My favorite Metal Gear Solid game, yes even with Raiden.
The graphics are top notch, some of the best you'll see on a Playstation 2. The art design is very clean looking, but dark and gloomy at the same time, there's something about it I find appealing.
The soundtrack is awesome, I just love it. Its a legendary soundtrack in gaming now, and rightfully so. Its fast paced and very suspenseful, I couldn't imagine Metal Gear Solid without it.
The game play is classic stealth at its finest. While Tenchu was really the first stealth game, this is the series that really made the genre explode. It keeps that polished game play here and improves on it. As good as the stealth is, its not the main focus of the game. The main focus of the game is storyline. Many will love the storytelling, others will hate it, but I was one of the people who loved it. In my opinion this is the game in the series where the wacky storytelling is at its wackiest and finest. Seriously, the last 20 minutes or so are so insane, they remind me of the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey. For those itching for more Metal Gear Solid there's some added content in Substance. There's the VR missions, Snakes Tales, and the MGS Skateboarding game.
Overall, if you enjoy stealth game play, and at the very least don't mind a storyline, you might enjoy this. I'm aware however, of the enormous amount of hate this series receives, and so apparently this game won't be for everyone. Those who do try it, don't go in expecting to hate it, give it a chance, you might end up loving it as much as I did.