Sand Land is a stunning adaptation of a beloved manga series that's long overdue its time in the sun, and while it falls flat in a few areas it does the source material justice.
Created by the late Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball who sadly passed away earlier this month, Sand Land is a story about friendship, overcoming prejudices and working together to create a better tomorrow.
Take a look at Sand Land below
It’s a story Toriyama was very passionate about; while he adored the craft of drawing with all of his heart, he’d never miss a chance to weave political and personal allegories into his work in the hopes it’d inspire and make his audiences consider a different perspective.
Advert
At its core Sand Land is about doing the right thing and righting the wrongs of the past. After playing through four segments of the game’s story, I was pleased to see that sentiment carried through.
The story takes place in an enormous desert country called Sand Land, where water is scarce and only provided by the King and his monarchy for a price. Those who can’t afford water are left to perish, so Sheriff Rao decides enough is enough and sets out to locate a new water source, the Legendary Spring, that’s supposedly hidden somewhere in the desert. To do this he recruits the help of the Demon Prince Beezlebub and his assistant Thief, and the trio begin their adventure, meeting plenty of colourful characters along the way.
Sand Land itself is absolutely gorgeous, as is its neighbour Forest Land, which I’ll get to in due time. The style and detail on display feels like it was ripped straight out of the manga, and while the characters often look like they’re made of wood due to a lack of expression, the character designs are all spot on. While traversing the game’s open world you can feel the heat of the desert, as mirage lines dance across the horizon. The same can be said during the evening, when the harsh orange glow fades into a cool blue with a crisp breeze flowing through the open air.
Advert
The game also introduces a brand-new area not seen in the source material: Forest Land.This is a neighbouring country that takes up the latter half of the game and tells an original story complete with new characters, twists and turns. As you can probably glean from the name, Forest Land is a lush, vibrant world overcome by nature with crystal clear springs flowing throughout the woodland. Unlike Sand Land, there are actual roads to follow rather than dirt paths, and while the towering trees and mountains made navigation a tad more difficult, I was fascinated by this new location and eager to explore every nook and cranny when I wasn’t following story missions.
Now, you’d be a fool to think you could traverse the vast world on foot; while Beezlebub is a speedy little guy, his legs can only go so fast. To get around this you’ll get behind the wheel of a variety of vehicles, each with their own specialities and uses. These are collected as you progress through the game’s story, starting out with a humble buggy before swapping it for a gigantic tank, eventually adding motorcycles, hovercrafts and even a mech to your fleet. You can change vehicles swiftly, as each one is stored inside a capsule like a mechanic’s version of Pokémon.
Vehicles are the bread and butter of Sand Land. They’re not just your method of travel, they’re also the sword you’ll use to strike down enemies and the shield that’ll protect you from danger. During my time with Sand Land I got to try what I believe to be every vehicle option the game offers and while each one felt fun to control I did develop some personal favourites, which coincidentally were the most useful ones.
Advert
When it came to getting from A to B the motorbike was always the way to go. It’s quick, nimble, and stylish so as a speed option it really can’t be beat. For combat I’d immediately switch to the tank for its balance of offensive and defensive capabilities.
Upon concluding the play session I’d used both of these vehicles more than the others, even when I unlocked the mech I still favoured the tank purely because it hadn’t failed me up to that point and got me through practically all encounters with ease. Here lies the glaring issue I currently have with Sand Land, it very rarely encouraged or rewarded me to switch up my play style.
There’s a game theory called Nash equilibrium and in short it’s the idea that when a player finds a strategy in a game that works almost without fail, they’ll become less likely to deviate from that strategy and try something else. In combat, my strategy almost entirely revolved around the tank, and that’s not because it was necessarily more fun than the other vehicles, it was mainly because it worked and allowed me to blast through basically all encounters with minimum resistance. Sure, using the hovercraft would give me more mobility in a conflict, but why would I need that if the tank did all the heavy-lifting for me and could take more punishment?
Advert
Customisation is a huge part of the game, and while I didn’t get to mess around too much with the inner works of my fleet, I was impressed with just how much could be tweaked and tailored to your playstyle. The weapons you use, the armour, vehicle speed and more can be upgraded with parts acquired from defeated enemies or bought from vendors, and you can mix and match at will to find the combination that suits you. Each part has its own set of stats and rarity, so it’s typically a good idea to deck your vehicle out with the most powerful parts you have at the time. Eventually you can unlock a vendor who’ll paint your vehicles at a price, so you can really make them your own with different colours and decals. As an example I covered my tank in red and black paint before slapping on a load of skulls for maximum intimidation.
When I wasn’t fighting rival tanks and Sand Land’s desert dwelling critters, I was on foot following the main story or deviating to play side-quests, and I have to be honest, the non-vehicle segments really took the fun out of the experience.
Beezlebub is a talented combatant when he’s not behind the wheel, a good thing as occasionally he has to get his hands dirty. Unfortunately the close-quarters-combat was nothing more than mashing the attack button and occasionally dodging an opponent’s pitiful attempt of retaliation. Things got worse during the stealth-missions, which felt agonisingly slow and tedious as you idly watch and wait for an NPC to wander away from your objective. These sections of the preview felt incredibly dull, and I have my fingers-crossed they don’t take up too much of the full game.
Advert
Towards the end of the session I was given full reign of the open world and its side content, and from what I experienced it’s a mixed bag. Time trials and races are unlocked as you go and while they’re not exactly Mario Kart levels of wacky racing they did the job, and the difficulty could be changed for an added challenge.
Then there were the side quests, which boiled down to fetching an item and bringing it back to an NPC, or locating a group of enemies/dinosaurs that were being a nuisance and needed to be eradicated. While they weren’t exciting by any means they do get points for being fully voice-acted, which at least had me invested in the character’s dilemmas.
Other side content include bounties that had you track down powerful opponents, netting you some pretty sweet rewards provided you’re up to the task.
My time with Sand Land was largely positive, and while I was a bit let down with the lack of exciting side content, the story missions the preview allowed me access to, as well as the time to freely explore more of the gorgeous open world more than made up for it. Customising my vehicle's tools as little or as long as I wanted it too, and I never felt bogged down by the choices it was offering me for an accessible and enjoyable experience. With so many vehicle options available it would have been nice to see more scenarios or encounters where vehicles that weren’t the tank could shine more, but this didn’t impede the challenge or playability.
Sand Land at first glance is a fantastic adaptation of a manga series that deserves the wave of love and attention it’s been getting recently, and has left me intrigued by the original story it’s telling with Forest Land, as well as eager to explore more of its beautifully crafted world.
Featured Image Credit: Bandai NamcoTopics: Bandai Namco, Xbox, PlayStation, PC, Anime