This game is notorious for good reason. It's almost impressive how much it manages to go completely off the rails at pretty much every turn in a violent attempt to conclude as much as humanly possible. This is an absolute trainwreck of a plot that I would still wholeheartedly recommend just because it has to be seen to be believed.
Fun fact: This was my first MGS game and I thought the plot was actually really good when I had no context for literally anything. Goes to show that the spectacle is at least done right.
Gameplay is good enough but really not utilized all that much - the first third or so of the game has some stealthy levels but then it devolves into pretty much non-stop action and gimmick sections. Definitely a waste of the new improved control scheme and vastly increased number of weapons/tools.
This game is fucking bonkers and I recommend it purely for that alone.

This didn't do a lot for me. It works well enough as a portable title and it laid the groundwork for the mechanically impressive MGSV, but it's not super fun to go back to by itself as a proper entry into the MGS series. Definitely works better when you consider the platform it was originally made for but if you don't have a PSP then you're stuck in your living room with these incredibly watered down systems.
Still, a fun take on the classic MGS formula and a nice little PSP game. It's a shame that playing this is basically mandatory to be up to speed with Ground Zeroes and by extension MGSV.

This took me a while a couple playthroughs to get into but most of that was shedding the 'Action' and leaning more into the 'Tactical Espionage'. You have to play this game slowly to play it well (at least if you're playing normally) but they give you all of the tools you need to survey the area, including a top-down view that used to be mandatory outside of this version. Stealth fans are eating WELL tonight! Though I personally prefer the snappier arcade-stealth approach of MGS2 I can still appreciate the feeling of methodically working your way through an area, even if a lot of it involves just crawling mostly everywhere for the best outcome.
The story is also the best in the series, only MGS1 can hope to match this level of cohesiveness which is unheard of from Kojima these days, where every plot of his is just pumped with more and more concepts and made-up terminology like a bad anime.
Easily one of the best stealth games ever made.

My favourite visual aesthetic in the entire franchise. I love the low-resolution textures are made to look much higher quality with some great blurring techniques and expert use of limited colour palettes to reduce artifacting.
My favourite gameplay of the franchise too, simultaneously stealthy while also feeling arcade-like and snappy.
The story is generally weirdly-paced and often not told extremely well (the introduction of the MAGIC LIQUID ARM as a concept is an absolute joke that would be repeated two games later), but a lot of the scenes are individually quite fun to look at and well-directed; the camera angles and muzzle-flashes in Vamp's first encounter always stick out in my memory specifically.
There are some annoying segments, especially in the second half, but this still feels great just to control once you get the hang of it.
The Arsenal Gear chapter is one of the most (checks thesaurus) 'enlightened' moments in gaming and hasn't really been topped by anything since, except maybe Killer7.
Possibly my favorite Metal Gear Solid game.

Originally I wasn't a huge fan but revisiting this years later with turbo mode modded into the PC version helped me to find the fun that I was missing from the DMC's before it. While I still find the monster designs to be a bit uninspired, getting to grips with Dante is so enjoyable and this is the first game in the series I actually bothered to Royal Guard properly in because MAN is it fun to learn. It's harder for me to go back to the older games now since this one cuts all the bullshit level/puzzle design from DMC3/4 and lets you focus on the fucking GAMEPLAY which is really the whole point. It doesn't feel as easy to cheese as the other games either which makes for a far more compelling and frustrating challenge at higher difficulties if you insist on holding off from Gold Orbs which I would absolutely recommend. The story is also a lot more enjoyable in it's own, different way; DMC3 will always hold the crown for the best story in the series but this still serves extremely fun and occasionally tender moments. Nico is a fantastic new character for the series and I hope this isn't the last we see of her.

I still prefer Bayonetta's approach to more focused gameplay and arcade-like scoring system, and I still maintain the soundtrack in this is mastered really strangely but this game has so much stuff in it that I can only respect having a million moves to pull off at any one time. Balrog best weapon.

My first hack 'n' slash game so I'll be biased. I can personally attest to Nero being a fantastic character for newcomers and, to be honest, I still slightly prefer playing him to Dante. He's a lot more focused in his moveset and the ability to pull enemies towards you without needing to switch to a style first is such a good idea I'm surprised it wasn't done sooner.
Graphics are still mindblowing to me and it has no right running as well as it does - Capcom had some real talent behind this tech.
Unfortunately all of these refinements and the beautiful engine came at the cost of the game itself, because once you've played half the game you've pretty much seen everything because you're playing the same game again with a different character. Dante -is- very fun to the point that it doesn't matter quite as much as I think people make the re-used content out to be, though.
The story is also quite average but the character designs are top-tier so it's hard to look away when everyone looks so fucking cool (even Agnes).
Easily recommended if you enjoyed any other game in the series.

Responsible for DMC's current CUH-RAYZEE reputation. Easily the best story and cutscenes in the DMC series.
I like this game a lot but perhaps not as much as I used to - a lot of the missions are a bit tiresome and a good chunk of the enemy roster are straight up just not fun to fight against.
While the style system would see refinements later on this is still a good start, especially with the Style Switcher mod installed on PC. I dislike how some actions are restricted to styles that could easily be made default though, such as needing Swordmaster to combo in mid-air for most weapons.
I'd like to come back to this and try and master it better sometime but as it is this is one of the best action games on the PS2. Turn turbo mode on. I also recommend the DDMK mod on PC.

The original and purest hack 'n' slash game. Some might find it hard to return to after DMC went full CUH-RAYZEE but over time I find myself preferring this game's approach to combat. The guns are actually viable in this game, for one.
Also in love with the atmosphere, it may have been a holdover from the cancelled RE4 project that this was built on top of but a giant gothic castle is always appealing. Also knows when to let you walk around areas in silence with deep fog and heavy winds with no music - Devil May Cry used to actually be kind of creepy.
The most 'controlled' of all the games too, each enemy is carefully placed and considered without prioritizing making things into into a combo-fest.
It's kind of remarkable how this game did basically everything right and created my favorite genre of action games in the process.