As the fourth game in my playthrough of the Metal Gear series, this game had a kind of high bar for it. I don't have that much to say about the original 2D Metal Gear games, but I will say that they are both very well maid, super innovative and ahead of their time experiences, that I would mostly recommend to hardcore Metal Gear fans. And while I enjoyed them for the most part, they have definitely been at the bottom of my rankings for the series thus far, kind of just being "not my thing". Metal Gear Solid 1, was a great game, with an effective, engaging story, especially for the time, and amazing gameplay that was so satisfying and tons of fun boss fights. Due to this, and the fact that I have heard some mixed opinions on this game as a whole, I was somewhat wary of Sons of Liberty. After playing it, it is my favorite game in the series thus far, no contest. First off, I need to address one of the biggest talking points surrounding this game: Raiden. From what I understand, it was not revealed before this game came out that Raiden was the main character, and due to this "false advertising", many fans were not happy with this game. While I understand that criticism, especially when it first launched, I believe that with time passing, this has become less of an issue for people, especially those who are just getting into the series, like myself. On Raiden, I liked him, I thought he was a decent enough character, and was easy to connect with, as he, like the player, was pretty much the only one not in on this grand conspiracy going on in the game. While I don't think he is a better character than Snake, I am fine with him as the protagonist. As for the story, I think it blows the first game out of the water. It takes everything from MGS1 and improves upon it, with first person aiming, WAY better guard AI plus a new alert system that makes stealth more challenging but still fun, and much improved gameplay when it comes to straight-up combat. For story, I also think it is better than MGS1. I love the themes and ideas discussed in the game, like manipulating pubic information and perception, artificial intelligence, and reality. It's even crazier that these are very relevant topics now, and this is a game from 2001. For characters, I really liked almost all of the new characters. The new villains, like Fortune, Vamp, and Solidus Snake are all great, especially Solidus who I feel is somewhat of an underrated Metal Gear character. And the boss fights are almost all amazing. Save for Snake's fight with Olga and the fight with the harrier, all the boss fights are fun, challenging, and include some cool mechanics, such as freezing bombs placed by Fatman or shooting out lights while fighting Vamp to make sure he can't use a powerful attack. However, the game wasn't perfect, as there were some annoying parts. The obvious one is when you have to escort Emma, and it really is a chore. Also, I personally didn't like the Big Shell as a setting as much as I loved Shadow Moses. Overall, this game blew me away, smashing every expectation I had for it, and set the the bar for the metal gear series going forward. It will be tough for a game to beat this one.