I don't know. I'm not sure you remember, but most of MGS2's plot was only told through Codec. It got annoying cause it just seemed lazy since MGS1 had a good ratio of Codec versus Cut-scene. It really got annoying cause you would see this wonderful scene and then the characters decide "We should talk on the codec cause it's more cost productive for Konami."

I was pretty disappointed in the lack of info on the Cobras as well but I felt the games was a bit more epic than the first two. It probably has to do with the Cold War being the backdrop. Especially in the 60's, during the Cuban Missle Crisis, both sides of the conflict thought the world would end in a nuclear holocaust any day now. There was a level of realism in it that was lacking in MGS2.