I've learned that it's seldom a good idea to harbor inflated expectations, because even the best games can fail to live up to them. But I'm only human, so once in a while a game can still get under my skin and crank up that hype meter to 11. Such has been the case with Deus Ex: Invisible War, and it's not hard to see why. Invisible War is the sequel to Deus Ex, a PC action-RPG sci-fi thriller of uncommon scope which was our game of the year in 2000. More importantly, Invisible War's been developed by Ion Storm Austin, which, helmed by Warren Spector and Harvey Smith, is surely one of the most talented and exciting studios in the business. Given players' colossal expectations, can Invisible War possibly live up to its promise and pedigree? It's a close thing.