Sand Land, based on the manga by the legendary Akira Toriyama, is a blend of action, adventure, and RPG elements. Developed by a passionate team at Bandai Namco, this game beautifully captures the essence of Toriyama’s distinctive art style and storytelling prowess, while delivering a fresh and engaging gameplay experience…mostly.
Sand Land: A Desert Adventure with Mixed Results
With the recent hit anime series, surely this has got to be more of the same right? I played Sand Land on the PlayStation 5, and here’s what I thought.
Story and Characters
The Sand Land narrative is engaging and heartwarming, though it doesn’t break any new ground and can be a little predictable. Then, if you have read the manga or watched the anime, you know what to expect, for the first half of the game at least. It follows the journey of Beelzebub and his companions as they search for a legendary water source in a drought-stricken world. With his mischievous charm, Beelzebub is a delightful protagonist, and his interactions with the stoic Sheriff Rao and the Thief add depth to their journey. I do feel that some of the supporting characters could have been explored a bit more, using their backstories to flesh out the game a little more.
Gameplay
Exploration is the name of the game here. The game world is expansive, filled with secrets, side quests, and collectibles. However, the side quests can often feel like filler content, lacking in variety and depth. The puzzles, while cleverly integrated into the environment, are generally straightforward and may not pose much of a challenge. That being said, some of them are fun in that they encourage teamwork and strategic thinking.
There are two types of combat in the game that define the fun factor of the game; ground combat and vehicular combat. Both are fairly dynamic with strategic elements, but the vehicular combat is where the most fun is to be had. Each character comes with its own unique set of upgrades and you could spend a ton of time upgrading your vehicles to get the upper hand in a combat situation. Vehicle customisation is the bread and butter of the game because there are so many parts you can swap out or upgrade which will affect stats such as your attack power, armour, etc.
Ground gameplay can be a bit hit-and-miss. When you are fighting as Beezlebub, I feel there could have been a little more done to expand the moveset. That being said, each character has its own skill tree which can yield good results. Sadly while playing through the story there are some forced stealth sections. These just feel wholly unnecessary as they don’t really do anything to build the story and they are just not fun at all.
Visuals and Sound
What can I say, how it looks and the music are the clear winners here. Sand Land stands out visually with its vibrant, Toriyama-inspired art style. The characters are charmingly designed, with vibrant, cartoonish character models capturing the essence of the original manga. The desert environment is beautifully rendered, with splendid attention to detail in the landscapes. With its rolling dunes and ancient ruins, is brought to life with a colour palette that balances the harshness of the sun with the mysterious allure of the night. The animations are fluid and the cutscenes feel like a seamless extension of the gameplay, maintaining immersion throughout the experience.
The soundtrack of Sand Land complements its desert setting perfectly. The music, composed by a talented team, ranges from upbeat tracks that invigorate exploration to more somber pieces that underscore the game’s more poignant moments.
Overall Impression
This is unquestionably a passion project for fans of the source material and could even draw in new fans for those familiar with this style of game. It does have a lot of potential that doesn’t quite reach the heights it aims for. Its charming art style and engaging soundtrack are strong points, but the repetitive combat, straightforward puzzles, and underdeveloped story elements hold it back. If you are looking for a lighthearted adventure without depth and narrative complexity, then this might be for you. Does this make Sand Land a bad game? Most certainly not! Coming in at about 20 hours just sticking to the story, it is just about the right length for the content.
Sand Land is a nostalgic trip for Toriyama fans, but it does feel like it is only for Toriyama fans.
