Snake? Snake!? SNAAAAAAAKE!!!!!!!!

Wait, what's the question?? I've only played Substance on the Xbox. It was okay. Never felt like playing any others.

I played MGS2 recently and man does that game drag. It had me interested at first but by the time I had to fight a fighter jet I had about enough. It was a bad idea to go straight into MGS3 because although that game plays much better I just got bored real quick.

I want to skip the never-ending cutscenes but isn't that why I'm playing these games for? I'll get back to MGS3 at some point (and eventually peace walker) but that won't be at least until I'm done with Bioshock Infinite. Maybe then in the distant future I'll be playing ground zeroes and phantom pain.

So to answer the question, none. I didn't enjoy any of the MGS's so far.

I only liked 3, and parts of 4. I didn't know that there was a weird divide between people liking 1+3 and 2+4.

@jdh5153: Every MGS game is kinda crazy nuts in its own way, but MGS and MGS3 are much more self-serious whereas MSG2 and MGS4 reach over-the-top snake-eating-itself levels of in(s)anity. Some people, like Jeff, prefer the bat-shit crazy tone of 2 and 4. Other people, like Patrick, prefer the more straight-faced 1 and 3.

2 is my favorite so I went with that option.

Sons of Liberty and MGS1 are probably my favorites.

Well, since I love every MGS I've played (2, 3, and 4), I feel like these poll options don't really suit me that well.

3 & 4

Because I didn't play the first two. Neither was perfect, but both were amazing with some truly great moments. The last fight in 4 was very close to perfect though.

Also, blew all the crazy? Are you kidding me? That one dude in Ground Zeroes has a burnt face and that one dude in Phantom Pain doesn't have an arm...but he feels its phantom.

Stealth is for suckers.

I fall as really liking them all. No divide here.

I really liked 2, 3, 4, and Peace Walker.

1&3. The first Metal Gear Solid is my absolute favorite and MGS3 truly made me feel like a predator stalking its prey.

I love them all but I've never actually played 4! Glad to see another 2 lover.

Err - my ranking would be;

1. 1 & 4
2. 3
3. 2

But I like all of them, so I didn't vote.

I've only ever played the first game, so that's my choice. It's an excellent game that holds up surprisingly well today.

I have only finished the first game and emulated a lot of the first. The second was rad. I played the tanker a whole buncha times, yo.

Why can't, "I like all of the MGS games except the part where you play MGS2 because the level design is awful" be an option? Hell, I even liked playing Portable Ops more than MGS2!

But given those options... As much as I like the insanity of MGS2 and MGS4, I have to go with 1 and 3.

Actually, no that's a lie.

PEACE WALKER.

I love Guns of the Patriots, but it can't be MGS due to nostalgia and Snake Eater due to it telling a better (and less insane story).

It's tough. Snake Eater's probably the best in the franchise. But I like the pair of 2 and 4 more than the pair of 1 and 3. Fucking can't stand to go back and play 1 now.

Sons of Liberty (2) is my favorite MGS. Peace Walker and Snake Eater are probably tied for 2nd.

I have to mention Ghost Babel here because it's a terrific little game that never gets mentioned.

I prefer 1 & 3 but I love them all except for 4 which retconned a ton of stuff and am just glad there's going to be more MGS madness.

3>4>2>1 So this poll is bullshit.

I like all of them but I'm not insane here like Jeff. 1&3 is where its really at.

@hidys said:

Yeah, this. I really don't think 1 holds up as well as many people say it does.

I've only played through 1 and 2 so far. 2 was the first game I got for ps2 back in late 2001 so I'm sure even after playing the rest my opinion will still be slanted towards it. Besides the memorable boss fights, 1 just wasn't very fun. Was planning on beating 3 and 4 before R:R just to get fully caught up on the series but that didn't happen.

I actually think 1 holds up very well. I just happen to think the others are all better than it.

My opinion looks a little more like this 3=4>2>1 Now Metal Gear Ac!d... that's a whole 'nother story!

I abstain from answering. 3 is my absolute favorite (one of my favorite games of all time), but outside of that I like 2 & 4 a lot more than one. 3 > 4 > 2 > 1.

B-but what about Peace Walker?

@mooseymcman said:

The level design is SO awful! And dull; Big Shell was a terribly boring place to be. Also I think it has the worst boss design of the series.

RAIDENNNN!

1 & 3 for sure. Though I've probably played MGS2 the most. The 12 or so year old me was blown away by that game; I would literally complete it, then start over again, complete, start over. I even collected all of the dog tags, too. MGS4 took the stupid too far, though. While it has some great moments (Rex vs Ray; Snake vs Liquid Ocelot; microwave hallway), I'm not really a fan of the overall picture.

Peace Walker's OK, but the main problem I have with that is how the stealth gameplay was watered-down to such an insane degree. Still haven't even completed it yet, though I really oughta soon.

I like them all but 1 and 3 are definitely the standouts.

MGS2 is the best game I've ever played, so probably that option.

MGS2 > MGS > MGS4 > MGS3

All fantastic. Not sure why people are so down on the MGS fiction, thematically it's some of the most complex I've seen across all mediums. The text and subtext are both so rich. The complaint I've always heard about 2 is that it's too difficult to follow, but I didn't find it all that hard to keep track of, it seems fairly straightforward as long as you pay attention to the cut scenes. What I love about MGS, aside from the thematic depth that is so lacking in even the best of other games, is that everything is self contained. It's not like the junk Valve or Blizzard pull, littering fiction in ARGs or extended fiction, or the moral simplicity of something like Mass Effect. The scripts in MGS games are so tight, focused, and layered that I'm not sure how it being a little heavy handed can be considered a bad thing. Well, aside from the sad realization that, even though the games reflect on postmodern tradition and blend that with traditional story telling to create a stunningly underappreciated hybrid text (though I guess hybridity can be considered bad as easily as it can be considered good), any form of sincerity is laughed at even when it does make large artistic strides.

I really really like all of them so this is though, but I think it would be 3, 4, 1 and 2 for me. It's been a while since I've played them so maybe my memories a little fuzzy.

I really like all of them.

all

1 & 2. 4 isn't worth the discussion.

I like 2 and 3, but not 4 for some reason.

I like 1 and 3, and everybody seems to forget those games also had crazy dumb shit in them too. For example:

• "So, you like to play Castlevania?"
• Checking the back of the box for Meryl's codec number
• "Hurt me more!"
• "Can love bloom on the battlefield?"
• Bee guns
• Beating The Fear entirely through poisonous or rotten food
• Not playing the game for 7 days to let The End die of old age

@morbid_coffee: By "crazy dumb" I hope you really mean totally awesome.

Kojima isn't flipping off gamers and fans with MGS2, he's flipping off video games and the narrow set of expectations that we seem have about them.

@morbid_coffee: I'd also count Volgin as one of the dumbest characters in the series, but to be fair, how are you supposed to beat Hot Coldman?

(you can also shoot The End prior to the boss fight but I was never sadistic enough to go through with it)

My favourites are MGS1&2. I always prefered the more linear levels and the absence of the soliton radar saddened me.

Oh, I almost forgot about Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov! (yeah MGS is stupid, but I love it ;p)

Ask me again in a couple of years when I can give you the answer 6 & 9.

This Poll is terrible, give more options than that!

I didn't even read the text and I knew what the poll was asking of me... 2&4. I find it incredibly hard deciding which of those is better though.

I think 1 is pretty overrated as well; so it's basically 3 by itself (though 3 and Peacewalker works too). Good for you playing a mediocre game for 10 straight hours or whatever; shame you didn't play Uncharted 2 or Super Metroid instead.

I don't get the question so 1 & 3(?) cause 3 is my favorite...that the right answer?

I voted 2 and 4 because 2 is the best game ever created. But 3 is way better than 4, it has the best and least convoluted story of the whole series.