So, with Metal Gear's 30th Anniversary nearing the corner (apparently, July 13th, NOT today, go figure), I decided to compile one of a few MGS related lists. Contrary to popular belief, there have been a LOT of Metal Gear games, not just the MGS games, spanning between July of 1987 with Metal Gear, for the MSX, all the way to 2015's MGSV; the first cross platform main entry in the series.

To honor the (near) occasion, these are my twelve favorites in the series, subject to change.

12. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (2014)

MGSV: Ground Zeroes was released as a prequel to the full MGSV title, The Phantom Pain. It served to make the players get the general gist of what the full game would be about, introducing a kind of beta to its controllers, with the same mission structure and so forth.

At the time, it played better than any MGS game to date, until MGSV came out and somehow, one upped GZ in every discernible way. It was the ultimate sneaking mission, taking place on the brilliantly designed Camp Omega, where your enemies are just American Marines, and the objective is to get two key targets out of dodge. It was tense, atmospheric, played beautifully well, and was highly replayable with a surprising amount of dynamic to accommodate different playstyles and approach points.

Which is good, because the game is also just about fifty freakin' minutes long, and half that if you know what you're doing.

Yes, GZ had six Side Ops, all with vastly different mission objectives. The problem is that they all take place at Camp Omega, which, great a level as it may've been, isn't strong enough to play mission after mission in this one area, with absolutely zero changes to structure, or even enemy type.

And what story is there is hard to swallow. One scene is brilliant, another is pointlessly graphic, and another is so awesome that, looking back, I'm disappointed that it wasn't playable, considering how short the game is. On the plus side, the story and tapes introduced me to the man "WHOOOOOO" would become my favorite villain in all of gaming, the malevolent and theatrical Skull Face.

And at the initial price of $39.99, it's, to be blunt, kind of insulting. Whereas today, you can pick up MGSV: The Definitive Experience, which contains GZ, Phantom Pain, MGO3 and its' DLC's for around $39.99, which is the RIGHT way to play GZ, because being included as a bonus to the already sizeable MGSV is a steal. Nonetheless, GZ is still more enjoyable as a GAME than most MGS games, and still a better product than a few that have come out. Just not one I could, in good faith, ever rank above anything else in this list.

11. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)

MGS2 was perhaps the boldest game of its' time. It took massive leaps in mechanics for the PlayStation 2, showcasing what the system was capable of, and played vastly better than MGS1. It touched up on themes of media consumption, fake news, and the fallacy of democracy, which, sixteen years later, has never been more relevant than it is today. This was also the game that pulled the famous bait-n-switch by making everyone think we'd be playing as Snake, only for him to get taken out of commission within the first hour, and replaced by a notably more 'beautiful yet feminine man,' Raiden. Kojima even went as far as posting fake trailers showing scenes that never happen, just to make everyone following the release of the game think that Snake was the hero, and barred any reviewers from spoiling the truth in their reviews.

There's also an entire Meta Narrative surrounding the players' connection to Raiden, and how the game is a simulation, where Raiden's goal is to discard us, the players, and become his own man. It's all complex stuff that people either find brilliant or pretentious.

I'm the latter sadly. I think MGS2 was bold, and in a medium where far too many people play it safe, that's to be commended. But the story is presented in the worst possible way, through ten minute talking head codec calls, making almost every single scene an exposition dump, even the prelude to certain fights take forever just to get on with the show.

It's a game that had a lot of great ideas, and executed them in the dullest, most pointless way possible. Such as the cavalcade of plot twists that hit the player all at once after the Arsenal sequence, reaching a point where it should stop, but keeps going and going and going, caving in on itself. And by the time we reached the end, I honestly stopped caring.

As a game, it's alright, but loses its' luster after the Tanker sequence. The Tanker is a brilliantly designed map, full of various approach points, and a lot of creative ways to sneak around or lure guards into traps, such as shooting pots and bottles to draw them into your line of fire, or shooting pipes in the walls to distract them. Big Shell, where the majority of the game takes place, on the other hand, has almost none of that. It's an aesthetically dull, functionally duller level, meant to invoke a sense of deja vu, but does so at the expense of the experience, creating environments that aren't fun to sneak around in, and squandering the potential for doing potentially new things entirely.

A good sequel builds off its' predecessor to do something new and unique. A bad sequel burrows in the skin of its' predecessor and tries to catch lightning in a bottle twice. MGS2 is the latter, and what's unique about it is too limited to ever truly be appreciated. Nonetheless, there's fun to be had. Tanker and Arsenal are great. Most of the boss fights are pretty good. Some codec calls are really amusing. Solidus was a great villain, and I couldn't help but be endeared by Raiden, who struggles to make sense of Metal Gear madness.

10. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (2006)

Portable Ops is, as the title suggests, Metal Gear's first 'traditional' venture into Portable Gaming. It's also the one and only Metal Gear SOLID game not directed or written by Hideo Kojima. One many debate the canon status of, and Kojima himself has always been very flippant about that subject, outright insulting the game at the start of Peace Walker, and then again in the DeJa Vu mission of Ground Zeroes. But most consider it canon, myself included, and as a canon game not by Kojima, I can safely say, it's pretty solid, no pun intended.

The story is familiar and tried, but has stronger dialogue since the emphasis is on more consistent back and forth, and less on characters just spewing verbal excess onto our hero. The characters themselves are mostly interesting individuals, bar a few exceptions, and Gene is one of the strongest villains in the series.

Where the game stumbles a bit is translating MGS3's gameplay to a portable setting. Peace Walker had the right idea of taking liberties and limiting certain things in favor of a much tighter feeling game, one that, despite only having one analog stick, played better than most MGS games. MPO tries to have its' cake and eat it, and failed miserably. The controls are so needlessly convoluted, that I couldn't play for more than an hour without getting hand cramps.

The actual levels aren't anything to write home about, due to how open and bare most of them are, and while the ability to recruit and play as various soldiers was awesome, actually dragging each soldier off to your truck was Hell. A literal DMV level of Hell.

What the game got right was finally adding the ability to move around when you aim, and most of the boss fights. None were ever as good as most bosses in MGS3, but all were sound battles with amazing boss themes. And before the serves went offline, the multiplayer was highly addictive, making MPO an experience that I ultimately look back on as one of my favorites on the PSP, outside of Crisis Core, Syphon Filter, and some other Metal Gear titles, including the next one on the list.

9. Metal Gear Ac!d (2004)

Metal Gear Ac!d was the first Metal Gear game to venture onto the PSP, and was very much a definitive spin off title, given its' polarizing format. Unlike its' eventual follow up, MPO, MGA was structured more like a turn based card game. Fire Emblem meets Yugioh, for lack of a better word, and to be blunt, not a lot of MGS fans were really into that format. I, however, was.

MGA was a surprisingly efficient video game, in that regard, because it's turn based missions were still putting the emphasis on stealth, and reaching goals or eliminating enemies became infinitely easier if you could maneuver around enemies and eliminate them before they spotted you. And the levels were designed actually really well, both aesthetically matching exactly what you'd expect from a Metal Gear game, and just from a turn based game with a focus on stealth, providing players plenty of diverse arenas with varying challenges and environmental advantages to be had.

It's also one of the few stories in the MGS series that genuinely impressed me. Snake and Teliko had really strong chemistry, especially given the totally out of left field reveal in the first portion of the game. There's a number of twists, and not all of them stick the landing, but the twist about Hans Davis driving the plot was, I felt, very compelling.

The main villain of the game is a man named 'Flemming,' who, while elusive and cunning, is very much in over his head. He and his partner were behind a series of genetic experiments performed on children, and all throughout the journey, as we hunt Flemming, it becomes steadily more obvious that Davis is the one running the show.

So then, the question becomes, who is Hans Davis? Well, that's where the story really got to me. Because all evidence starts to point at Hans Davis being none other than Solid Snake. Which, under any other circumstances, would be immediately debunked. But MGA was rather clever, because Snake, our hero, is something of an unreliable narrator in this story, and on top of that, there's a lot of blank spots in his memories that he can't account for.

And the matters of trust only get worse and worse, because strong as their relationship may be, neither Snake nor Teliko fully trust one another, and despite the journey, both are willing to take the other out in a moments notice, because neither one can trust the other is who they claim to be, and between Flemming, his 'partner,' and outside supernatural forces, even the player can never truly know.

It's as ridiculous as Metal Gear gets, considering there's a subplot about a hostage situation on an airplane containing various VIP's, and the terrorists are two China Dolls. But for all its' quirks, it delivered on a truly unique gaming experience that turned me onto the turn based games genre, which made me a fan of Fire Emblem, and was another assurance that, even without Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear can still thrive, given MGA was yet another game absent of the auteur madman director.

8. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)

This will forever be a game I'll never quite know for sure if I truly like or not. There's a LOT about MGS4 that I genuinely love. And a lot that I genuinely loath. First, the good. MGS4 was an amazing stealth game that featured a ton of mechanics the likes of which, I've never seen in gaming before. Sneaking in the middle of a wartorn battlefield being at the top of the list, right next to "adorable baby robot you can remote control and use to taze PMC's." MGS4 really embraced the future aspect whilst still feeling fairly modern, given the game only takes place in 2014.

It isn't that there's flying cars and cyborg ninjas roaming around. It's that, military spending specifically, is where the high end technology reigned supreme. Governments were investing more money than ever in defense contracting, and in essence, war became business. That's one element I truly loved about MGS4. President Dwight B. Eisenhower explicitly warned the nation in his farewell speech about the dangers of the military industrial complex, how the prospect of war becoming profit was a subject to be feared and subverted at all costs, and MGS4 is essentially a painting into what the world could become if Eisenhower's worst fears for our nation ever became a reality.

And the saddest part is, to SOME extent, his fears have been realized, given the quagmire of the Middle East and Iraq specifically. This is a subject both the original Deus Ex and MGS4 touched on beautifully, but where MGS4 had the leg up on was really showing what profitable war looked like.

Where MGS4 DIDN'T have the leg up on, however, was gameplay. I know I just said it was a really fun game. But once you factor out cutscenes, MGS4 is just under 4 hours long, 6 if you get stuck in Act 1 and 2, and there are key moments where first time players WILL get stuck.

Many have said that the same can be said about every other MGS game, and that's absolutely true. The actual amount of gameplay in the entire MGS saga is pretty limited. But the ratio has never, NEVER been "8 hours of cutscenes, half that amount for the actual game." And problem is that, unlike other MGS games, a fair amount of those cutscenes are moments that absolutely NEEDED to be played. Our entire objective for Act 1 is to reach a PMC camp and capture Liquid Ocelot. Yet, the extent of that camp we play is the criminally brief exterior perimeter, which is REALLY easy, I might add. Act 3 was the worst sequence in all of MGS4, in my opinion, and many others, because it's just one tedious tailing mission across the city. And the goal is to follow the Resistance member to the Cathedral and infiltrate the Resistance Hideout. Imagine how much better Act 3 might've been if we got to do just a liiiiiittle bit of sneaking in that Cathedral. Same with the Volta sequence in Act 3, or pretty much the majority of the game after Act 4 concludes.

Most other MGS games are short, but most cutscenes aren't moments you wished you were playing.

And that's not even getting into some of the many missteps MGS4's story took, particularly with shoehorning in certain characters for the sake of fanservice...right at the very end, a scene even David Hayter himself admitted that he disliked, for all the praise most fans may give it...

Nonetheless, MGS4 was a technological masterpiece of its' time. One that holds up surprisingly well even today. And for the first half, is some of the best gameplay Metal Gear has to offer.

7. Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (2005)

I always wondered why this two part spin off series was called "Metal Gear Acid." THEN...I played MGA2...and it made perfect sense. Acid is really the only explanation for this games story and existence. It's a tale of genetically engineered experiments on rampage, all spearheaded by a mad scientist who wishes to resurrect his dead wife by using the body of a near lifeless little girl he created. Where boss fights consists of giant Ape Men who can shoot their arms off like rockets, men who can drink fuel barrels and breathe fire, hypnotic dwarfs who can run on walls and ceilings. Where Snake's most reliable support team member is an unknown assailant who calls himself 'B.B.', who speaks in internet lingo, and whom we later discover, is an elementary school student who also happens to be a genius hacker. But most of all, it's a game where Solid Snake wears an ascot over his bulky new sneaking suit.

And clearly, I must have taken some of that acid, because I love this game. I love it immensely.

The levels are incredibly colorful and distinct, all structurally strong, and packed with a much wider array of different enemies. There's tons of boss fights, which, no matter how outlandish, never cease to be incredibly fun and rewardingly strategic battles. The deck variety expanded to allow for way more weapons and special attacks. The controls were immensely improved upon, such as having the option to undo certain moves. And there was even an arena mode, where you battle classic bosses in levels reminiscent of old MGS games, given the turn based combat makeover.

It's a bonkers story and the plot twists only make it weirder and weirder. And if one didn't like MGA1, then MGA2 won't win them over. But for me, MGA2 was a marvel. It was weird in all the right ways. Colorful, with a stylistic yet appropriately matching soundtrack. Cell Shading made for a nice touch on the use of color all around you. The gameplay was just inherently fun, as were the thirteen different boss fights scattered throughout the game. It was loaded with content and rewards that kept me coming back again and again, and one of the few games I came back to most during the PSP era of gaming.

6. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (2013)

Okay, let's get it out of the way...no, Revengeance is not a word...and I sincerely hope the English language stays that way.

Revengeance was a cross blend of Vanquish and Devil May Cry, all wrapped in an MGS aesthetic. One that meshed surprisingly well, and delivered on exciting action meshed with precision slicing for some really creative battles. I say surprising because, Revengeance's existence, even still, remains surprising to me.

Most who didn't follow Metal Gear Rising's development don't know, but this game was initially in development Hell. It was originally 'Metal Gear Solid: Rising.' The concept was the same; we play as cyborg Raiden, and we have the USP of slicing various enemies and objects into cyborg confetti. But the emphasis wasn't the combat, it was something called "Hunter Stealth." And as anyone who plays MGR knows, stealth is, for lack of a better word, token at best in this game. Kojima Productions were the initial spearheads, but as it turned out, they didn't know how to make this game.

No one ever expected Konami to outsource to Platinum Games, because Bayonetta and Metal Gear were not two sides of any coin. Everyone expected this game to be a disaster after its' initial cancellation. What ended up happening instead, was that we got one of the coolest slash-em-up's of the last generation.

There's a great variety of combos and weapons you can unlock after defeating each boss, and each one steadily feels more and more rewarding to master, with their own distinct advantages, encouraging players to mix up their blades, just to see how each one fares. And that variety was paramount, because Revengeance's boss fights take the players to task in more ways than one. Never in my life have I encountered boss fights in a game that are as unbelievably fun as they are teeth grindingly difficult.

To this day, no boss battle has ever given me more adrenaline than the battle against Monsoon. And don't even get me STARTED on that incredible boss theme... >:)

The story is as outlandish as Metal Gear gets. Our main villain is essentially Donald Trump on steroids. The secondary villains by his side are harvesting children of their brains and training those brains to be soldiers via VR simulation programming. And Raiden has a Jekyl & Hyde thing going on with his Ripper form that, honestly, doesn't really go anywhere, besides give us an excuse for "Rage Mode," that these slasher games tend to have. And that wouldn't bother me so much, were it not made the focus for such a long time, only to patter out in the end with zero resolution, besides some really silly sounding line delivery from the otherwise excellent Quinton Flynn.

...But it's also very tongue and cheek. This is as self aware as Metal Gear gets, and honestly, its' brevity is welcome after MGS had long been known for its' long winded exposition heavy cutscenes, overly-elaborate-to-a-fault plots, and often preachy nature. Revengeance was just about being a damn fine game, and for the most part, it succeeds.

What keeps this game from being a LITTLE higher on my list is the fact that the environments are pretty cookie cutter and bare bones at best. The camera may as well be the final boss for how much trouble it tends to get the players into with its' unreliability. There's a wide array of mini bosses, but a very minimal amount of basic enemies, which means combat gets pretty samesy after a while, and unfortunately, combat is pretty much all Revengeance has to offer. Not puzzle solving, any meaningful stealth sequences, and not nearly enough moments like the time we hack the adorable yet terrifying Scarabs. XD

Nonetheless, Revengeance is awesome, and I sincerely hope it gets the sequel it deserves one day.

5. Metal Gear Solid (1998)

It's hard to say if it's nostalgia that keeps this game as high on the list as it is, but honestly, I quite like MGS1. The first half of the game is really good, at least, when it comes to level design. Sneaking around, taking cover to avoid detection, a lot of it was based on timing and patience, and for the time of its' release, an action game where action tends to lead to death, was unique and refreshing.

MGS1 is an icon of gaming. In many regards, the evolution of cutscenes in games doesn't happen without this game, and how brilliantly it managed to blend game with cinematics, at least, for its' time. Its' actual plot is a mess, but never a deal breaker. It's campy, cheesy, and illogical to a point of near stupidity, but it's endearing all the while, like an 80's action film, which is basically where Kojima's heart is 90% of the time. It's about the characters and themes more than the plot. And ridiculous as he may be, Solid Snake was the first serious action genre icon of gaming; our very own John McClain and Martin Riggs, right down to the bad mullet. :P

The fourth wall breaks, however novel, are still admirable. And even if not all the boss fights are all that great, the vast majority of them are all iconic showdowns, with Psycho Mantis almost always guaranteed to pop up on any given "Best Boss Fights of all Time" list.

I recognize all of MGS1's faults. In game design, such as how padded it starts to feel in the second half, and how next to none of the boss fights incorporate any kind of stealth, and how, frankly, the combat isn't all that good.

And in story...the list is simply too long to begin...

But for all its' imperfections, MGS1 is just a game that clicks together. Where, much as any given segment may frustrate you, you'll soldier on because seeing what comes next, be it a new corridor, another outlandish boss fight, or plot development, is just worth seeing through, because there is no experience in gaming that is quite the same as the original Metal Gear Solid.

4. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010)

Metal Gear meets Monster Hunter.

Like Revengeance, two words I never thought I'd hear myself saying, and yet, like Revengeance, led to a damn fine game, especially on the HD Edition for PS3.

Peace Walker is, in essence, the original Metal Gear Solid 5, lacking in number specifically because of its' portable origins, and because Kojima loves thematics. It plays better than almost any MGS game, simply because the controls aren't as busy, which, while limiting in certain areas, makes the game all that much more efficient. And the sheer volume of weaponry and gadgets is so high, it's almost amazing to remember that this is a portable game, especially considering how GREAT the graphics were on the PSP, and how well the HD textures translated on the PS3.

Certain weapons are OP, but you have the options to go in completely naked (near literal sense...seeing as how Big Boss can rock nothing but speedos, much to Kaz's enjoyment...), and really embrace the strong level design, bypassing enemies using cover and patience, as opposed to just knocking everyone out and blazing through.

It has more gameplay than the first four MGS games, and that's just its' single player. PW one ups the VR and Alternate Missions that the first couple of MGS games had to offer with over one hundred "Extra Ops." Many of which are grindy and repetitive, but many others are creative, and just fun, including the bonus boss fights...which consists of literal dinosaurs...

Many weren't fans of the mech bosses, simply because MGS is known for its colorful characters, especially the villains, and that element is completely lacking in PW. However, the mechs all made for unique and genuinely creative encounters, almost all of which, I quite liked. Particularly, the battle against Zeke, a Metal Gear of our own design which can be as easy or hard as we make it.

The story is one that clicks with me better than most, because it's about succession. Can Big Boss ever escape The Boss' shadow? Or will he suffer the same fate? Seeing Big Boss' mindset change by the end, what causes him to finally decide what kind of man he'll become is compelling, given what we know.

What's interesting is that PW really is the MGS5 of the series, because V promised to showcase the descent of Big Boss, and yet, by the end of PW, we already have a man who rejected his mentor, condoned child soldiers, has an army of what basically equates to his own POW's forced to fight for him, swears that he'll do anything to avoid being erased by the ties...

...Oh, right, and he has his own NUCLEAR FREAKIN' WARHEAD AND MATCHING METAL GEAR TO LAUNCH SAID WARHEAD...

PW was also the one and only T rated MGS game. The reason is because it was meant for a much younger audience since younger players had PSP's, especially in Japan, but wasn't dumbed down in the process. But shockingly, that T rating resulted in one of the more human Metal Gear games out there, ironic, given the theme of machines and AI being so front in center. PW had a great sense of humor, not just in optional scenes, but the main cutscenes and dialogue as well. But it showcased Big Boss at his most charismatic and down to earth. Not just a man on a mission, which was a nice breath of fresh air, given how little personality he had in MGS3. Shame Hayter himself couldn't keep up with some of those improvements.

Sadly, PW's greatest flaw is also its' key selling point; Co-Op. This was the first MGS game that was entirely possible to play with a buddy from start to finish. Which meant the coolest gadgets were held back unless you had someone to play with. Certain paths in levels could only be reached if you had other players. And more importantly, the boss fights themselves were made larger in scope as a result, instead of one on one intimate battles, which, if PW of all games had, could have been legendary, given the really impressive variation of enemy types and moves, and the wide array of weapons. Level design almost felt wasted given you had perfect boss arenas and no human bosses to dance with.

Nonetheless, PW is not one of the best MGS games I've ever played, it's one of the best PSP AND PS3 games I've ever played.

3. Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (1990)

The fact that MG2 is as obscure a title as it is, honestly, is criminal, because MG2, for all intent purposes, is the definitive Metal Gear game. The game so much of the series surrounds, both in its' narrative, and the actual storyline itself, which MGS1 is essentially a remake of, just not as narratively interesting.

Metal Gear 2 is the journey in which Solid Snake must venture through New Zanzibarland, to stop a coup led by his former ally and mentor turned foe, Gray Fox, as well as his former commander and father, Big Boss. For a twenty seven year old game, MG2 actually plays better than MGS1 in many regards, especially in combat, since you aren't required to press several buttons just to shoot and move at once. Its' simplicity lends itself towards more responsive gameplay and sneaking, and shockingly, Big Boss was one of the few final bosses where stealth was actually a key.

It's more than the gameplay though. There was great music, great characters, and a genuinely strong story. Every boss you encounter is essentially someone whom Big Boss "saved," even one of the main characters from the original Metal Gear 1 title. All men and women disillusioned by their governments or homelands, who turned to a warlord they saw as a messiah to find purpose in the one thing that ever made sense to them; battle.

The rivalry between Snake and Fox is perhaps the one personal rivalry of MGS that actually FEELS personal. And above all else, Big Boss is one damn wicked villain. For all the talk of how Snake just didn't understand Big Boss' vision, when the two finally come face to face, Big Boss is a man so consumed by his own ideals, that he can't see how insane he's become. He's a man who creates war orphans by bringing conflicts to villages, then brings in children, raises them...then give them guns, and feeds them back to the war machine. It's an endless cycle, one Big Boss relishes because he believes it gives people purpose from otherwise 'dead' lives.

And it shows, once and for all, why Snake needs to kill Big Boss. Not just to prove that, as much as Snake himself loves combat, that he'd NEVER actively perpetuate war, but to end a cycle of bloody brutality before anyone else can lose themselves the way Big Boss ultimately did.

For a man viewed as 'morally gray,' Big Boss' goals are self gratifying. Not to make the world whole. But to give like minded individuals a sense of purpose where they'd otherwise feel none...by basically perpetuating terrorism. Disillusioned and sympathetic as he may have once been, Big Boss' desire to stave off the times drove him to become worse than any villain he'd ever taken down. And the journey to stopping him is one of the truly great journeys Metal Gear has had in the years.

2. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)

...And after all that talk about what a bastard Big Boss, let's talk about how great HIS game was! XD

Because really, MGS3 is a strong video game. One mostly regarded as the masterpiece of Metal Gear, and one of the best in gaming to date.

...Now, I don't agree with all of that. I don't consider MGS3 anything RESEMBLING a masterpiece, least of all in story. But I DO consider it an excellent video game, and one of the best in the series. There's just something inherently fun about sneaking around in bushes and dispatching enemies by throwing live snakes at them. MGS3 had perhaps the most varied levels in any MGS game to date, all consistent yet constantly providing new challenges and means to sneak around, be it lurking through bushes, traditional cover based sneaking, or using disguises a la Hitman and dispatching people with sleeping gas cigarettes.

It's the MGS game with the widest array of sneaking options, with locations that provide plenty of different approach options. It also had arguably the widest array of enemy types in the series, with PW and MGSV being close to the list.

And when it comes to boss fights, most of MGS3's battles still hold up well even today, thirteen years later. The End is one of the most talked about bosses in gaming history, but truly, no experience in video games will ever match that very first hour and a half long battle I had against him in 2004. Or the sheer dread I felt, when I was listening for his voice in my microscope...only to hear it directly behind me, before he pulled the trigger and ended the fight...

It's not that well written, but the relationships between Snake and The Boss, Snake and EVA, and especially Snake and Ocelot are all compelling, and each character is colorful and memorable...even the ones that shoot bees out of their mouths and explode two seconds later... ._______.;

It doesn't need to be a masterpiece to be a genuinely amazing game, and for all its' technical flaws, when it comes to sneaking, MGS3 still works wonders, blending camouflage and traditional sneaking around beautifully.

But there is one game in this series that I DO consider a Masterpiece. A true 10/10 despite its' polarizing, often scornful reception from some fans...

1. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (2015)

To many, this is everything a Metal Gear game should be and then some. To many others, this is the biggest disappointment since "The Phantom Menace." It's hard to work around all that, especially with the feud between Konami and Kojima so frontlined around this game in particular. Talk of cut content, the infamous Mission 51 being omitted from the game, and the lack of cutscenes compared to other games, etc. etc.

Here's all that I know, however.

I got this game a day before its' release date almost two years ago. And haven't stop playing it since. For all the drama, all the craziness, all the speculation, MGSV is, by far, not only the best Metal Gear game I've ever played, not only the best game I've played in over a decade, but quite honestly, one of the best video games I've ever played in my life.

The sheer volume of possibilities to undertake any given mission and achieve any given objective is nearly limitless, thanks to dynamic missions that adapt to how you play in organic fashion, instead of simply being an immediate "Mission Failed," the extra factor that comes in with the various AI Buddies you can have tag along for any given mission, and a genuinely limitless supply of weapons, and customizable hybrid weapons. And the actual controls are the best that both action games and sneaking games have to offer. Stealth has never felt more tense and fluid, and thanks to controls that let you do so much more, you can find yourself getting out of impossibly tense jams a number of different ways. Ways you could never do in any MGS game prior, even GZ, MGSV's prequel. And whereas combat was always a last resort in games past, here, it actually plays so well, you'd almost think MGSV was an action first game, were it not for how much better the stealthing is.

There are around thirteen boss fights in the game, and basically five boss 'types.' You have Skulls, Snipers, Man on Fire, Eli, and Metal Gear. And each one just plays really well, as well as providing that same dynamic to be experienced.

And when it comes to story, it may not be perfect, and it may not be MGA1 and MG2, but it's the best that MGS has to offer, in my opinion. It's outlandish but unique. Never before has language actually been the key focus of any plot I've experienced before, and to have it so literally weaponized SHOULDN'T work...but does.

When it comes to characters, each one is nuanced yet distinct. Venom Snake is perhaps the one protagonist in the series I can actually take seriously. One with a surprising amount of depth and nuance for a man who says very little. Kaz's rage is self destructive, yet sympathetic and tragic, especially when you remember the man he once was. Quiet was endearing and mysterious, and one whose arc was a great subversion from everyone around her, and one that hit me, the player, harder than any partner I've had in a Metal Gear game. And of course, there's Skull Face, a villain oozing with more character than most MGS villains combined, but one actually developed with over an hours worth of optional dialogue between him and various characters which showcase who he is as a person, and what he's capable of.

Course, if you talk about MGSV's story, you also have to talk about the twist, which fans either love, or hate, with next to no middle ground. I thought I hated it at first. But once I digested the information, and listened to the Truth Tapes, and really thought back on the journey leading up to that point, it not only made sense, but it actively informed on the entire journey.

There was a whole new layer of tragedy, once I realized Venom Snake WASN'T Big Boss, and that the entirety of his lengthy, harrowing journey in MGSV could basically be summed up as Big Boss using him as a human decoy, so he could get out alive, while Venom Snake fought an entire war that wasn't his own.

Every horrific moment of his journey, the war against Skull Face, the epidemic and its' mutated return where Venom Snake was forced to execute an entire building of his soldiers, having to manage an entire army, facing a child who hates him because he thinks he's his father, and falling for Quiet, only for her to sacrifice herself to save him, these are all moments that the real Big Boss was supposed to be facing, not Venom Snake. And that realization made me understand why this man lost himself. He was already battling conflicting memories and ideologies, but having to live with that lie once he learned the truth, and having all of his achievements credited to another man...to basically live as that other mans' living proxy? It made me sympathize with this protagonist in ways I never sympathized with any MGS protagonist. And it just made me resent Big Boss even more.

That's why I ended up really liking the story, and the twist. Because it added something I didn't expect, and an element that hit me harder than I expected it would. I can understand why many HATED this twist, but I honestly believe that a lot of that stems from the surface value of the twist...that Venom Snake is really Venomedic. XP

Now, Mission 51 looked amazing, and not being able to play it was tragic. But here's the thing, looking back, I don't really mind its' absence. Eli, after all, was never the focus of the plot, and he gets introduced so late in the game, that him being the focus of the finale in Chapter 2 never really felt right. Besides, Kojima is NOT above leaving dangling loose ends unanswered.

Lest we forget, if Kojima had it his way, MGSV wouldn't exist because the series would've ended with MGS2, without resolving the Liquid Ocelot arc, or RAY's escape, even The Patriots. Eli getting away with Metal Gear, Mantis, and the Parasites, simply doesn't feel like enough to warrant making him the focus, and him getting away with those things isn't exactly out of the cards, especially since we know where his and Mantis' stories end anyway.

For all the talk of cut content and scrapped ideas that never made it, like Adult Chico, Camp Omega's Return, a more lively Mother Base, I've never been one to dwell on "what could have been." It becomes impossible to appreciate ANYTHING with that mindset.

Rather, I focus on what is. And what MGSV IS, is a game loaded with more core gameplay than literally the entirety of the MGS series combined, all responsive, all enjoyable. It's a game where, for all its' narrative flaws, I still think about its' themes, its' characters, and the ending in particular, and what it means for MG1.

More importantly, it's the most substance I've ever gotten from escapist fun in years, having logged over seven hundred hours in this one game, when so many genuinely great games have come and gone. It's just a fun experience from start to finish, and with so much content and just powerful gameplay, it's almost impossible for me to get bored of. For NOW at least. :P

And that's my top twelve for the MGS series. It's been a helluva journey, and I'm grateful to have taken part in it. Where this series goes from here remains to be seen, but I'll always look back on this quirky, insane saga, for all its' flaws and sheer insanity, and smile, because no series will ever be distinct as this one has been, for me...for better AND worse... 0_____o;

...Seriously, need I share that gif of Raiden getting his crotch grabbed by the President of the United States...?