The Best All Time Metal Gear Games
Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear franchise has been a leader in the video game industry for 30 years. Pioneering and popularizing stealth games, the series has continually pushed the boundaries of technical and creative development. Owned by Konami, it remains one of the oldest and most beloved franchises in gaming history.
Metal Gear, renowned for its exploration of political and philosophical themes, cinematic narrative techniques, and Kojima’s signature style and humor, has become a cornerstone of video game culture. However, the future of the franchise is uncertain following Kojima’s departure from Konami. The company’s recent decision to use the brand to market Pachinko gaming machines in Japan casts a dark shadow over its future. To celebrate Metal Gear’s rich history, I will be ranking and reviewing the best games in the series.
Check out the list of the best Metal Gear games of all time
Metal Gear Survive
Survive, the zombie game that was met with instant criticism upon its announcement, has proven to be more than just an undead car crash. Despite being the first Metal Gear title released after Hideo Kojima’s departure from Konami, it still contains some of his signature elements and is a decent game overall.
Survive offers a deep base-building experience, with players having to strategically set traps to fend off wave after wave of undead creatures. Though the fog-shrouded desert is recycled from MGS5’s Afghan map, Survive may still be worth a try.
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus fails to live up to the series’ standards, offering a shallow experience that lacks the depth of its predecessors. Players are tasked with assembling a stealth squad and recruiting soldiers for Big Boss’ army, but the missions lack meaningful impact and fail to capture the essence of Metal Gear.
Kojima’s latest game features a unique concept: characters who die permanently if they are shot. This is the closest he has come to achieving his goal of creating a game that can never be replicated after it has been experienced.
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
Konami gave John Woo free rein to remake the classic Metal Gear Solid for the Gamecube, and the result was a wild ride of over-the-top cutscenes. Twin Snakes featured Snake karate kicking 30 concrete stones into the air, while still keeping MGS2’s acclaimed gameplay intact.
The addition of first-person shooting to the classic game “Shadow Moses” adds a new layer of complexity to boss fights, allowing players to hide guards’ bodies in closets. Unfortunately, Konami’s redone narration work falls short, with David Hayter as Snake being the only actor who performs as enthusiastically as in the original.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Has Kojima’s bold move to replace Solid Snake with Raiden been accepted? The rookie, resembling a Backstreet Boys backup dancer, was an unexpected choice for the lead role. Kojima argued that he wanted players to experience Snake from a different angle, but his attempt at creating a Han Solo/Luke Skywalker dynamic ultimately failed.
MGS2 was met with huge anticipation after its 2000 E3 trailer wowed the world. However, the game’s second act failed to live up to expectations, unable to match the impact of its rain-soaked opening or Shadow Moses Island.
Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 2 (MGS2) was an ambitious sequel to the original game, featuring unprecedented AI and detail. With the help of military advisor Motosada Mori, guards were programmed to search every corner of a room for players in hiding. Players could also interact with their environment in a level of detail never seen before - shooting up a full slash in the tank and watching until the last bottle pops. Despite its ambition, MGS2 left many players feeling overwhelmed.
Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes
Big Boss’ mission in The Phantom Pain can be completed in just 20 minutes, but with a generous amount of side goals, the game can be enjoyed for up to 10-15 hours.
Ground Zeroes offers players a variety of ways to complete their mission, from eliminating a team of snipers and scouts to extracting them from danger. Players can also take out mounted weapons with C4 explosives and relive the best moments from Metal Gear Solid 1 in a flashback mission. In addition, they can rescue Hideo Kojima in an absurd extraction scenario. Despite its compact controls and limited space, Ground Zeroes proves that size doesn’t matter when it comes to creating an immersive sandbox experience.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Konami’s 2010 PSP game, Peace Walker, was a mini technical marvel that set the stage for Metal Gear Solid 5’s acclaimed management systems. Featuring robots singing, four cooperative players and an addictive Mother Base Management system, Peace Walker proved to be an impressive feat of gaming engineering.
Peace Walker brought the Metal Gear Solid experience to the go, with simplified controls that allowed players to enjoy the game without compromising on quality. Despite some frustrating robot bosses designed for multiple players, Peace Walker still offered an intelligent and well-crafted twist on the MGS formula.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Kojima’s swan song for Solid Snake, “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots,” was met with mixed reactions from fans. Despite its lengthy cutscenes and conversations, the game featured remarkable setpieces and stealth sequences. The finale, which saw Meryl marry a man with Irritable Bowel Syndrome in a 90-minute scene, was seen as ridiculous by some. However, Kojima managed to provide an ultimately satisfying conclusion with the poignant final cigar shared between Snake and Big Boss.
MGS4 combines stealth and spectacle to create an immersive experience. Players can use OctoCamo to blend into their environment, while setpieces like the iconic Shadow Moses and a bot-on-bot scrap provide thrilling moments. Despite this, the game is marred by a Third Man-inspired level.
Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
The Phantom Pain is widely considered the best game in the Metal Gear series, despite its lack of traditional elements. Boasting a sandbox sprawl, Mother Base management and focused stealth objectives, it offers unparalleled player agency and an incredibly satisfying open world experience.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a classic, despite the recasting of Snake as Kiefer Sutherland and the lack of boss fights and fourth wall breaking moments. It adds to and improves on the existing MGS model with its joyous and downright stupid play, such as having your horse defecate on command to make an enemy jeep skid along the road or using an ammo supply box to take down Quiet instead of engaging in a sniper duel. Capture a grizzly bear with your own personal hot balloon kidnapping service - it’s all possible in MGS5.
Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gear Solid revolutionized gaming with its cinematic spectacle and unique blend of sentimentality and absurdity. Players could explore the world as Solid Snake, or even hide in a cardboard box like a kid who ate too much cereal. The game featured memorable characters, from Otacon’s tearful farewell to Sniper Wolf to the cyborg ninja, plus plenty of jokes and moments of sheer silliness. Metal Gear Solid may not be high art, but it’s certainly unforgettable.
Metal Gear Solid 1 revolutionized the stealth-action genre with its iconic boss fights, eerie soundtrack, witty script and a 32-bit version of Snake. Its success spawned a dynasty of similar games and cemented its place in gaming history.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Hideo Kojima’s “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater” is the best game he has ever made. Set in the Cold War era, players take on the role of a young Big Boss as they use their wits and an array of items, including beehives and camouflage suits, to prevent World War III. With no radar to rely on, stealth is key in this lo-fi prequel.
MGS3: Snake Eater is a simpler story with a focus on loyalty, patriotism and the dangers of trusting governments. It features an incredibly complex and flawed villain in The Boss, and its setpieces, bosses and balance between cutscenes and stealth are all at their peak. The final battle in the field of petals is particularly memorable.
Final note
Fans of the Metal Gear series can rejoice: we’ve compiled a list of the best games in the franchise. Share your love for these classic titles by sharing this article with friends, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.
