I did like this game the first time I played through it. It is simply a masterpiece of graphical work on the PS2. The voice acting is as good as the porevious MGS game.
However, the story gets very convoluted by the end, almost spiralling out of control. And the cut scense make up WAY too much of the time playing. After skipping the cut scenes the second time through, it took just over 5 hours to beat...and I beat it in 10 hours the first time while watching the cut scenes.
It is a good game, but I wouldn't see myself paying $50 for it now as opposed to when I bought it. More gameplay and less talk/cut scenes is the key to this game being better than it is.