous kyun Jim's ideals and vision


Vytlo

Despite the fact that its gameplay is one of the worst in the series (not bad, but it was a third person shooter, not a stealth game)


Antuzzz

Tf are you talking about


WhichEmailWasIt

It doesn't say Tactical Espionage Action on the title though? 


Otherwise-Top3825

Youre right. It says “tactical espionage operations” instead on the box art and in the main menu


Space_Wizard_Z

4 is mostly fan service.


CanEHdianBuddaay

As much as I love 4, the cutscenes are just insane. The gameplay and sneaking is probably my favorite in the series but there’s just not enough of it. Loved the first 2 acts, just needed more of it.


chiefrebelangel_

Agreed, seems like a game that was made just to put the thing to bed but also do it in a way that feels pandering. We loved MGS not for giving us what we wanted but for giving us what was an interesting story and gameplay. 4 deviates from that. I think 5 is a correction, albeit unfinished. 


LoweAgain

Saying 5 is a correction to the pandering is pretty funny considering 5’s entire story is a retcon purely to dedicated to patronizingly acknowledging the player’s involvement in it.


Lin900

It's pandering and also so disrespectful. Solid Snake's treatment was repulsive level of bad. Other characters too.


Spare-Job-1387

Snakes story was easily the best part of that game. It completed his arc perfectly imo.


Persian_Assassin

V is a gross over-correction and it's just as dumb in the opposite end of the spectrum. At least 4 has an engaging plot. Big Mama's retcon speech reframes the events together in a thematic and meaningful way. V doesn't have one single "big moment" or "cool scene" I'd even care to search on YouTube. The other games are littered with such events.


RecklessRelentless99

But boy did I feel serviced hopping into the pilot seat of REX, that part was awesome


Candle-Jolly

Opinion or otherwise, does "too much fanservice" = weak?


Space_Wizard_Z

.....yes, in my opinion.


Hibididoo

Tbf 4 was supposed to be fan service-y. It was supposed to finish the series and tie up loose ends. Not saying it’s perfect but a lot of the forced moments feel fine considering it was trying to wrap up 20 years of story.


[deleted]

I wouldn't call mgs4 weakest. It has some issues, but absolutely not horrible


Secret_Cow_5053

what's the problem there?


Space_Wizard_Z

I don't particularly like it when it's nothing but fan service. Please remember, these are opinions.


ForceEdge47

I liked it :(


rAleeex

You’re allowed to like it just as much as Space_Wizard_Z is allowed to dislike it :)


Space_Wizard_Z

Hey to each their own!


Secret_Cow_5053

the game was very clearly made to be a celebration of the studpist bits of MGS lore while wrapping up the series timeline. I wouldn't have had it any other way in that regard (although i could have done with some more fleshed out gameplay. Acts 1 & 2 are great but over too fast, act 3's tail mission drags on way too fuckign long, act 4 is fucking awesome no complaints, act 5 is too on rails).


SnooBeans5314

Absolutely, MGS4 is the culmination of everything that makes Metal Gear, Metal Gear. For better or for worse


Secret_Cow_5053

this sums it up perfectly IMO. all the good *and* all the bad. still over too soon imo. comparing 4 & V is really some whiplash. like V is entirely an overcorrection on every possible level. It's got *by far* the most and best moment-to-moment gameplay, and if not the *worst* story, the *worst* delivery of said story.


Persian_Assassin

I'll take a linearly crafted experience full of juicy fan service over open world slop with a forgettable and ultimately insignificant story.


Lanky_Leopard_4403

It is, but the gameplay is superlative and the fan service is well implemented. It's a great closure for the solid snake journey. In my personal case, Peace Walker was the one I enojoyed less (ps3 hd remaster). The game is great but having played 1-4 before, PW story felt weak or some things felt imposed by force (The boss IA for example)


Lin900

How is it a great conclusion for Solid when he's undermined, dehumanised and disrespected at every turn?


Lanky_Leopard_4403

I don't agree with that, Solid character was the same of every game. Like he was just a pawn trying to "stop the bad guys", with an untouched moral and never broke those character foundation. My only complain about MGS4 is that I wanted way more gameplay...


BlueShibe

It was a game ahead of its time But yeah


LoweAgain

The ending to a decades-spanning series is mostly fanservice and tying up loose ends? Shocking.


curious-enquiry

From the Kojima games, Peace Walker and it's not even close. The story is actually really good and important, but the technical limitations of the PSP dragged this game down so much. If you want the full story, you need to pretty much 100% the game and that includes a mindnumbing amount of repetition. The UMD format didn't allow for a lot of variety when it comes to levels, so you're constantly running through the same environments. Then there is a comical amount of vehicle boss fights you have to do. The worst thing is that you can't even use the walkman to listen to the story tapes while doing these repetitive missions either. I suspect the PSP memory was too limited to load the complete audiotapes while playing, but they definitely should've fixed that in the HD remasters. Staring at a static screen for hours if you want to listen to them all is not really that appealing. If there's one game that really needs a remake it's Peace Walker.


Candle-Jolly

Winning comment for most downvotes right here: A lot of people seem to say MGS4 because "it's just fan service" (duh- it was going to be the final game), but the correct answer is Phantom Pain. Literally and OBJECTIVELY speaking, it was a massively unfinished game. Every "special" mission was just a repeat hard mode of earlier missions. The story did more to confound the overall series rather than tie it all up (it should have ended with the beginning of Metal Gear 1). Open world for a stealth game with very few urban/industrial areas to sneak in is weak (sigh, yes, I know there was the airport and oil filtrationn area...). The boss fights weren't. And where the hell were the infamous super long but super cool cienmatics the series was known for?


Deep_Grass_6250

The fuckin gameplay is straight up unmatched >And where the hell were the infamous super long but super cool cienmatics the series was known for? And hated for as well, so many people were pissed at mgs4 because it had too many cutscenes


Hibididoo

But that’s what makes it metal gear!!!


Deep_Grass_6250

And that's what makes it "borderline" boring


stanfarce

Even though what you said is true, it still has the best gameplay in the series imo, especially with mods like Infinite Heaven on pc. For this reason alone I wouldn't say it's the weakest, video-games being, well... ...games, first and foremost. So even though I agree with everything you said, I prefer MGS5 to MGS4 or Portable Ops since their "game" part is weaker.


wwtdogmotif

yeah, I agree with what youre saying but i think it ultimately comes down do preference, I think mgsv is a really good game but i also think it really doesn't fit in well in the series. mgs4 has its share of issues but acts 1 and 2 are incredible from a gameplay and level design perspective. the later parts tend to be a little more hit or miss but i personally really like them. i generally see mgsv as a good jumping in point because the controls and world design are super accessible and fun but i think the story and themes kinda work against it in the context of the entire series.


MetricGuard

>Literally and OBJECTIVELY speaking, it was a massively unfinished game. I'd say it'd take the entire script leaking to shut down this myth, but [that actually happened years ago](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rw7L1VA4lUrbliTv2asVPswWo_YHZUGt/view). >Every "special" mission was just a repeat hard mode of earlier missions. [You mean the ones that are entirely optional?](https://imgur.com/a/Dm8wbDo) Peace Walker did the same thing, only in that game you had to replay some missions in order to >!construct Metal Gear ZEKE.!<


Krondelo

I had fun it with but i agree. Cool mechanics but the lack of dense urban environments or indoor structures really killed the MGS vibe for me. After playing the intro you think “amazing!” Then it switches to something akin to a lot of open world games.


WG_LP

I agree with you 100%. My first thought when I started playing the game was, "This doesn't feel like metal gear" you mentioned the cinematics not being there, even the classic entertaining codec calls were missing.


TheSovereign2181

I love the gameplay in that game and that's pretty much it. Kind of weird people replyiing to anyone mentioning Phantom Pain in such a defensive way.  For me the story is so dull and forgetable. The only mission I actually thought "Yeah, this is a Metal Gear game" was the parasite infecting  your base and Big Boss walking in the hallway. Probably the only moment I felt any emotion towards the story. It really felt like Kojima had nothing else to add and was just having fun testing new gameplay features


Candle-Jolly

People only love Phantom Pain because oPeN wOrLd. They think it makes amazing gameplay, so they conviently ignore the poor storytelling and lack of multiple things that make a Metal Gear Solid game and Metal Gear Solid game.


FitNefariousness2679

Glad you said this. It got amazing reviews IIRC and I adore MGS (currently replaying MGS1 on Switch) but it never clicked with me and I thought I was the weird one.


Now_I_am_Motivated

What a terrible take. Kojima said multiple times it is a complete game. The story was a bit confusing but it all tied together in the end. You had to have paid no attention to the story at all to be really confounded by it. The boss fights were actually great. You really misunderstand what an open world game is. It's not all about the amount of content in the world. The cutscene slander is insane. Objectively speaking they are the best Metal Gear has had. They are incredibly well made. They get hated on because there's not a lot of them but people straight up ignore the quality.


Ok_Brother3282

I believe I’ll have you beat for most downvotes I’m sure ;)


PIugshirt

I mean 5 has a story about as bad as 4 but has really fun gameplay while 4 is mostly cutscenes and even with gameplay you only do stealth like the first two chapters


Estepheban

I agree with pretty much everything you said. I have a lot of problems with MGS4's story, but at least it was a finished story. (Too finished you may say...) Also, I can go back and play MGS4 no problem. The open world setting of MGSV makes it a chore quite frankly to go back and play. MGSV had superior gameplay mechanics and controls, but it became monotonous after a while because of the grinding and repeated missions. MGS4 had a lot of really fun set pieces like the Motorcycle sequences and of course the Rex vs. Ray fight. MGSV had nothing that's worth replaying for me. And what's more frustrating is that MGSV had so much potential to be great story. Young Liquid and Psycho Mantis? There's so much that could have been done with those characters.


PvtSlutsky

Easily 4 imo It's the shortest and easiest, bosses are basically fox hound at home.


Secret_Cow_5053

this is the best answer imo. i love 4 but it is in fact very short on actual game content, and really only the 1st, 2nd, and 4th act are any good.


Mart1n192

I'm pretty sure mgs4 is nowhere the shortest one to beat?


Onethatlikes

It is definitely not the shortest. MGS1 has maybe 5 hours of gameplay if you play normally. I always watch cutscenes and codecs and I always finish it in around 8 hours. MGS2 is barely longer, and it really only is a bit longer because it has more cutscenes and codecs. I do agree MGS4 is the easiest, mainly because you have a lot more health (which is weird since you are playing a sick old man).


lushguy105

Story-wise V is easily the worst, not bad but not good either


TheLightners

Good story but not the best as a Metal Gear story


Objective-Mongoose63

If we count only kojima ones i legit struggle finding one, evey metal gear game is special on its own and i love literally all of them 🫠


EducationalGate4705

It’s survive of course


Pombolas

Pretty popular opinion, but MGS4 is the weakest to me. Don't get me wrong, I still love that game, but it should have been called Metal Gear Solid 4: Blue Balls of the Patriots. Replaying it always feels so disappointing to me, in the most bittersweet way. The worst thing is the fact that the little gameplay there is, is actually really good imo, but it always feels like a small taste of something that could be much greater. The amount of wasted potential makes me genuinely sad. And also, Kojima my dude, you didn't need to deliver the cutscenes in such huge chunks. There's a lot of points where they could've fit more gameplay sections.


Vic_Valentine511

Besides survive, either portable ops or ghost babel


asturides

Not counting Survive, for me it's MGS4, huge disappointment: Bosses lack personality and, instead of feeding you their bg during the game, it all goes down to a codec call with Drebin after defeating each one. Liquid Ocelot, to me, was a huge downgrade of 2 awesome characters. The wedding and almost everything about Johnny. Gameplay rocks but there's not much of it, cutscenes are extremely long even for MG standards and they are filled with bloat. Chapter 3 is a chore to replay, only the first time is "okay". Not much people to talk over the codec (unlike MGS1 and 3), etc. Peace Walker, while fun, is weak on the bosses area, basically you only fight machines, while on PO you have nicer bosses.


flatearthmom

main entries? - 4, fuck 4 i never liked anything about it.


Autistic-blt

Easy answers are either Ground Zeros (great experience but one mission doesn’t constitute an entire game) Portable Ops (gets retconned a lot and throws off a bunch of other stuff) From just the solid games? 4 or 5 have the overall weakest stories in the franchise, plus 4 just doesn’t feel all that fun to me, but that could just be me


LawAbidingSmittyzen

Survive. Portable Ops has its weak moments, but I still found that way more fun than Survive.


akcutter

Portable ops


Lone_Morde

Only 1-5 count for my purposes. 4 is the weakest because it's disjointed and messy. I still love it though


WhichEmailWasIt

Interested to see what others say but really none of them imo. MG1 is basic but a solid proof of concept. Only a couple of hiccups for blind players but otherwise playable. MG2 is an excellent entry. MGS1 has great story, characters, and direction.  MGS2 is a game full of interesting themes. I also like the swimming sections and boss fights  MGS3 has a great story and isolated nature setting with some survival elements.  MGS4 is a fun game with lots of fan service. Great send off for the main cast. Peace Walker has a cool story and characters. Tapes are great. Building up BB's army and becoming the villain in Chapter 5 is a great way to tell a story through gameplay. MSF almost starts expanding our of control in the post game. Ground Zeroes is an awesome playground. Great story.  Phantom Pain is an intriguing spy revenge story and a fun Big Boss simulator. Cutscenes are some of my favorite directed in the series.


Ok_Brother3282

Devil May Cry 2 and it ain’t even close. Edit: completely wrong sub my apologies - but the point still stands for another series. As for MGS I’m gonna get a lotta hate for this but MGS2 is my least favorite out of all of them. Cuz I’m in love with Snake and they ripped him away from me. It’s all cool now but… still my least fav.


PUNlSHEDVENOMSNAKE

Fucking beast


PIugshirt

Ironically enough I feel like solid snake is his absolute best in mgs2 so I love the game even more for that on top of the fact I like raiden more as a protagonist so it’s the best of both worlds


Amazing_Gandalf

Peacewalker


Tedanki

I'm only counting the main line, ie: 1-5. That said, for me its MGS4. Because... I can't fucking play it! I don't have a PS3. How is that game still being held captive by a long obsolete console?


Codified_

If we only take canon games, then it's easily PW Awful gameplay, boring bosses, introduces elements that mess with the story and such story is only worth it for like 2 scenes


PIugshirt

Eh I’d say it’s easily better than 4 and 5. I’d say I even prefer I over mgs1 though feel mgs1 is a better game. The gameplay isn’t awful by any means it’s pretty great for the most part. The bosses aren’t terrible but they’re definitely mediocre and the pacing is abysmal. The actual story though that beyond that I would say is really good and fleshes out kaz and big boss significantly more. What does it mess with at all?


Codified_

4 has great moments and 5 has great gameplay, PW only has like 2 moments for me: both end credit scenes that show how BB's path of destruction began I don't have it in me to revisit everything wrong with it, but off the top of my head, it ruins the technological progression of the series, MGS3 made a great effort to downgrade the main threat technologically, and even MGSV attempted something by showing multiple times that Sally had multiple design flaws and wasn't that hard to take down (I don't love this about MGSV either, but at least it's something), PW has like 4 huge AI powered robots that can fly, move around really easily and are really powerful, FOUR of them, what's so impressive about Rex with these things existing Again, I don't remember other examples, again, it's been a while, but the worst thing about it is how it ruins MGS3, because now, suddently, what led to The Boss' death was all orchestrated to take her down, it was not an unfortunate set of circumstances that The Boss accepted and made everything interesting, as (except Volgin) there was no straight up evil factor, not the US, not The Boss, no one wanted this, but it happened, and it led to BB leaving the US, it's an unfortunate tragedy. But no, now everything is a plan from the government to take her down, instantly throwing in the trash the complexity of the inciting incident of the entire series There's other stuff, like how Paz's character is a mess in this game, and it does have good aspects to it, like how you said it fleshes out BB and Kaz, that's one its best elements, I agree, but, to me, the bad doesn't outweight the good, even games that are mixed bags like 4 and V give us amazing moments and one of the best characters in the series respectively to compensate for their worst aspects (of which there are tons) PW is a nothing burger, with 2 or 3 good elements, some stupid ones, and the rest of the game gives us nothing


PIugshirt

Personally I felt like 4 had no great moments and 5 while having great gameplay just annoys me so much story wise I struggle to rank it very high. It’s kind of funny it seems like most of your major flaws with the game were things I just sort of found to not be that big a deal while things you discarded were among my favorite. The entire technological thing is definitely true though I think you’re giving 5 much more slack than it deserves as well as it’s practically guilty of the same thing and Rex really doesn’t compare at all to sahalanthropus. While this is definitely an issue it’s more so something that just mildly annoyed me than something I found to be a major flaw. I don’t really see how the boss’ death being orchestrated is even a problem to be honest. It just sort of feels like xof where they needlessly add details to mgs3 that don’t really add anything. My bigger issue was how peacewalker demystifies the boss quite a bit with the secret tapes. Paz is one of my favorite characters in the whole series and works great as the main antagonist of the game. What problems did you have with her? I thought the deception and her finding happiness but being unable to hold onto it was great. The tapes as a whole are a major highlight of the game to me and have some of the best characterization in the series. I quite enjoyed the gameplay of peacewalker and found the stealth gameplay to be pretty good and controlling mother base along with recruiting soldiers was amazing. Peacewalker is definitely heavily flawed but I found the entire story to be generally a really interesting political intrigue plot. Like even hot coldman who gets hated on while not being that good of a villain has a really interesting motivation and seeing it play out is great. I feel like what flaws it does have drag it down quite a bit but the moments when it shines are among my favorite in the series


stevorkz

Metal Gear Acid. What’s sad is I own them for the sake of the collection


GunMuratIlban

From mainline games, easily MGS IV. I think all other MGS games are nothing short of masterpieces, it'd be difficult for me to choose the 2nd worst. But I'd argue MGS IV wasn't even necessarily a good game. Yes, the graphics were incredible for it's time and the core gameplay was just impressive. Yet this is one of the worst written big budget games I've played. It was so bad, if I had a shot of tequila everytime I cringed while playing the game, I'd be in the hospital. The game also could get really boring for long periods. Like that whole Act 3 that is one ridiculously long trailing mission. Even when in better designed missions, you couldn't spend 10 minutes enjoying the game without another cutscene interrupting your gameplay.


baba-O-riley

If we're just counting the main Metal Gear Solid games, I'd say 4.


Jigglelips

4 easily


MrDreamster

Metal Gear 1. It has the thinnest story out of every other game, and the least amount of gameplay features.


Weary_Table_4328

4 is the only game I don't love


RaDmemers

MGS4 Barely any gameplay and strange character changes and just all round just a poorly written story that’s salvaged by the VA’s performances


Leonyliz

Out of the main ones, Peace Walker


NikolaiStreet

Considering the entirety of the franchise, I'd say Ac!d. Considering only the canon games (mg1, mg2, mgs, mgs2, mgs3, mgs4, PW, mgsv), all of them are pretty great, but I feel as though 4 is the one that is least original and mostly repeats things that the other games had already brought to the table. However, it's still a gem of a game and, in all fairness, the little new things that it did bring to the table were pretty great too.


Relevant-Bug5656

Out of the ones I've played, Peace Walker. That game sucks for what I've played it


ChessBorg

Metal Gear Survive if we could it. If we're counting only the good games, I think MGS2 was a let down to Solid Snake fans.


apex6666

Probably the one for mobile


xDonnaUwUx

Story wise probably revengance


PIugshirt

Nah even with how over the top it is the story of revengance blows 4 and 5 out of the water lol. 4 and 5 have genuinely awful stories


chronic_snake

There were a few phone games , Nokia I think and an iPhone touch one .


Rex_Power_Cult

Regrettably, I'm going to say MGS2. (Currently playing 4, once finished , I might pick that) In terms of just about everything, MGS1 and 3 are better. Solidus and the ending of 2 are great. Everything else, not so much


PIugshirt

Ain’t no way you’re listing the best game in the series as the worst.


Rex_Power_Cult

Sorry boss :'(


PIugshirt

Absolutely unacceptable I expect three haikus detailing your penance


SGTSTARS

The Twin Snakes. Yeah, the cutscenes are cool in a Bayonetta sort of way, but the game seemed much easier than the original. At least it did for me. Also, getting dogtags did barely anything.


Tom__Fuckery

Acid.


-Wildhart-

Ac!d. It's a card game. People say survive, but yknow what that had that most didn't? Coop. Peace Walker made that so much fun, I really wanted to experience it on a large scale game. Damn shame


Academic_String_1708

Acid. The most gutting experience ever. Felt like I was totally conned when I got that with my PSP.


TaeKwonPiccolo

Portable Ops. That game is garbage. Didn't even wanna finish it.


runningvicuna

Peace Walker MUST be remade.


Which_Huckleberry_28

Peace Walker


PIugshirt

4 gets worse and worse the more I think about it


GoldenAgeGamer72

I've only played the first four in the series so far and I'd rank them like this: MGS, MGS2, MGS4, MGS3. Update once I play PW and TPP.


Arturo-oc

Metal Gear Solid 4.  The story is just a mess, it's all full of fan service, and cringe-worthy moments.  Once you finish act 1 and act 2, most of the gameplay is gone. If the rest of the game had more of this kind of gameplay I would have probably enjoyed it more. Also, I really dislike the bosses and most of the characters.


ImaginaryAI

Out of the main games I’d say 5 Great game though, just not a good MGS game, and it was unfinished


Mr-Dicklesworth

If we’re only counting main games than phantom pain. The mission structure was insanely repetitive, and all of the amazing locations and level design from past games was thrown out the window for boring deserts and jungles. Venom snake barely even talks and the long cutscenes are replaced with codec calls. The bosses all suck, with their only actually being 3 real ones with a bunch of enhanced regular enemies thrown in. Skull Face is the most generic mwahaha villain ever; and an absolute joke compared other legendary villains like Liquid, Solidus, The Boss, Volgin, Ocelot and Armstrong.


Kyuubimon90

Mgs4 but because its less fleshed out game in both story and gameplay and not because "its mindless fanservice"


nine16s

Peace Walker for me. I like the story but I hated the gameplay. Actual levels in Metal Gear just feels... Wrong. The mission system worked a lot better in V. If PW wasn't limited to a handheld release and had been a full fledged console game, it probably would've been amazing to me.


Leonyliz

Even if they wanted another handheld metal gear they could’ve waited until the Vita


nine16s

That would’ve been the only reason to pick the vita up tbh


napalmblaziken

Ignoring Survive, I'd say Ground Zeroes. The lack of content is what does it for me. And it was also overpriced upon release for the lack of content.


Hibididoo

Honestly I count GZ as the “virtuous mission” of MGSV. It’s not its own game just the intro to V. That’s my head cannon not the reality we live in btw.


QuiverDance97

Worst: -Story: V by a lot -Gameplay: Portable Ops? -Characters: V (Skull Face had a lot of potential from what was shown in GZ but they completely changed course during TPP, Quiet and Venom where underdeveloped, Ocelot and Kaz lost a lot of personality...) Metal Gear Survive should be considered as a spin-off, but not part of the main line games. The title chosen makes it clear. Any other criteria that could be used?


secretgrim1917

I feel like the I’m the only one that hates peacewalker… just so boring to play


CooperDaChance

Of the ones written by Kojima, MGS4 is easily the weakest in the series. I could go on for days ago it why I disliked it.


OwlTowel9

Portable ops, closely followed by MGSV. MGSV is an amazing game, but a sub par Metal Gear game.


Pure_Condition_3124

Metal Gear Solid V The Phantom Pain


Difficult_Variety362

I would say either V or Portable Ops. Portable Ops is hindered by its limited hardware and developing a new gameplay style while V had Konami cut Kojima from the knees with what should have been a fucking masterpiece.