Stealth action evolved...
MGS is stealth oriented, and it is best to stay hidden from your enemies. Snake is a master of being stealthy, and is suited for sneaking around the levels undetected. However, Snake is more than capable of holding his own against enemies should he be discovered. Snake is a hand-to-hand master and can easily put enemies down one on one.\
Snake also has an impressive arsenal of firepower under his belt. The downside of the weaponry (though very realistic) is the fact that shooting off your weapons will alert the guards in the area to your presence, unless you have a silencer for the weapon (which most do not have).
MGS has a good story, it is full of twists and turns, and will have you wanting more answers the more you play, which you will get once you have gotten through the game.
This game is full of extremely cool bosses. One I will mention here is Psychomantis, who is a Russian who was in the KGB, and after some experiments performed on him, has psychic powers. The game is full of very awesome characters, and they will not dissapoint you once you meet them.
I am going to leave it at this, but you should get this game and play it, especially if you are into the Splinter Cell series, because MGS is way better.