hatmoza on 04 March 2013
In my personal experience, I've played and enjoyed the series a lot without ever finishing the first one. I started at MGS2, and only because I ran out of games to play when I was overseas. Seriously it was in my collection for years and I never had access or the money to buy new games so I had to play what I had in my desert tent.
I think it was 2003 when I first jumped into the series and I've been a fan since.
tl;dr the HD collection would be a great start even if you didn't play the first one.
I am the black sheep 
"of course I'm crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm wrong."-Robert Anton Wilson
