Peaky Blinders: Mastermind Reviews
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind's gorgeous aesthetic and solid puzzling are no match for its lack of depth, emotion, and substance.
Clever, rewarding and a lot of fun, I have always wanted to control a family up to the neck in crime and now I can.
Red Right Bland
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is built upon a highly inventive central concept and smartly dressed in an authentic audio/visual package that accurately captures the dangerous world of The Shelby Family. The inventiveness of this core element is not captilised upon, however, which results in very repetitive and robotic gameplay. Die-hard Peaky Blinders fans might find a few hours of entertainment but, overall, Mastermind is a missed opportunity.
Without any concrete information as to when we can expect the next season of Peaky Blinders, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind might end up being a nice distraction from the limbo we’ve all been left in.
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a puzzle game with unique ideas that takes far too long to fully implement them.
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a decent tie-in, a real-time strategy game based on the acclaimed TV series. Nothing more and nothing less.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a strategy game that requires very little strategy for much of its short running time. While it does eventually present a little more challenge in the closing chapters, the hum-drum narrative and bargain-basement cut-scenes won't provide you with much incentive to persevere through the duller moments which make up most of the game. If you're a massive fan of the show waiting for the next season, then you're probably better off just forming your own gang while talking in a comedy Brummie accent.
Even with its budget price, it's somewhat difficult to recommend Mastermind given its brevity and few technical issues. I expect Peaky Blinders fans will most enjoy Mastermind as a gritty snapshot at pre-series Birmingham that expands on their favourite television family. I'd even go so far as to give it a cautious thumbs up for those who enjoy working up a mental sweat.
The gameplay itself is inventive, engrossing and rewarding. It’s a great feeling to reach the end of a mission having carefully planned each character’s route and actions, watching them all play out like clockwork.
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind has some clever mechanics that highlight the meticulous planning Tommy Shelby is capable of, all whilst providing an interesting story and plenty of variety in character actions.
A great way to reflect the spirit of the TV show: Peaky Blinders Mastermind is a fun tactical game that will make us repeat several times every single level in order to improve our best timing. Technically simple, it causes a true inmersion.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Despite a truly intriguing gameplay formula, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind ends just when it really begins to show all of its potential.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Developer FuturLabs has been quoted often about their choice to use the puzzle genre for the Peaky Blinders foray into the gaming world. Many soundbite worthy quotes about it being linked to Tommy Shelby’s mind and the way in which he can see the perfect plan unfold do make sense. However I can’t help but feel that with a bigger budget, this puzzle based element would have merely been one part of a much larger game world. Perhaps more in the vein of Mafia 3 with the added time manipulation on offer here in Mastermind. However, I should point out that FuturLab has done a good job with the limited resources on hand, it is just a shame we couldn’t have played around inside the Peaky Blinder world with a little more depth.
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind offers one of the most essential puzzling experiences of 2020. The masterminding may come to an end far too soon, but when it does the the sublime gameplay mash-up you've just had will make you realise that Futurlab have forged an entirely new genre: rewind time strategy. Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is so good that it compelled me to go and watch the original TV show. Now, how many games based on a franchise can say that?
It’s abundantly clear that James Marsden and the team at Futurlab put a lot of love into developing Peaky Blinders: Mastermind. Not only is it a fun game that gets satisfyingly more challenging the closer you get to the end, but it also shows great respect for its source material, hitting all the right story beats for a Peaky Blinders tale.
Although the game is far from perfect, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is the title Peaky Blinders fans have been waiting for. While the rather disappointing campaign length and slightly underwhelming form of storytelling may leave players desiring more, the expertly designed puzzles offer a satisfying time manipulation system that few games ever master. We just crave more.
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind makes clever use of its licence, incorporating Tommy Shelby's knack for scheming and planning into the core of its time-manipulating gameplay as well as working each and every one of the gang from the hit TV show into proceedings. It's a shame that it takes quite so long for it to up the ante to the point that missions are really satisfyingly complex but what's here is certainly both fun and highly replayable for those who want to perfect each job on offer and grab gold in every mission.
While I’m glad that some publishers are still keeping the licensed title flame alive (an Achilles’ heel of mine), a source of inspiration like Peaky Blinders deserved a much better product than what we ended up getting.
Peaky Blinders: Mastermind’s puzzle-solving is intuitive and clever, whilst it manages to capture the vibe of the TV series perfectly – even if it is lacking voice acting and the iconic theme music. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t have a whole lot of depth, with the puzzles themselves only offering one real solution and lacking any real replayability after you’ve beat them once. Still, that initial playthrough is thrilling and you’ll feel as clever as Tommy Shelby when a plan plays out perfectly. Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is one of the better TV show adaptations out there and fans of the series will certainly enjoy the puzzling-action that the team at FuturLab have whipped up.