Better story ? Imo SC1\'s story was great ! That game it\'s story is VERY underrated amongst ppl. Why ? becuz ppl usually tend to like a story better which is presented to them like a movie ; the way the MGS games do, cinematic style.
SC1\'s story is presented to you, the player in a very different way. Sure, there\'s the fmv cutscenes, but they are just a part of the WHOLE story narrative of SC1.
SC1\' s story consists of those cutscenes, PLUS all those data TEXT files which Sam can find/obtain PLUS alot of varied clues which tell a whole story themselves.
Think about it. Sam\'s on a mission and he\'ll know more stuff as he finds it. It is a very realistic means of story narrative to read or see it first hand instead of a cinematic presented to you MGS-style. When you play you find new info on your way just as if you were a real splinter cell ; this way we get to expierence the story content like Sam would if he were real.
The there\'s the various clues ; The guy we find dead in the interrogation room of the Tibilisi police station. You can see bloodstains on his thighs. Obviously he had been tortured by the corrupt Tibilisi police and interrogated about somthing becuz maybe he had proof they were corrupt under Nikoladze\'s reign.
Or how about all those messages from loved ones to CIA employees in the CIA level. Alot of depth to the story can be found in such data files and you can read it just like Sam would.
So, there are alot of these subtle story info tidbits, clues and hints which form the story together with the cutscenes. This kind of narrative is way more objective than MGS\'s \'ALL-Cinematics\'. Alot of ppl find the latter more immersive, but I disagree ; SC1\'s story is just as immersive but in a very different kind of way.
PT\'s storyline and it\'s presentation was a bit of sellout to a larger audience imo.
* edit ; that\'s why I liked the kind of story narrative of MGS2\'s Snake Tales as well ; just text written from Snake\'s own viewpoint. A little bit of tense background music and it comes \'to life\'. In that respect, I see such videogames closer to books than to movies.