i started a topic once about ranking the MGS games based on elements of the game, and my beliefs were
Story: 1 > 2 > 3 > 4
Characters: 1 > 2 = 3 > 4
Gameplay: 2 > 4 > 3 = 1
Theme/Moral: 1 > 2 > 4 > 3
Ending: 3 > 2 > 1 > 4
Boss Fights: 4 > 3 > 1 > 2
The only thing 2 is bad (and by bad i mean bad for the series, all 4 of the mgs games are top 50 or so games ever) in is boss fights. The harrier was decent, the rays fight was good. The rest? Meh. Maybe fatman was decent i suppose. 4 only had 1 bad boss fight (raging raven) and 1 average fight (crying wolf). The rest were all very well designed imo.
But the main reason why I put 1 and 2 ahead of 3 and 4 is the theme/moral. The nature vs nurture debate in mgs1 was very original for a storyline in gaming back then, and mgs2's moral of how much do our "memes" define us was great too. I really feel if you can put aside some of the over the top stuff at the end, MGS2's theme is a huge conversation starter.
Oh, and MGS2's tanker portion is the best 2ish hours of the whole series. So theres that too.
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Pride. Passion. Excellence. Metal_DK
Currently playing: Sengoku Rance, Starcraft II