This. http://www.gametrailers.com/game/metal-gear-retrospective/6748

I watched this before playing MGS4, and I loved it and never felt like I was lost.

Also, don't listen to Onyx

NO Trust me YOU want to play the other games!

Also, I've gone back and played MGS2 and 3 after I played MGS4, and I was quite dissappointed. Mostly because the controls sucked and nothing can ruin a game for me like bad controls >_>

What. Did you just ... MGS3... Mediocre... ?!

WHAT?!

i have decided to save up and buy 2 & 3, turns out the video store have MGS1 for 6.50$ rental for a wek so ill do that probably tomorrow haha. then ill borrow a mates ps3 and get into some mgs4 action once i have done the others, I hear number 2 is the worst, is this correct?

It's the worst one out the 4 games. From it Saturday morning cartoon villains to the It horrible controls, holding three buttons simultaneously just to aim is not my idea of fun they didn't get the controls right until 4 even then there are better 3rd person games when it comes to controls (UC, Ass Creed). It had a fucked up pacing sitting in the bushes for 5 minutes watching guards petrol pattern was boring, and switching your camouflage every 2 minutes was annoying and broke the atmosphere and immersion, you can also say the same thing for eating and healing and switching equipment.

On the positive side it had the best ending in the series but like I said neither this or 2 are worth it.

It really depends, number 2 story can be a bit confusing first time around, Kojima is aiming for a philosophical conclusion that can affect our lives ^^. People were whining mostly because you play as Raiden for the majority of the game, if you can deal with that, it's probably better than the first MGS storywise (and gameplay aswell).

I've played MGS4 first, since I've loved that game so much (currently my n1 game of all times, with Uncharted 2 close second) I've been trying to get to know the predecessors. You can get MGS 1 of the PS store, but it's over 10 years old game, so if you are spoiled by todays games it might be hard to get through it.

MGS 2 + 3 can be still bought quiete cheap, if you are lucky even new and factory sealed. So if you have backwards compatibile PS3 or even PS2, go ahead, these games are great even by todays standarts (graphic, sound, gameplay and ofcourse story). I'd say that MGS 3 is more important for understanding what's going on than MGS2, but you shouldn't miss either. If you are going to buy any of those, go for the extended editions, which are: Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance and Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

If you aren't going to buy these games to play through for your own experience, you can study metal gear wikipedia http://metalgear.wikia.com , which is quiete good. Or you can download cutscenes from all 3 games, those will tell you most about the story if you can't play those games.

http://www.torrentz.com/search?q=metal+gear+cutscenes - here they are

Now I want cookies...

*faints*

No worries man it just my personal opinion

Actually the reason I played MGS 1 to 3 was because of my brother and cousin who are Die hard MGS fans who played and finished the games more than they ever read their history text book. I was originally going to skip right into MGS4 but both of them insisted that I play the older games, so I did. If I can have one wish with regards to the MGS series it's that MGS 1 would be remade using MGS4 engine because I think it had the best story, setting and bosses.

Oh and my brother&cousin think that MGS3 is the best of the series if it's any consolation :)

Actually, it is. Give your brother and cousin pats on the back from me. :D