Metal Gear Solid 3's moments are the franchise's pinnacle

GamaSutra - The re-release of Metal Gear Solid 3 in HD's given me the opportunity to revisit what might actually be my favorite video game. It's earned that designation partially through a handful of hard-to-quantify sentimental reasons, and partially because of the sheer elegance and restraint it displays as an entry in a series known for overt and often strange authorial self-indulgence.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

My favorite game in the series.

[-Mezzo-]

Same here, i rate it slightly above MGS 4.

[Welshy]

Both had their highs and (very few) lows.

MGS3 with it's gameplay, environments and number of dynamic events like The End, interacting with Johnny who gets pissed if you ignore him, doing things earlier in the game that effect future events etc. Was and still is a game of it's own class.

While MGS4 was a great game, has some of the most memorable sequences and manages to tie up an entire franchise as convulted as MGS, also nothing short of genius...

If you played MGS4 and didn't get some feels at *SPOILER ALERT* Naomi's death, the microwave tunnel, the fist battle on Outer Heaven, Big Boss confessing after killing The Boss he was already dead and Snake lighting a cigar and forgiving Big Boss at the graveyard before sheeding a tear and gently passing... then i'm afraid you have neither a soul nor tatse in games.

I cried at least 3 times over MGS4 and wept like a little girl at MGS3 ending.

One of gaming most iconic moments imho: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[I_LOVE_MYSELF]

Easily the best in the series. It is such a shame that the series hit such a high point and fell from grace so hard when they released their worst entry in the franchise as their next game.

[George Sears]

I wholeheartedly disagree with everything that you said.

[Haha123]

I know right!

surprisingly I even enjoyed MGS2 a hell lot more then 4

right now I rank it as

3
1 = 2
4

not played peacewalker yet

[Nate-Dog]

I wholeheartedly agree with everything that you said.

[jammy_70]

I agree with you, mgs4 is a great game but man was mgs3 better the jungle and mountains were awesome and the cutscenes were fun to watch. Plus the characters with Eva and a young ocelot who was a brilliant villian.

[Thabass]

Someone hasn't played Peace Walker.

[MysticStrummer]

I respect your ridiculous opinion.

Edit - I agree that MGS3 is the best of the series, but MGS4 is a very close second. MGS2 was the clear low point for me, but even it was very good.

[jetlian]

Best is MGS1 then 3,2, and 4. MGS4 doesnt have any thing worth mentioning. All the boss fights sucked. Well the Metal gear battle was cool.

MGS1 had all state of the art gameplay at its time and production to go with it and still some of the best battles in gaming

[DoctorNefarious123]

It's my favorite game of all time. Apart from the camera which they fixed in subsistance, I can't fault this game. The end has to be one of the greatest video game bosses of all time. Multiple ways to defeat him. You can even leave the ps2 of for week and he dies of all old age. A truly brillant game for truly brillant franchise.

[hulk_bash1987]

This series has so many memorable moments it's not even fair. My favorite though, still has to be The Psycho Mantis fight in MGS1, when I was 10-11 years old that blew my mind. Controller vibration, controller port swapping, and screen input fake out were a total mind-f@ck.

[ginsunuva]

It's still a total mind f@ck. No game does anything like that.

[Wintersun616]

To this day, MGS3 is the only game ever to make me shed a tear.

[Cam977]

MGS4 did it for me, that and Heavy Rain. I've never cried at a game since, those however are the only times this has happened. I hated MGS2 with a passion, the EE part was horrendous; I don't even want to think of it, I hate MGS2 so much.
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[jammy_70]

Mgs2 was awesome getting the dog tags was a lot of fun, agree with the ee bit though..

[dorron]

My favorite. The Boss's story was touching...

[god_mode]

MGS3 definitely made up for the awful MGS 2.
Great game and dare I say I liked it better than part 4 even.

[Imalwaysright]

Part 4 to me after MGS3 was a disappointment and its not even close to MGS3 quality. MGS3 level of detail and charismatic characters coupled with great gameplay around survival makes MGS3 the best in the series.

@ MGS4 fanboys that disagreed with me.

1- Wich character in MGS4 is as charismatic as the Boss or ocelot?
2- Wich MGS4 Boss Battle comes even close to The End or The Fear Boss Battles?
3- Where in MGS4 do you see the same level of detail we saw in MGS3 from refusing Johnny's food to killing the End by advancing the clock to the codec conversations to the nightmare sequence to killing the ocelot in the 1st encounter to make Eva sleep and hear her mumbling her dreams to using raikov mask while fighting Volgin to feed The Fear rotten food to i could be here almost all day writting every MGS3 little detail that adds to the experience that is playing it.
4- MGS3 has more than 2 hours of gameplay.

[MetalProxy]

settle down there fella 1. Drebin not cool enough for ya? MGS4 had some pretty cool detailed and powerfull moments. The first time I saw that huge cow sounding thing call a gecko I was mind blown. Theres other things but iam not spending time typing it all down cuz you should already know them. I know that all of the MGS games have lots of little details all over the place. I like all of the MGS games.

[Imalwaysright]

Drebin doesnt even come close to being as charismatic as the Boss or Ocelot. As far as details go MGS3 is filled with them and you can literally be surprised on the 10th playthrough. You mentioned cows so let me throw another animal: vultures. In MGS3 if you kill an enemy, wait enough time for a vulture start eating him and then kill the vulture in the sorrow boss battle that soldier will appear with a ghost of a vulture haunting him. Its these moments that makes MGS3 the pinnacle of the series. In MGS4 it shows that Kojima was more concerned in wrapping the MGS story but with MGS3 Kojima was trying to deliver a masterpiece that MGS fans would never forget. Everything that is in MGS3 is done masterfully. MGS4 had better gameplay I'll give MGS4 fans that but that was it.

As a MGS fan i want MGS4 gameplay coupled with MGS3 level of detail and characters as intense as The Boss and unpredictable like Ocelot on MGS GZ. If Kojima manages that to me at least MGS GZ will become the defining game of this gen and will undoubtedly become my favorite game ever made.

[LOGICWINS]

MGS2 was awful? News to me. MGS2 was my first MGS and first PS2 game and I loved it. It's funny how people we're pissed off about Raiden being the main protagonist instead of Snake, yet both characters PLAYED exactly the same lol. Same controls, same movement speed, same set of stealth skills etc.

[DoctorNefarious123]

The level of detail in mgs 2 even amazes me to this day. When you are hiding in a locker during a caution sequence and if a soldier approaches the locker, Snakes/Raiden heart will start to beat faster and faster.

[MysticStrummer]

It was Raiden's character people hated, not his controls. Bottom line is he wasn't Snake, which you probably would have understood if that wasn't your first MGS game. Also the story for MGS2, especially the ending, made the others seem pretty straightforward by comparison. No MGS2 wasn't awful, but most MGS fans put it last for a reason.

[blackbeld]

Yep, Agreed with MysticStrummer.

MGS2 is nice but its Raiden thats why MGS2 is the worst.

for me MGS1 is still nr1 cause its the first and best

action/stealth/advanture/dram a gaming experience I had.

[TheColbertinator]

It was quite a spectacle fighting The Fury.

[Mykky]

I have never played MGS but the one to the right always disturbs me. To me it looks like a man with boobs...
Nothing against MGS of course, what I have seen of it looks awesome.

[crackforgangstas]

I played through MGS3 on HD collection and I fell in love with that game ALL over again.

[MizTv]

After playing everyone mgs2 is by far my most favorite
Dead cell is badass

[League_of_Draven]

MGS4's moments are the franchise's pinnacle.

[LOGICWINS]

Never liked MGS4 all that much overall, even though that motorcycle section with Big Momma impressed the hell out of me. The game had a barrier to entry if you didn't play MGS1..the TRUE prequel to MGS4. Most of the major story developments meant nothing to me because of this. Also, ud think Snake's animations would be less "blocky" considering the game was supposedly taking advantage of the Cell.

[Gamehard]

MGS3 > MGS1 > MGS4 > MGS2 imo. Unfortunately i still haven't gotten aroumd to Peace Walker :(

[BitbyDeath]

I agree with this.
Raiden brought MGS2 down a few notches, although it is still by no means a bad game.

[Gamehard]

Yeah I still enjoyed MGS2. It just happens to be my least favorite of the series. But the worst MGS game is miles better than the majority of other series' either way :P

[snowman2149]

I loved MGS3, it was way better than the clusterf*ck that was MGS2, but its still not better than MGS4..

[FoxHound_]

MGS3 was definitely a masterpiece. But then again, so is every MGS game.

[BlaqMagiq24]

How I rate the MGS games from best to worst (all of them are amazing though)

1. MGS4
2. MGS1
3. MGS3
4. MGS2

[Luke_fon_Fabre]

I like all the Metal Gear games (the cannon ones at least).

[Omnislash]

Even though I love that game, I gotta give the best moments to MGS4. Old Snake meeting with Big Boss was amazing.