Because of a huge plot twist in MGS2, it followed the same formulas as MGS1 because the mission was to emulate the Shadow Moses Crisis, as it was part of the plot and not just out of pure laziness. There's no reason to continue the same thing three games in a row when the plot is completely different and doesn't correlate with MGS1 and 2 at all. They decided to break the now annoying formula in MGS4, when they should've been abandoned in 3. Dead Cell is emulating FOXHOUND, the Cobra Unit is emulating nothing, as they were integral to the plot far before either. This is only one example, and not even taking others into account that people besides me are better off explaining. MGS3 feature classic James Bond scenes, such as: sex with a spy, revealing at the end of the game that the romantic interest was in fact a spy working at a completely different angle, a Romantic era and smooth jazz film score, shameless boob peeking, and helicopter fight scenes.

Furthermore, the "antagonist" in MGS2 was perhaps one of the most amazingly written characters of the entire series, and his cause was not only more just, but more well written than the other "antagonists" in MGS1, 3, and 4. Though, you'll find out why when you cross that bridge, and if you don't know why, please play through the game again. Though the fact all of the antagonists in MGS are Magneto-esque anti-heroes only contributes even more to my previous notion that MGS3 overuses previous Kojima formulas. Why is he so much better in comparison to the other anti-heroes? Liquid Snake may have a lust for life rightfully so; however, he's also a sociopath who ♥♥♥♥ everything up on a power trip. Ocelot is neither an antagonist nor an anti-hero, which will be explained when you get up to that point. The Boss did everything for the good of the world; again, 'Red Badge of Courage' bravado. Since you're close to discovering Solidus' true intentions, I shouldn't spoil it even further; though, this is in the spoiler tag. He's lusting for life, not just for himself, but for the life of everyone. He wanted everyone to be free, from oppressive (yet obfuscated) authority and from darkness. He believed everyone should be able to shine and aspire ways for people to remember them by in dark world in which such people were brought down.

There's no real reason to think it's ass if you actually pay attention to things that aren't Raiden. On that subject, Raiden isn't even a terrible character. He starts out as a simple rookie thrown into a giant conflict his VR training couldn't possibly comprehend. As he progresses his journey, he makes little observations of the environment, people, and information given to him. He then starts making his own conclusions, and you see his inner thoughts and external conversations build upon this 'blank slate', so to speak. Not only developing as a protagonist, but unraveling a horrible mystery that he's undoubtedly involved in, breaking each and every formula intentionally placed in the plot, which were placed not to "keep it MGS" like in MGS3, but because the progression of the story demanded it. Just because Snake isn't the protagonist, it doesn't mean the game is any worse than MGS1 or 3. Change and revolution are integral parts of MGS as a series, and rejecting change as trivial as a new perspective breaks the mood and central theme. Raiden isn't a sissy either, the people who insinuated this idea can't look past the crust of his character design, which is barely "sissy". He has a normal voice and clean shave as opposed to Snake, who has a deep raspy voice and facial hair. I'm pretty sure having a regular voice and a clean shave isn't sissy.