Stop listening to DV. Clawbugs aren't broken in G5. They are good, for the first in the series, and possibly better than other creations when you get them, but they aren't head-and-shoulders better than anything else.
In G1, freshly made creations got one point in each basic stat PER LEVEL, instead of per two levels as in all the subsequent games. There were also fewer differences between creation types, so a shaper could pump magic shaping and make a killer artila with loads of HP and an attack as strong as anything, etc. Also consider that there were FAR fewer spells in G1, and no Parry.