Only a handful of issues prevent this game (in my mind right now) from being the best game in the series.

The retcons and questionable story decisions I mentioned were two of them.

I also felt there was a little too much gameplay in the first half of the game and not enough story sequences. This is redeemed by the extensive cutscenes during the second half, but better pacing would have helped. There's also too many overblown action sequences. Most of these are directed magnificently but I would have prefered more deep dialog sequences. That said there is still a lot of thought provoking exchanges rivaled only by MGS2.

All in all MGS4 feels a lot like a slightly watered down, more hollywood style MGS2 which is what prevents it in my mind from surpassing the level of perfection realized in MGS2.

This game is excellent, i cannot explain how much i love it.

But, i enjoyed MGS3 and MGS1 more, Number 4 is awesome too, I didn't enjoy 2 like i did the others.

Well, we know our opinions differ on MGS cutscenes and dialogue.

One thing that I really do love is the tapping of the X button during flashback scenes. Simply fuckin' brilliant. It gives you something to do, brings back memories of MGS past, and is one of those nice little fan service touches that Kojima always throws into his games. It also adds a slightly creepy horror/dread feeling to the game given Snake's age and physical condition.

Little touches like that remind me why I play Kojima games because it sure ain't for his dialogue. 

I also appreciate it that Kojima opened up the game a bit to allow for more free-wheelin' gameplay. Sometimes I don't feel like sneaking around. It takes too long. If I think I can get through a swath of soldiers unhurt, I should be given that option. MGS4 is really the first MGS game that lets you play how you want to play.

PS. The level design and options in Act I are amazing. I can see why this game was continually delayed. There are loads of options on how to progress through the city. I'm a little ways into Act II and I'm curious to see if they can keep it up but so far, color me impressed with this game. There's a level of professionalism that this game just oozes out of its pores and that's a real rarity in the videogaming world. 

DTG, what retcons are you talking about? put a spoiler warning and/or black out the text. The only ones I know of happened in MGS1 with regards to Big Boss telling Solid Snake something rather important in Metal Gear (not solid) 1. That may have been corrected in MGS3 with the revised versions of MG1 and MG2, but I can't remember. Made for a nice suprise if you were an old fan of MG1 and MG2, I bet... Edit: Btw, I'm not sure I'd say MGS2 was the best, but recently rewatching it reminded me of how brilliant it is. That game really gets a bad rap for being confusing. I've played/seen it several times now, but there's not too much that's hard to understand and the story was quite brilliant. It's really hard to choose a favorite MGS for me...they are all better than MG1 and MG2, though, although those were fantastic games for their time. Oh, and I'd say all 4 are better than Portable Ops, too, but that was a great setup for Big Boss and several other characters...

Just beat the game. I am convinced; this is the best in the series. The controls really won me over. Gameplay was great. It has some of the best boss battles in a MGS game. The last boss battle was awesome and brought lots of memories. The storyline was great, but not the best from the series.

I love 4 and all, but 1 is still the best.

 I'd agree with you on the retcon's not being liked. The story in MGS4 imo was superior to MGS2's; I didn't mind the entire idea of the patriots wanting to make a simulation of shadow moses, but the addition of really unessarcy charaters like fortune, fatman and even Solidus imo was a mistake. Not to mention(rocket pig won't agree) the dialog in MGS4 surpasses all the others by a mile(MGS2 was weak in this department). MASSIVE SPOILER YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED Sadly Big Boss coming back was cool to see along with zero; but it seemed a bit to out of place.

^^^

The moment I have seen Big Boss: (Name of Voice Actor) on the screen at the end of the first credit roll, I went wtf!!! bananas!! 

My previous favorite was MGS1 but 4 completely destroys it :D

Im halfway through act 2 and i still think MGS1 is the best, just for its grounbreaking style back in 98. I would put 4 level with 3, as i love them both, and 4 has the better production values but 3 was a brilliant reinvention of the MGS style with the jungle setting (and best boss battle i have ever played, against the end)

 Give it time. I'd wait until you've done act 4 before being sure MGS1 is the best. I thought pretty much the same as you until... well... I'll let you see for yourself. That said, we may have different tastes.

:)