Ok so for a minute lets forget that Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a first person shooter, which features an ex-SWAT main character who dispatches loud, overtly expressive bad guys fond of swear words, who are even fonder of violence and look at the pretty, pretty clothes featured in it, and maybe even talk about it’s version of a future relationship between humans and technology.

Ok so I did get a sick thrill out of shooting the mindless drones in the knee and watching them fall to the ground ready for me to fill them with bullets. I’ll admit that. But after staring at characters backs or pointy heads for the majority of my gaming life I found being forced into a first person view disorientating. As I don’t make manly grunts when I get hurt and don’t have the mentality of ex-SWAT cyborg.

I do have the mentality of a cyborg, just not one equipped with killer arm blades (want).

Also, would it kill to you know, have an actually capable female character in the game? I liked Malik but there is not a single female making a single actual decision in the game. Or having any actual input on the story development apart from getting kidnapped… or needing help from our beloved male protagonist. OMG I HATE Megan. It was a bit of a 2MDOTDF situation.

Ok, so now when I play games I’m often thinking about the construction of the outfits featured within. In FFXIII I was seeing EL wire and tape in the PSICOM’s outfits, and when I was playing Deus Ex I couldn’t help but think of Pattern Magic. Only Pattern Magic is better.

Since I have the original Japanese version most of what I get comes from the pretty pictures (my dressmaking lingo isn’t quite up to scratch in English either tbh). But as far as I can tell, the idea behind Pattern Magic is to experiment with the construction of the garment, playing with the silhouette of the clothing and in turn the human form itself. I sure get a lot from pretty pictures.

When the fashion in Deus Ex Human Revolution isn’t about huge-ass collars and laser etched leather (yum), it’s all about playing with the construction of the outfit and the human silhouette.

One of David Sarif’s redeeming features was that during cutscenes I’d drift off thinking aout how to make his waistcoat. It’s very polygon-y. And boss-with-no-character-development Yelena has interesting arms. Is that a top? Are her arms augmented too? Does it have a purpose or is it to distort her form even further, adding to her heavily augmented legs? The clothes are a reflection of their augmentations and their dedication to the cause. Yelena is pure cyber-punk, not very much of her is original self and whatever’s left she distorts (I’m guessing here, really, there is nooooooo character development up in here). Sarif wears it like his exquisitely augmented arm, it’s a statement of how much a modern business man he is.

It all could have been so much better.

Maybe it’s because I know about this stuff, but I find it hard to believe that in a world set over a decade into the future, where human augmentation is common place, that there are no wearable electronics or e-textiles to be found.

I know, I know, it’s a game there’s restraints, polygon counts, cross platform, blah blah blah. But would it really have been too hard to add a little bit of twinkle here or there? Or some EL that managed to break out of the Tron-iverse? Let alone functional applications like clothing that expressed a civilians fear of you. I’d love it if a civilian had an outfit that reacted like a startled pufferfish at the sight of Adam Jensen. And the gang members with their gaudy augmentations, how are they not decked out head to toe in ultra-bright LEDs?

The world has skipped right to people hacking off their limbs to replace them with drug addiction inducing implants with no in between stage. There was no toe dip into the new relationship. I think this leaves out a whole other dimension in the pro / anti augmentation debate. If e-textiles was properly represented, would there be anti-aug fundamentalists that were ok with their clothing transmitting their biometrics to a social networking site, or monitoring their health, would they be ok with a bit of LED bling, would they play with their form?

I’m a little bit in love with Ying Gao, and think there should have at least been a boss with an almost living, breathing outfit. The bosses were a disappointment anyway but yeah.

Anyhooo lets watch the trailer again because it’s better than the actual game. The game was fun… but maybe I over analyse it a little bit. It is a first person shooter after all.

Oh Adam, you don’t need to go half way around the world chasing after a horrible scientist that abused you, I’ll love you even if you’re a incredibly hollow, easily betrayed pawn in the grand scheme of things, because you’re so damn tortured and pretty.

And just because the internet provided me with it, David Sarif on a PONY. YEAH.