Metal Gear Solid: Ranking The Series From Worst To Best

1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

1998 may have seen Kojima out to prove himself to the world, but we got a refined sense of that drive through Snake Eater in 2004. Hot off being told he was on the cusp of writing a truly great story if he just knew how to hold back on over-explaining every last piece of dialogue in MGS 2, he promptly did just that with Snake Eater, switching up expectations and heading back to the 1960s to expand the timeline in a completely new direction.

We'd always heard of Big Boss in the 3D games, the mythically prodigious super-soldier who Solid Snake was cloned from, but now we were going to play as him. However, rather than be such an over-powered reputation-spreader, Snake Eater told the tale of the rookie, Naked 'Jack' Snake, on a mission to recover a Russian scientist, only for his mentor to betray him and turn the whole thing into one big revenge mission.

The final twist is one for the ages, proving Kojima does know when he's over-indulging and when he can reign things in to play with your heartstrings. That's all without mentioning how MGS 2's experimental gameplay was expanded upon to include in-the-field injury repair, a camouflage system that literally let you grab guards out of nowhere, the best collection of bosses since the original, areas ranging from indoor factories to mountainsides and crocodile-infested waters - and such an enjoyably perfect story making you want to see the next cutscene just as much as tackling the next stretch of gameplay.

It's that potent mix of narrative and gameplay that makes Metal Gear Solid what it is, and Snake Eater is the one game of them all that got it completely spot on.

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What's your favourite Metal Gear Solid of them all? Place your vote below and let us know why in the comments!