What kind of criteria for effective storytelling is that? By that logic Call of Duty Black Ops has a story better than most game stories since the opening mission takes place during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, an actual historic event.

Sorry, it just seems like a ridiculous standard.

If MGS3 is really your first Kojima game and you think its plot is bonkers then just wait until you play MGS2 or MGS4 which have stories and characters so wacky that they border on the surreal.

Try to get your hands on MGS1 though since it is really the only MGS game worth playing imo. It is still a very flawed game, and there are plenty of examples of games in the same genre that are vastly superior efforts, but it does have a certain charm to it at least, and the story (while still crazy) is the most comprehensible of the series.

It is not a good criteria, I agree, though developing a story within the framework of the power struggle made it interesting to watch and thus for me more interesting. I enjoyed the symbolism (such as the names of the Cobra team) as well as the way it tied to a more leftfield view of history. The whole aspect of Khruschev collapsing to Brezhnev and the way this linked to the main plot is not something you'd find in American games. That's why I said what I said.