Sand Land on PC
Sand Land is a online game primarily based on certainly one of Akira Toriyama’s brief mangas from manner again in 2000. Not solely did the manga obtain this online game remedy, it lately bought an anime adaptation that expanded the unique story considerably.
This second half was written by Akira Toriyama himself earlier than his unlucky passing. Whereas I’m a significant Toriyama fan and his works have formed a lot of my core experiences, going into Sand Land, I had no concept how a lot he was concerned. It’s solely lately that I’m studying in regards to the precise origin of the manga. So regardless of my love for Toriyama-sensei, I don’t suppose it’s modified how I really feel about Sand Land the online game. It’s a wonderful sport that’s held again by a barren desert of content material.
Sand Land follows the story of a rustic the place all of the water was worn out in a battle 50 years in the past and is now ruled by a grasping king and his tyrant normal. Sheriff Rao groups up with the demon prince Beelzebub and his trusted sidekick Thief to seek for the legendary spring. The story is fairly cookie-cutter for the primary half, however the lighthearted model, tone of supply, and colourful characters alongside the best way had me chuckling a good bit.
That’s to not say the sport is totally comedic in its tone. Regardless of the villains principally being evil for the sake of being evil, they’re executed in a pleasant sufficient manner that you simply really feel a real dislike for them. Moreover, the story has some well-executed emotional moments, with characters like Rao doing a number of the heavy lifting right here. I didn’t anticipate the story to be touching or impactful at any level, however Sand Land manages to shock you in these departments. Regardless of hitting an emotional excessive with the primary half, the second half reveals up instantly and kicks issues up into overdrive for one more strong 15-20 hours.
The voice performances are principally strong throughout the board too, with a couple of awkward strains right here and there, and the artwork model is distinctly harking back to Akira Toriyama’s work. There’s not a lot stylizing you are able to do with simply sand, however the character, biome, and enemy designs within the sport are fairly distinct. I gained’t say that each one the designs and places in Sand Land are breathtaking, as they’re not, however the modifications in surroundings all really feel refreshing.
When you’re a fan of Akira Toriyama’s storytelling and don’t thoughts the tropes employed, then that is undoubtedly a narrative you’d get pleasure from. Nevertheless, for those who’re simply searching for a narrative, you would possibly as nicely watch the anime or learn the manga. So, how does Sand Land differentiate itself and outline itself with its gameplay?
![sand land beelzebub in front of trees and water](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/sand-land-review-water-lake.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
The gameplay loop consists of going from level A to level B for a principal story quest or aspect quest and interacting with each potential Level of Curiosity alongside the best way. You’ll be finishing aspect quests to recruit new individuals to affix Spino and arrange store there. A few of these quests would require decisions, however only a few stand out in that division. Regardless, the sport does a adequate job that it’s compelling to aim each single aspect quest accessible. Exploration additionally feels superb while you’re getting new automobiles and heading into fully unknown territory. Sand Land checks all of the containers for a enjoyable open-world journey, and after the primary few hours, its ever-expanding map and upgrades preserve drawing you in for extra.
Exploration in Sand Land is a pleasure until it isn’t (extra on this later). However for essentially the most half, you’ll get pleasure from discovering each new enemy kind, radio tower, village, and aspect quest. I frequently discovered myself going off the overwhelmed path and discovering highly effective loot in aspect paths that allow me outpace the sport’s issue. Serving to rebuild Spino and watching the city develop provides you an actual sense of accomplishment and impression on the world. The map itself is already fairly huge while you begin out, and it simply retains getting larger and larger as you progress. When you play simply the principle story, you’ll miss out on half the content material Sand Land has to supply.
The vast majority of your time might be spent in automobiles, with the occasional hand-to-hand fight part sprinkled in. The automobiles have to be mentioned intimately since they’ll be the first side of gameplay. However, earlier than that, I must gripe a bit in regards to the hand-to-hand fight.
Regardless of there being a ton of potential for the melee fight in Sand Land, not a lot is absolutely finished with it. You’ve got some fundamental particular skills and easy combos that really feel inflexible. Your abilities unlock two combos with Beelzebub and your companions don’t get any cool melee fight skills both. That being stated, the fight is pretty easy and fairly straightforward. Melee fight will get the job finished, however fortunately that’s not the place the meat of the content material lies.
![sand land beelzebub rao and thief making decision for money](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/sand-land-review-decisions.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
The vehicular fight is healthier applied and feels much more enjoyable and interesting. Annihilating hordes of enemies along with your varied automobiles is nice enjoyable. There are round ten various kinds of automobiles, every with its personal distinct goal and playstyle. Upgrading your automobiles, and discovering the elements to improve them is extraordinarily satisfying and also you’ll end up invested in upgrading your favourite automobiles into their strongest variations. You should utilize the painter and modify your fleet and provides it no matter aesthetic you like.
Bear in mind once I stated melee fight is simple? Nicely, vehicular fight can be fairly straightforward for those who’re simply in Regular mode. Sand Land just isn’t meant to be a difficult or hardcore title, it’s a enjoyable journey with cool robots and foolish characters. Nevertheless, after we’ve been given the instruments to min-max our automobiles, the problem ought to really feel acceptable as nicely. The sport feels a bit too straightforward for its personal good as a consequence of its concept of issue being extra HP and extra Assault reasonably than distinctive enemy formations and assaults.
Considered one of Sand Land’s greatest weaknesses is the overall lack of range of content material. Whereas the sport provides you many hours of enjoyable for an excellent whereas in the course of the begin manner up until previous the midpoint, after a sure level the allure begins petering out a bit. What I imply by that is, that regardless of the map being huge and the potential to incorporate tons of issues, 80% of the Factors of Curiosity are the identical 4 to 5 buildings. Whereas these are nonetheless satisfying to go to and also you’ll at all times discover one thing helpful, it does depart room for extra to be desired.
This need for extra is what I would like essentially the most from Sand Land. It’s already a really strong sport that’s well-made and well-executed, however the place I see the potential for extra, the sport abruptly stops. It’s only a bunch of complaining from my finish as a result of I felt enamored with the world and wished extra of what the sport had let me get pleasure from earlier. Now I’ll get into the issues I want the sport had extra of as a result of these would actually elevate it to a ten/10 expertise for me.
![sand land ex chip hunt queen scorpion](https://twinfinite.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/sand-land-ex-chip-hunt-queen-scorpion.jpg?resize=991%2C557)
For instance, I used to be enthusiastic about exploring ruins and had enjoyable going by about ten of them till I noticed there are some 50 of them with roughly the identical aesthetics, rewards, and never a lot in the best way of selection. This completely seems like a missed alternative to fill the world with a lot greater than what we get.
The identical downside applies to lots of the new cities you uncover. Think about my shock once I uncover locations known as the Hidden Cliffs Village or the Royal Capital and notice that they don’t have any interactable NPCs or aspect quests. It’s issues like these that basically smash the excessive expectations the sport units with its nice early-game areas and quests. I want there have been extra quests to get pleasure from as a result of Sand Land’s aspect quests are participating and enjoyable.
One other instance of this contains the enemies you struggle in Sand Land. There are a restricted quantity of enemies in Sand Land and also you’ll principally be dealing with the identical hordes of creatures time and again regardless of the place you go. These creatures are all distinct in design and it does really feel nice to turn out to be overpowered sufficient to shortly take care of them. Nevertheless, after the preliminary discovery wears off, these creatures, and even their boss variants sort of simply turn out to be background noise, current to be farmed for supplies now and again. Even when the map expands and we get a large new location to discover, you continue to simply get reskinned variations of older enemies. Regardless of the shortage of enemy selection, the map modifications really feel recent and it’s nonetheless enjoyable going into model new areas and territories.
Moreover, whereas I did reward the vehicular fight earlier, I’d say it suffers from an identical difficulty as the remainder of the content material. Not one of the new automobiles, aside from the Battle Go well with, actually introduce one thing new or have distinctive improve paths or mods. It’s typically simply rockets and a machine gun with some modifications to how cellular you’re. Whereas all of those are viable automobiles and you’ll tweak them to be overpowered, enjoyable, and satisfying, I simply want there have been extra distinctive skills you would connect to them and tinker round a bit extra like a mechanic.
That’s why it’s tempting to only stick with a single highly effective automobile for fight. It doesn’t assist that there’s a little bit of a lag time throughout automobile swapping that makes the fight really feel much less fluid. Whereas I really like that they can help you choose your individual customized roster of 5 automobiles you are taking with you, I don’t admire that it means not with the ability to see the stats of your present elements when making new ones. It seems like a significant quality-of-life oversight and makes automobile upgrading far more cumbersome than it ought to be. Which is a disgrace contemplating I used to be loving ensuring each automobile and half was upgraded to its most potential stage on the time. The system is nice, it may simply use a couple of quality-of-life tweaks.
General, Sand Land is a superb sport with the recipe to be a tremendous open-world title because of its strong worldbuilding, gameplay loop, and story. Nevertheless, this potential is introduced down by the shortage of general distinctive content material within the sport and it actually begins to set in in the course of the last third of the sport.
Regardless, for those who’re trying to sink your tooth into exploring a model new world and all it has to supply for some 30-40 hours, then Sand Land is a superb selection regardless of a few of its shortcomings. It goes on to indicate how, regardless of being greater than twenty years previous, Toriyama’s tales can nonetheless present thrilling adventures as we speak.
Sand Land
A lighthearted but emotional open world journey with some nice exploration and development held again solely by its lack of range.
Professionals
- Nice world constructing and a narrative from Akira Toriyama himself
- Exploration is enjoyable and satisfying
- Upgrades and development programs are participating
Cons
- Can really feel repetitive in a while
- Melee fight is undercooked
A replica of this sport was offered by the writer for assessment. Reviewed on PC.