There are three types of mastermind. One is the real bad guy, sending out his goons to mug, extort, sell drugs and all the rest of it. The other is a legitimate business owner who uses muscle and guns to protect his interests. Finally, there's the chap who sits in a black leather chair and answers two rounds of really tough questions posed by John Humphrys.

This turn based simulation allows you to play either of the first two, or you can mix up your approach with a combination of both, owning proper businesses as well as organising robberies. You can win the game by accumulating a city-wide monopoly, a massive amount of wealth and associated assets, or the bloodier approach of wiping out your rival mob bosses.

Whichever route is chosen, the same resources need to be harnessed, namely the aforementioned businesses, along with henchmen to do your dirty work (or should that be "doirty" work). These thugs are recruited from the street and can be stationed to protect your companies, or sent off on burglary or protection racket missions. They level up with experience, so keeping them alive throughout the game is of paramount importance.

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A fair shower of other intricacies are sprinkled across these basic mechanics. There's a system of smuggling, whereby you can trade between various dodgy geezers down the docks in an effort to turn profits, or import drugs and flog them on the street with your own dealers. It's also possible to take out bank loans, spy on the computer AI crime lords, buy a jewellery shop and bribe the police not to arrest you, with diamonds!

It basically boils down to a balancing act between time (you only get a certain amount of action points per turn) and money. The trouble with Mastermind Deluxe is that this strategic juggling feels unbalanced, and the mechanics are either too simple in some cases or rather muddied. For example, getting the cops on your side with a few well placed gifts of jewellery is easily done over a few turns. On the other hand, recruiting a skilled hacker to your ranks is frustratingly difficult, as they don't seem nearly so easily bribed. Which is an interesting take on police/gangster ethics.

There's a lack of clarity that's compounded by other issues, such as the poorly phrased tutorial (which isn't very well translated into English) and particularly the interface. This is awkward in places, requiring multiple clicks to achieve basic commands. The smuggling section is a great example, as you have to click on individual traders and try to remember their various prices to compare with others. A simple table would have saved a lot of mouse clicking.

There are other oddities here too. Mastermind points (which govern how many actions you get per turn) are gained by going to a book shop and reading the comics. Huh? Also, the main city overview is rather pointless. While it's nice enough to look at, you play the whole game through a series of menus, so it's basically glorified wallpaper. Moreover, we suffered with an issue where the video clips that played to accompany crimes popped up on the desktop, forcing us to constantly Alt-Tab back into the game.

Mastermind is cheaply priced and somewhat intriguing to begin with, but the game suffers from a number of issues. The interface is consistently a chore, the mechanics and instructions rather muddied, and the whole thing quickly becomes a dry and turgid experience.