Question about Metal Gear Solid

[The Composer]

In this Xmas, I bought MGS1 (PSN Store), MGS HD Collection and also MGS4 to play them on my PS3.

I also have a PSP, so I can play Portable Ops. As you can notice, I can play every canon game of the series.
The question is:

¿Should I follow the date release order to play the games or should I play them by story/chronological order?

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Probably release date. Earlier games in the franchise will establish characters and the universe while the prequels will expand on them.

Also completely off topic but there's the MGS Digital Graphic Novel if you want the MGS story without playing the game. Very well drawn and a nice read.

 

[xist]

Play release order if you aren't familiar with all the twists and turns. If you are then it's totally up to you. The story is obtuse enough not to matter much.

 

[choconado]

IIRC, Portable Ops isn't Canon, is it?

Also, the story stops making sense around MGS4. Also if you want to go insane, you can try for the other divergent Kojima Storylines such as Snatcher.

If you look for them you can find the connections between pretty much all his story-based games.

 

[machomuu]

IIRC, Portable Ops isn't Canon, is it?

Also, the story stops making sense around MGS4. Also if you want to go insane, you can try for the other divergent Kojima Storylines such as Snatcher.

If you look for them you can find the connections between pretty much all his story-based games.

It makes sense, it's just complex as crap and to fully understand it you'll need to play every game, excluding the NES Metal Gears 1+2 (You have to play the MSX ones) and the PSP titles (as far as I know).