Lol, cutscenes took up too much time?? Go play splinter cell.

I remember back at that time complaining that there was no option whatsoever to skip the gameplay portions to watch the cutscenes - or at least the option to view full demo theatre before playing the game. The gameplay was also too long in terms of there being some 30 min to 1 hour segments without a real cutscene in some places. Not as bad as MGS3 which totally messed up the ratio in favor of gameplay, but IMO MGS2 struck the right balance that MGS4 didn't quite follow. (and probably didn't really try admittedly)

The story also wasn't as creative as MGS1 and 2 IMO. I have it third on my list overall (behind MGS2 and MGS1). Clearly it was game of the year, but you're right it could have been better, just for the opposite reasons that you mentioned.

Errrr how exactly did it break new ground? What gameplay innovations did it have?

I said so back then and I still say so. It was and is overrated. That's because the plot was in many ways a mess and the later chapters were disappointing gameplay-wise.

Massively so, yes. Inferior to the previous game in just about every way imaginable besides visuals

No. Best game of all time imo. No problem saying that at all.

What's the point in a 10 point scale if you don't use all the points? Why arbitruarily add caps to scores? 

Yes severely overated, for me MGS3 Snakeater is by far the best game in the series.

MGS4 was and still is an AMAZING game.

The controls were the best in the series at the time and as usual, the boss battles were awesome and memorable as ever. Who did not try to beat all the bosses with only your Tranquilizer gun. Classic stuff.

The graphics were also top notch. using the new Camo system made playing the game very tense.

Was it the best in the series, maybe not, what it was is one of the best PS3 games of that generation.

As a huge Metal Gear Solid fan I fail to understand what makes MGSIV so good. Between the new lousy characters, extremely poor attempts at humor and various other oddities with the plot it really let me down as a conclusion to the series' story. Additionally the terrible pacing problems, worthless AI, muddy textures, low res-shadows and assorted performance issues really drove home the mediocrity. As a huge Metal Gear Solid fan I can not understand the fanfare for Guns of the Patriots, at all.

MGS3 is by far the worst. There are one hour gameplay sections in that game without cutscenes. The story is run of the mill spy story wi8th very little philosphical exposition that made MGS1 and MGS2 so great. MGS3 read like a tabloid edition in a series of great literature.