The main reason (for me) is Snake itself. It's rare to find a great character as Snake. In every episode of Metal Gear you discover something new about him: his story, his thoughts abut war and his feelings. I think that not many games have such a great character developement. Another reason is Hideo Kojima, the mind behind the MGS saga. If you have played at least one chapter of Metal Gear you understand what I mean. The details that this man puts in every one of his games are just amazing.

Another reason is Hideo Kojima, the mind behind the MGS saga. If you have played at least one chapter of Metal Gear you understand what I mean. The details that this man puts in every one of his games are just amazing. You're absolutely right. The details are amazing.
For me there is no one thing that sets this game apart from others. There are so many elements to it that it is just hard to resist. The endings are always satisfying and leave you wanting more. It's not a standard action/adventure game. It is much much more than what you could have ever expected.

i like the connection between all the MGS games, the story, the characters.. i always want to know what will happen next or what happened before, and the answers are always satisfying or even better than our expectation.. MGS is the best tactical action dventure game.. :P

Wow, you guys nailed it, pretty much. I'd say it's the character development. Kojima and Shinkawa just *click*. Their teamwork likely lead to the creation of Snake as we know him visually as well as a character. A testament to just how well, how human he's made Snake, was the flawless execution of Old Snake putting the gun in his mouth.

Trust me, I doubt you'd get the same distraught reaction from the crowd at E3 (so long) for any other character in the relatively short history of videogames.

MGS is hands down one of the best series i've ever played, and mind you i have played many series....

The intense movie like presentation from MGS1 till now have always kept me riveted to my seat and the bosses have mostly kept me on my toes. The pure anxiety of just sneaking around and avoiding guards always makes this series so great.

The strong underlining themes of Anti-nuclear proliferation, love, war, ect. have always intrigued me.

I think of it as hideo kojima's way of teaching is audience somthing. such a landmark series has certainly changed my life, ( i'm studying about making video games btw) because i want to be like kojima and inspire people and teach people as well with such a well establish medium, and slience those critics forever about videogames being a way to train mass murderers.

but enough babbling about me, the game is onviously more sucessful because kojima put his heart and soul into it with a story with deep physological meaning. i think this is why it's so good. this isnt just some shooter that they have one man go up against an entire army with a plot that's thinner than paper. In MGS we grow to care for our characters ( cept for raiden XD ). I was pretty shocked when i saw snake put a gun in his mouth during the trailer of 4th game. i seriously hope he dosnt die. just my 2 cents , cheers

I think the most successful game in the action/adventure genre would be The Legend of Zelda, if you consider it an action/adventure instead of an RPG(I know that many people do). Metal Gear Solid is definitely a close second.

for me the most importat thing is the story in every metal gear is one of the few games that makes you think, and not only in the game itself, also in the world, the life, the culture and everything we can assume as a fact the characters are impressives and the development of the story is atonishing

The story's great, the character's unique, the gameplay's excellent, what more can I say?

It has EVERYTHING! Every game in series is great in it's own way (MGS 3: Survival) Hideo Kojima is a genuis CANT WAIT 4 GUNS OF PATRIOTS!!!!!!!!

it's the story, no one can make so good story... and the way they made it, it was new...

Because it rules in everything: gameplay, story, graphics, characters... The producers just take extra care of every little thing, they even make gamers laugh making jokes with the boxes and stuff.

Metal Gear Solid by far is one of the most creative games I've seen. By creative I mean things such as codenames, plot, the history. Its pretty much like playing a movie. The AI's can be pretty smart depending on the case, and theres no other games that lets you hide in a box! yes a cardboard box! Hideo Kojima never cease to amaze me, I'd have to say all his mgs games are all well thought out, follows a smoth sequence, and knows what we mgs fans want. To top it off, I hope everyone here has a PSP, there's going to be an MGS for it and you can make squads to go online to play other squads, so pretty much a handheld MGS Subsistence cept it has its own single player story as well. Good man Hideo Kojima!