Vaarna_Aarne
Notorious Internet Vandal
In terms of gameplay MGS1 is a superb example of classic old school video game design from the 8-bit and 16-bit updated to PS1 hardware. Everything you can do is there because it interacts with the level and boss design with machine precision. It's enjoyable to play to this day precisely because its pac-stealth gameplay is fluidly synched with everything else. Twin Snakes ruins this by breaking the original game's rules by removing the gameplay limitations for the player that were there for a reason.
And the only way it can feel clunky to someone is if they're a newfag that never used the original NES D-pad (fun fact: NES controller had the first ever cross-shaped D-pad).
To be fair though, these were motivated by the public reaction to the ending of MGS2 being open for interpretation, so Kojima went out of his way to tie up every single loose end and give everything an explanation in MGS4.
Also not everything supernatural was nanomachines, Vamp was the notable case of that (and wholly unnecessary and done just so people would asking why is there a vampire in the game). Screaming Mantis' "psychic powers" were actually nanomachine control, but that just ties in with the whole tech-crutch theme the game has going (and with the BnBs being tech-crutch mock-ups of FOXHOUND), since both Psycho Mantis and The Sorrow's psychic abilities were 100% real deal. I found the parasite superpowers much more offensive anyway (which is made moreso because the main thing about what the vocal chord parasites was pretty good and lead to very interesting ponderings, and could have easily carried the overall plot as a bioweapon action-thriller without Skulls or fucking Sahelanthropus), and it didn't help that Skull Unit were dial-a-tough-mooks and Quiet was unbelievably boring and unnecessary.
