With the release and tsunami of rumours there after that The Phantom Pain was in fact another entry into the Metal Gear Solid franchise, it got me firmly in the hype camp for a certain Hideo Kojima.

The trailer led me to wanting to replay MGS 1 through 4 to really soak in the lore and backstory of all the unique characters that populated that universe. Thanks in part to me PlayStation Vita – this has become a reality. I had already purchased the Metal Gear Solid HD collection for the Vita not long after it had come out as I always felt the series was fantastic – granted I already owned them in their original formats, and I’m not one to buy many of the HD collections which seem to appear on a regular basis in this generation – but the series has always held a special place in my nostalgia so the idea of playing them on the go had me sold. Sadly Metal Gear Solid 1 was not included in the HD collection – but a quick trip to the PlayStation network secured this for a bargain of a price.

I played through Metal Gear Solid 1 in about 7 hours and I was surprised – I always through the game was a lot longer than that. But I guess having all the knowledge beforehand helped streamline the challenges. I knew where I was going, I knew how to take down the bosses, I even knew some of the lines of dialogue before they were uttered – over all I had a blast with MGS1. It still holds up today and really scratched my nostalgia itch.

With that game ticked off the list before 2013 hit, I have made a start on MGS2: Sons of Liberty. Whereas I’m still enjoying the experience over all I feel, in my opinion that MGS2 is the weakest entry of the four. At the time all those years ago there was the initial shock of Snake not being the main playable character throughout most of the experience, but even in terms of story and character, I feel the other games are leaps and bounds ahead of what we have here.

Having just hit Shell 2 I’m eager to continue my exploration of the franchise but it makes me pose this question. Which was your least favourite of the Metal Gear Solid series?