Gamer's Opinion

The Legacy Collection is a PS3 exclusive compilation that features Metal Gear 1 and 2, Metal Gear Solid 1 with the VR missions and 4, the HD collection (MGS2, 3 and Peace Walker), as well as graphic novels of the first two MGS games and a small booklet with some graphics. The collection is about the price of a PS3 game, if not cheaper, including the full main saga(though not a single spin off game, such as AC!D, Ghost Babel or Portable Ops, is included). It does However, includes exclusively the HD collection with all it brings and nothing it doesn't bring along. Certain game exclusive faults aside, if you want a quickstart into the series, this is certainly one of the best versions to get.

Metal Gear Solid 1 wasn't included by the HD re-release and released as is in the collection along with the extra VR missions, both in digital download format. Arguably one of the best in the series as it creatively uses your console to it's fullest, something you might not notice as much in the rest of the series.

The HD collection is a two edged sword, besides PW, it also includes the HD versions of the re-released versions of MGS2(substance) and MGS3(subsistence), with all improvements as well as further graphical improvements, however it also includes all of the censorship and none of the extra content.
The censorship includes less gore(visually less blood on certain areas, cut scenes and enemies) as well as darkened female posters, both which were already present in MGS2's re-release.
The cut content includes the various extra joke modes present in MGS3:Subsistence, namely "Snake vs Monkey" (allegedly cut for licensing reasons), the boss rush mode and the Secret Theater(including various joke cutscenes). The Japanese only content of MGS2:Substance was also not included in the HD re-release, content such as this game's Secret Theater is still not included. To make up for that, the game does still include MGS2:Substance's boss rush and MGS3:Subsistence's extra: the first two Metal Gear games.

The infamous Guns of The Patriots, the "interactive movie" many hated and the sole reason for the console exclusivity(Kojima said that MGS4 was made for Blu-Ray, which would cause the Xbox release to have 7 whole DVD disks) is also included and has a whole disk just for it(the other includes the HD collection). Kojima was let free for this game to fulfill his movie director dreams, creating a great ending for Solid Snake's story and some of the most consistently good and balanced bosses in the series, rivaling MGS1's. The downside is that the gameplay is condensed into an average playthrough time of 3-5 hours divided into chapters, each prefaced by a cutscene around a hour and a half long, leaving the game with a total of 8 hours of cutscenes. It's a good game and the whole ending segment was perfect, still, 8 hours is 8 hours.