I just ordered this because of all the recent MGS hype, Metal Gear Scanlon and because thinking back on it...I loved MGS and MGS2. I don't know why I never played 3 or 4, I don't know if I'm in for a world of pain or fun.

Do you think these games hold up these days?

Fun. They both play decently enough. Peace Walker's a different kettle of fish.

Peace Walker and 4 hold up very well imo. Play like relatively modern action games.

The gameplay of 3 feels horrible to me. I replay 2, 3, and 4 pretty much yearly and 2 and 3 are still struggles to me because of the gameplay. Amazing fucking stories, but I hate actually controlling them.

What you've done is make a great decision! The collection is a hell of a deal, and all the games are fun in their own way!

Best series in Vidya games. All of the games are fantastic.

I played 3 and 4 for the first time last year, and enjoyed the hell out of both. They all take getting used to, of course, but outside of some infuriating moments throughout, they all play pretty well and look really good in HD.

Peace Walker is the only one I can't get through. Weirdly, I often get the itch to try getting into it again, but every time I try I just get sick of it after a couple of hours.

As someone who did the exact same thing last year, I say you made a great decision. I've gone through the first three since picking it up and it's been wonderful (I especially came away from 3 with a new appreciation for it that I did not have before), and I'm planning to try to burn through 4 in the next couple weeks so I can jump right into 5. From my experience, 3 has the tightest control of the "MGS controls" games (1-3), whereas 4 plays a lot more like a more traditional 3rd person action games with a few bits from the MGS control scheme carried over.

Basically they're all amazing but the first 3 games have weird dated controls. Put up with that and you're good. Stories and presentation are really awesome. And hell, once you get used to the controls, I find the gameplay of the first 3 to be really fun

Just be glad you can play 3 with a rotating camera, trying to stealth with no radar and no way to see in front of you was the WORST. I played some of Peacewalker on PPSSPP and changed the camera so it was on the right stick and it seemed fine, i'm sure they did something similar with the console version. 4 is incredible, although some people still hated the controls.

I'm sorry but that statement about Peace Walker is absolutely insane. Insane.

Yes, they hold up. I bought the same package a few months ago and I'm currently in the process of trying finish up the platinum on 3 before TTP comes out.

I loved 1 and 2, I played the hell out of them . I actually own 4 but I played maybe an hour of it and decided I should wait and play 3 first...that never happened, because well my PS2 got packed up quick and more and more games came out. I've been looking for a game where my wife would enjoy watching, she really found The Witcher III engaging because of the story telling. With all the Metal Gear Scanlon stuff I've been itching to actually finish the series and I felt "well...it plays like a giant movie"

I think the games absolutely hold up. I still really like the controls of 1-3. Granted I played all these games when they came out but I've always felt they were logically structured. It took me a couple playthroughs of Ground Zeros to adjust to the modern control scheme.

I disagree, I'm replaying Peace Walker on PS3 and it's pretty damn fantastic. The gameplay changes (easier to execute CQC, enemy soldiers automatically lie on the ground after hold up, allowing you to grab enemies before they even get up properly after knocking them out) puts this game above even MGS4 in terms of playability. The only knocks against it is the lack of crawling or sneaking against walls and moving enemy bodies but they don't significantly impact the way I play and can easily be negated by using a cardboard box (in the case of hiding in plain sight or fulton recovery to remove an enemy)

Your only mistake is falling for easy hype and making purchasing decisions based on that. Otherwise it's a nice purchase. I bought it too even though I already had every single game in it aside from Peace Walker. Some of them more than once even. Still don't regret it.
However, if you want to play MGS3, I suggest getting Subsistence on PS2 and playing that instead. Fantastic game. One of -if not THE- best game of that entire console generation (Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, Xbox) in my opinion and the PS2 version of Subsistence is the most complete version you can get. 100% recommended for any fan.

Finished 1 and 2 (again) now on to the ones I have not played. I am debating playing Peace Walker as I've heard it's not all that great. Do you think it's worth just watching the 3 hour video online and skip it and go to Ground Zeroes?

@makinbacon: Play it for yourself and see, you already bought it. I heard the same thing and really enjoyed Peace Walker. The PS3 controls are much better than the PSP controls. I plan on going back after I'm done with TPP and 100%ing Peace Walker.