I'd say Edge7 hit it on the head at the beginning of the thread, I'd also like to add that a lot of people who aren't fans of the series like to use this as an excuse to not like MGS2 and beyond that, considering it sold so much more than the rest of the series it appears there were a lot of people who "wanted to see what the fuss was about," and after being hit really hard with philosophy decided to just go back to Mario.

I think he was kind of scapegoated in many ways, because I've never had a problem with him. Sure some lines like "Nerd?" were corny but its MGS, Snake has corny lines too (yes, he does). Almost every time I play it I always think how he's not nearly as whiny as everyone plays him off as. I think Quinton Flynn's performance conveyed a cocky, yet perceptive, young rookie who finds himself in a situation far more bizarre than he could ever have anticipated.