As STEALTH GAMES how well do the MGS games hold up?

They're just bogged down versions of Pac-Man. Until you get to MGS2, after that it becomes Sniper Elite Headshot-everyone-using-a-pistol Warrior.

>>384770024
Brilliantly. MGS1 is still one of the greatest games ever created, and every single one of them will take you on a wild ride like no other. Their atmosphere and style are truly unique, and the gameplay, visuals and writing only improve and expand with each game.

You better play them all in the release order, as they are very plot-driven games, and the story does flow linearly through the games. There's also lots of neat trivia and background info to be found in MGS1's main menu screen (Briefing & Previous Missions summaries) and within the Codec conversations.

They're Stealth Action games, the tagline for MGS is literally "Tactical espionage action".

I like the stealth, but it's very much spectacle>realism.

>>384770024
Compared to Thief, not very well.

>>384770024
5 would be great if they were more creative with their locations but it's the most solid stealth game there is.
1 and 2 were great while 3 and 4 took a dive and sold out for more story.

I've always wanted to play these games. Are they difficult?

>>384770878
As long as you have situational awareness, and don't do something silly like pick Hard/Extreme on your first playthrough, you should be fine.
Most of them have a Very Easy mode if you want to cheese through the gameplay to experience the story.

>>384770878
Depends on your milage and experience.
When you got the controls, they are VERY videogame-y, especially by modern standards. There ain't no "Press X to do fancy stealth kill" style moves and minimal handholding in general, though you do have your 24/7 helpdesk in your ear, in form of the Codec.

Especially MGS1 seems to cause surprisingly much of problems to rookies nowadays, because you literally start off all "naked" out of equipment, and your HP is very low.
Ultimately, however, the difficulty you select and methods of playing the game will dictate a lot of how you'll experience these games. Difficulty modes also may change more things than just damage-values.

>>384770735
How has Thief aged? I hear so much good about it but the stealth in Deus Ex was too dinosaur for me and it's newer.

Ground Zeroes is one of the best stealth things you will play.

TPP sucks due "le open world design".

>>384771135
With some HQ textures, it looks pretty nice, I think it's aged well.

After 2 & 3? Not so much

>>384770301
Agree 100%
I still like the games though

>>384771305
I meant more mechanically

>>384771478
I don't think it's aged at all, maybe the AI can be considered a bit stupid considering they can't see you if you're right front of them if it's complete darkness, but the level design is excellent.

>>384771135
Graphics? It's great grandpa-tier.
Atmosphere, freedom and innovation-wise? It's still unparalled. One of the few TRUE stealth games.

>>384770024
Mgs1 is pretty stealthy. Don't let enemy see you and sneak around him while avoiding making sounds etc.
VR missions are sometimes ultimate stealthy

Mgs2 like first anon said is snipe all enemy's with your tranq from miles away.

Mgs3 you can engage in a gunfight and kill everyone in an area then move to next area

Mgs4 is dope, from what I can remember you can just run through stuff since it's a battlefield but at the same time you can totally go through the entire story undetected but that's incredibly difficult. Pretty sure it's a trophy.

Mgsv sux. You can play it stealthy if you want but it really doesn't matter sometimes

>>384771135
Only thing that hasn't aged too well is the controls in the first game. There's three different movement speeds and they all need their own individual key, but Thief 2 has a sprint key. You just have to set it up so W is walk forward slowly, S is walk backwards, and X is run forwards or whatever works for you, but this is all a minor inconvenience and it's the only thing I can think of that's aged badly.

Let's answer the following question right here:

Should going guns blazing be an option in stealth games?

Personally, I think it's okay as long as the scoring system discourages it (Ground Zeroes, Hitman etc.) and/or the combat is harder than sneaking (Thief, MGS2 etc.).