ok i wanted to stat the series but im kind of starting on the 3rd one i saw my friend play little bits of the 1st but i know whats going on in that game and the 2nd i saw my friend playing the entire thing lol so do you think that the third would be a good decision?

I would always recommend playing all the games, but if that's not an option for you then you should be okay understanding MGS3 as it is a prequel to the whole series.

i don't think it's worth replaying all the others just for MGS4. I was in a similar position as you, I had only played MGS1 and had seen my brother play parts of MGS3.  I had no problem understanding the story.  MGS4 is a great game, and whether you have or haven't played the others I believe it's definitely still worth picking up, it's a great game.  You can also look up info about the game if you have too, that helped me and it didn't really take away from the story at all.

MGS4 explains the entire story really well so you dont really need to play all of them before you play MGS4.

I find that when you jump on board an existing series once it has been running for a while, even if you can understand whats going on, it still doesn't have the same impact.

just buy Metal Gear Solid: the Essencial collection.
well worth it!

you know i can let you borrow any games you want to brett

I only played Metal gear solid 3, and i understood about 70 percent of it, it explained the rest to me tho