That's something they touched on in the in-game podcasts. When they were first showing the game to the public/critics/etc, people got COMPLETELY lost. It got so bad that I think Kojima nearly went into the room to direct people where to go.
And this was an EARLY version of the level.
Yeah that was a funny info part.
He got really upset and was even calling the developer guys in Japan, along the lines of "There is a bug at x!! You screwed up!"
Apparently some of those guys were wandering around for HOURS :lol
(on the other hand, those were western game journalists, so...
)
However, I don't care what everyone else thinks. Act 3 is AWESOME.
The gameplay and setting are so different to everything else in MGS, just gives you some nice fresh air.
The first time I played it was super tense as well. I was walking through sewers, waiting for gunship search lights to pass etc. like in some dystopian future movie.
Following some guy through a city was a cool twist and I was SO freaked out when I noticed I was being followed as well. At that time I didn't even know the hand-robot-things so I was just thinking to myself "WTF, that thing isn't human, what IS it? Why is it stalking me? HELP!"
Don't get me wrong though, Act 2 is still the best gameplay-wise. But I welcome the diversity of each Act. Just would have been perfect if there was another Act 1/2-esque setting after Act 3 or 4.