Initially revealed all the best way again in 2000 as a standalone manga, it is unusual, however not unwelcome, to see Sand Land be revived as each an anime sequence and a online game virtually 1 / 4 of a century later. Authored by the late and legendary Akira Toriyama, Sand Land is an extremely charming story a couple of post-apocalyptic world, the place a cocky demon prince is roped into serving to out what’s left of humanity.
Provided that the manga consists of only a single quantity, it is no shock to see the anime significantly develop upon the supply materials — and the sport, additionally simply referred to as Sand Land, follows that very same path. At its core, this can be a retelling of the lately launched anime’s story, however because of an open world setting, the dominion of Sand Land itself has by no means felt so grounded, and its incredible characters have by no means been given a lot room to breathe.
You play because the aforementioned demon prince, Beelzebub, as he forfeits the isolation of his fellow fiends in favour of travelling the desert with a grizzled military veteran named Rao. The previous man wants assist — highly effective assist — in attempting to revive water to Sand Land, and so the journey begins.
The sport’s storytelling is properly finished, sporting some nice cutscenes and spectacular course, which actually seize the spirit of Sand Land as a property. Simply from the prologue alone, it is abundantly clear that this is not just a few fast cash-in; lots of effort’s been funneled into making a trustworthy adaptation, each when it comes to presentation and tone. However on the identical time, the sport does such job of offering an entire expertise that you do not should be in any respect aware of the unique work in an effort to get pleasure from it. And in that sense, Sand Land is one thing of a benchmark for licensed manga and anime titles.
Gameplay is predominantly explorative, as Beelzebub and his ragtag companions enterprise from settlement to settlement in the hunt for the so-called ‘Legendary Spring’. The map is huge and barren by design, and so lots of hours will likely be spent blasting throughout the sands aboard one in every of your customized autos. Out of your trusty tank and bipedal fight mech, to your speedy bike and cosy four-seater, Sand Land locations a heavy emphasis on gathering and constructing ‘bots’ as a way to higher traverse its blistered environments.
To start out with, you solely have entry to a choose few machines with apparent implementation. Your tank, for instance, is your go-to possibility for vehicular fight because it’s geared up with a cannon and heavy armour — however you may need a bike or a buggy for extra environment friendly journey. Nevertheless, as you progress via the principle questline, you may progressively unlock extra specialised mechs alongside a variety of customisations that allow you to tweak your type of play.
There’s really a shocking diploma of depth to Sand Land’s mechanical endeavours, as you loot, craft, and improve components to remain one step forward of your enemies. Issues do get a little bit grindy within the sport’s latter half — particularly if you wish to take down optionally available bosses — however typically talking, development feels clean and largely rewarding. Getting your palms on a cool new mech, and even only a tank turret that rockets your assault stat, is sort of thrilling.
Naturally, all of those upgrades and changes feed into the title’s motion fight. Whereas Beelzebub himself is mainly superhuman, capable of kick overgrown wildlife into submission and shrug gunfire off prefer it’s nothing, he’ll nonetheless wrestle towards hulking robots and flying foes. Thankfully, you may carry as much as 5 mechs with you at any time, and swap between them — even in battle — via a radial menu. Fight, subsequently, is as a lot about choosing the proper software for the job as it’s really dodging assaults and retaliating.
The basics of combating are pretty primary. Enemy assaults are telegraphed via apparent animations and visible cues, and as a rule, vehicular victory lies in your means to maintain transferring, whereas additionally ensuring that your bullets, rockets, and laser beams are heading in the right direction. Should you’re versed in motion video games, it’s going to all appear slightly straightforward — even on the ‘laborious’ issue — nevertheless it’s your assortment of gun-toting toys that preserve fight attention-grabbing. The truth that you are capable of method battles on foot, driving a tank, or piloting a mech, implies that there’s an pleasing quantity of participant company to go round; it is only a enjoyable system to mess about with.
Gunning down hapless creatures as a way to add but extra supplies to your stock is mindlessly entertaining and all, however the sport’s motion actually shines through the core marketing campaign. There are some participating encounters dotted all through, lots of that are spiced with distinctive mechanics. In actual fact, it is the extra extended battles that ring a bell; having to crunch via waves of enemy tanks is at all times a pleasure, and it is these extra chaotic, difficult skirmishes which have us wishing the sport would let unfastened just a bit extra usually.
Certainly, the title does stumble at times, with very particular gameplay parts that really feel half-arsed. Stealth is an ideal instance; it is solely used a number of instances all through all the sport — fortunately — however being compelled to sneak previous enemies that Beelzebub can simply pummel feels arbitrary, like the event group had a field to tick.
Nonetheless, throughout its 40-hour or so runtime, it is laborious to not admire how full Sand Land is — particularly when in comparison with most anime tie-ins. We would not essentially name it formidable — lots of its mechanics are in the end tried and examined — nevertheless it’s rock strong throughout the board, and there is lots of meat on its bones.
For example, outdoors of the central plot, there are a great deal of absolutely voiced facet quests you can undertake, and there is even a broader goal that includes rebuilding — and repopulating — a near-abandoned city named Spino. The situation acts as a hub in your journey, and watching it evolve is without doubt one of the most pleasing components of the sport.
Talking of pleasing, Sand Land seems beautiful. Toriyama’s unmistakable artwork type goes a good distance — the character and mech designs are excellent — and it varieties the idea for the sport’s hanging visuals. It additionally runs flawlessly on PS5, sustaining 60 frames-per-second no matter how busy issues get — and the load instances are instantaneous.
Conclusion
Damaged down into particular person items, Sand Land would not do something significantly wonderful, however when taken as a complete, this is without doubt one of the greatest anime-based video games that we have performed in a very long time. It is acquired loads of nice story moments, its open world construction is moreish, and fight is satisfyingly strong. A sturdy and lovingly crafted journey that charms from begin to end.