In all honesty, I think it's a mediocre ride, but I feel that it's being slightly under rated here. Sure it's been over hyped and the restrictions may seem a little odd, but what you have to take into account is the fact that the ride was developed to have that target height restriction. The restraint systems are designed for riders above that height as are the seats. If the ride had been given a lower initial target during planning then maybe this would have turned out differently.
A huge bulk of the costs went into the planning issues, as far as I know, surveys and experts proving that the ride isn't located on an iron age fort and all the other issues that arose increased the cost, as well as the amount of research that has gone into it. That cost doesn't just cover the attraction, it covers everything, from planning to construction and in my eyes it's money well spent.
What some people also seem to be forgetting is that this ride, from a technical stand point, is very impressive. This ride really is a free-fall drop, unlike what others believe, no hydraulics are used to control the drop, it's totally free falling and that, is something that really does take a lot of planning, research and analysis. To get something like that to work as efficiently as it does is brilliant.
Overall, I feel the ride is being slightly under rated, and I can understand your point about the height requirements, but I think that it's justified, mainly because of the evacuation procedures and such, these restricts take that into account also.