REVIEW

Peaky Blinders Mastermind Review

by Rob Pritchard, August 20th, 2020

Over the many generations of video games, software based on popular TV shows and other forms of media have had varied level of success. Ranging from Batman Arkham Asylum to The X Files, each product seeks to entice fans of the franchise to buy the game or introduce new fans by allowing gamers to interact with their universe from an interactive perspective. Peaky Blinders Mastermind is based on the BBC and Netflix show Peaky Blinders, focuses on the main cast as they attempt to go about their regular business, wheeling and dealing and trying to stay alive in the streets of Birmingham post World War 1.

Peaky Blinders Mastermind takes place before the first series of the TV show. When Tommy Shelby, the leader of the Peaky Blinders is framed for a crime he didn’t commit, it is up to him and the rest of his family to clear him of the blame and discover the true culprit. For the most part, the story fits perfectly into the mythos of the show, giving us a deeper look into the character’s personalities and backstories that were not explored during the main series.

As you may expect, the main focus of Peaky Blinders Mastermind is the perfect execution of carefully schemed crimes or plans to avert trouble for the Peaky Blinders. Anyone who has played Metal Gear Solid or Fear Effect Sedna will be familiar with the top down stealth gameplay mechanics, which involve being spotted by the enemy by manipulating their line of sight, or simply passing by them when their back is turned. This is highly essential during one of the early missions, where you have to steal some champagne from a rival family to celebrate your recent successes.

What sets Peaky Blinders Mastermind aside from other games of its kind is that you can rewind and fast forward time at your leisure. In a nod to games such as Blinx the Time Sweeper or Life is Strange, you can use VCR styled controls to alter the flow of time and ensure that your schemes are completed in the most efficient way possible. As well as altering the flow of time, you can also alter the actions of each of your playable characters at any point by switching to their perspective through the built-in timeline. If you are in the mood to challenge yourself, you can remove all waypoints by selecting the Hard difficulty. There are no bonuses for completing each mission this way, so it is a matter of personal taste over additional rewards.

To help things along, each of the Peaky Blinders has their own unique set of skills to help Tommy commit the perfect crime. For example, Tommy himself has the gift of the gab, being able to briefly convince certain NPC’s to perform certain tasks for him. Ava has the femme fatale ability to draw the attention of enemies, allowing you to sneak by without being noticed. One of the best inclusions, in a nod to the antics of characters such as Oliver Twist, Tommy’s kid brother Finn is able to sneak through windows or small passages that the adult characters cannot.

Each of the characters are used creatively throughout each of the game’s ten missions, with the majority of them requiring a distinct amount of trial and error to be performed efficiently, especially if you are looking to receive the Gold award for completing each level. Various stopwatches are hidden through the various locales, which encourage you to replay each of the missions should you happen to miss one on your travels. Despite this, it is slightly disappointing to note that you do not unlock new content for grabbing the watches, as most games offer at least a piece of concept art for obtaining optional collectables.

The graphics of the game portray the world of the Peaky Blinders in a slick graphic novel art style, set against realistic textures for the buildings and the objects scattered around their small corner of Birmingham. The music is composed by Feverist, the same group who provide music for the TV series, providing a level of immersion that fans of the show will relish. One of the biggest disappointments is that the lack of full voice acting, despite the cast from the series providing small voice clips for certain interactions outside of cutscenes. It doesn’t spoil the mood entirely, but it would have been nice to hear the game’s dialogue provided in audio form alongside using textual subtitles.

Overall, Peaky Blinders Mastermind is an entertaining stealth adventure game with plenty of challenge to offer players of all skill levels. The lack of rewards outside of the main storyline, as well as the absence of full voice acting for the main cast are slightly disappointing. Aside from these minor gripes, the time that you spend with the members of the Shelby family is an experience that any fan of the genre should experience at least once.