The only bad core entry in the series. The first chunk of the game is still enjoyable nowadays, but the crust just gets stronger and stronger the more you play it.

Works well enough, it's essentially a portable Metal Gear 2 with a different story. However, that also applies to the gameplay. A lot of the series uses familiar sequences to generally act as a stock theatre of sorts to compliment certain messages, but since this isn't canonical and doesn't feed into anything more, I feel like it falls on its face. Now it just makes you go "Oh, I probably have to do this part since that's the general order of events in these games."

Slightly underrated, in my opinion. This could be because I got both Ground Zeroes and The Phantom Pain in the Definitive version of the game and didn't pay $30 for this when it came out, but I love Ground Zeroes.

I've always loved the murky industrialism of 1 and 2, and I'm in love with how the FOX Engine handles it. Sometimes I actually find myself coming back to Ground Zeroes more than TPP. This makes me pray for remakes of MG1+2 and Solid on the FOX Engine that will never happen.

It's... something. The gameplay is in a weird middle ground where it's evolving past the classic camera and controls, but not quite as polished as Peace Walker HD (not original, god no) and V.

Regarding the story, I've known that Kojima never wanted to continue directing the series past 2, but it's obvious that he's exhausted at this point. It feels like fanfiction and fanservice, but I'll be damned if I'm not a fan and I don't like being serviced from time to time.

A flight of stairs up from MG1, not just a step. This is where the heart and soul of Metal Gear is born, even if it's still a little rough around the edges.

One of two times in this series that I don't really mind stellar gameplay covering up for a minimal story. Obviously I'm bummed about this being unfinished with lots of loose threads, but another part of me doesn't care about that anymore cause I have an insane amount of fun sneaking around and completing missions.

A great entry in the series that unfortunately suffered due to its original platform and might've been better on a home console. However, I'm not sure if that would even be possible. The mission based structure works in tandem with the micro-managing of resources so well that I'm not sure how you could keep it if you ditched the mission structure. It would be a nice experiment to see this game as a straight-through, traditional linear adventure, instead of having to recycle most environments and levels for the sake of side-ops and padding.

Even though this is obviously not a traditional Metal Gear game, I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't have a good time with what was essentially a Platinum hack n' slash with a Metal Gear skin.

Yeah the backtracking can be annoying sometimes, but It's worth it for the narrative. The new gameplay mechanics are also very much welcomed.

Despite how primitive this can look in the face of MGSV, I can say for sure that I'll be replaying the original Metal Gear Solid way more times than TPP. It's an amazing combination of story, music, environments and stealth gameplay all tied together with a nice little bow on top.

It's wonderful. One of the only games that's ever made me cry, and I'm glad it did.