Originally Posted by curious
i should note as many may know anyhow that i've always been a big fan of deus ex 2, especially the story despite the games major flaws.

Same here. For the most part, I really enjoyed IW, even though it faltered in some areas and ultimately didn't even come close to measuring up to the original. It's a shame that it has been unfairly labeled as a colossal failure and its legacy is viewed in such a poor light, when it's only "crime" was simply not being as good as Deus Ex - a game that (in my opinion) is one of the few masterpieces of gaming. I think the negative reception - and this is just an opinion and not a statement of fact, of course - stems from extremely high (and perhaps slightly unrealistic) expectations, given that the bar had been set extremely high by the original. I think these expectations magnified the flaws of IW and made the mistakes of the game seem more egregious then they actually were.