Lol I rented the game for 3 nights and played once till 5:30 in the morning.IMO, to each is their own. Some people may like a game, some people may hate it.
To me though, having played the whole MGS series I loved the 4th. It's such an emotional experience (yes, ti is emotional for those who have played all previous 3 series).
I loved every single bit of it, they fixed the controls and except for Otacons annoying crying, the story was beautifully executed IMO.
In fact I just recently finished MGS2 and MGS1 again. Ive got a friend who wants to get into it so Im lending them to him. He loved the twist in 2.