Developer Ilca Published on April 26, 2024 Teen Rating
Sandland is experiencing a strangely timed resurgence. Its creator, Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball), recently passed away unexpectedly, which effectively highlights his 24-year-old creation just as it was being turned into a movie, anime and video game. The video game was my entry into this world with characters, vehicles and architecture similar to Dragon Ball even beyond an art style, and I enjoyed the opportunity to live in a new world and history of Toriyama. Other elements of the game, such as its animations and performances, oscillate between high and low quality, but ultimately Sandland is the kind of experience I would like from the adaptation: the opportunity to spend time in a big, realized world with a story that attracts you to the end.
The Sandland video game acts as a retelling and continuation of the 2000 manga. For newcomers to the franchise like me, this is a fantastic entry point, but there is a sharp line in the narrative between the old and the brand new. Basically, going beyond the boundaries of the Sandy Earth Region makes no sense, given the world that has been built up to that point. But overall, I like the plot and I didn’t see where it was going from the very beginning, even if the characters lack depth. Outside of the overt villains, no one learns much in Sandland, and his characters are basically completely defined from their first line of dialogue. Rao, however, excels as an intelligent and dedicated benefactor who is quick to accept anyone despite their differences, a rare character trait for someone whose precise and uncreative nickname is “old man”.””
When Beelzebub, son of the demon king Lucifer, they decide to help a human to return water to a dehydrated world. It’s all about exploring big, open worlds with a collection of vehicles that you can retrieve at any time. Switching between a tank for skirmishing and a motorcycle for speeding through the dunes is a quick process, but they do it so often that I have to admit that I am frustrated by the somewhat cumbersome switching system. I also did not like the fact that the exchange between vehicles basically requires an endpoint. It may seem picky, but every experience in the game requires frequent replacement of vehicles.
action enemies with your collection of vehicles is the highlight and understandably the focus of the game. Despite the focus on vehicle action, the action feels closer to a third-person shooter and does a good job of passing control styles between different vehicles. I preferred the tank with its powerful weapons and strong armor, but the jumping tank with which mountains jumped and the robot with which he beat other robots are funny in their own way. Updating and customizing is a slow process, and I rarely felt that I would make big, impactful improvements by upgrading or swapping vehicle parts, but I was always eager to check the garage and see what I could do to improve my stats.
The process of improving the city of Spino is equally worthwhile, as completing side quests (many with small stories and really interesting characters) attracts new people to the growing city. For example, if you rescue a painter in the middle of the desert, open a shop where you can paint and trace your vehicles. You can even decorate the city with furniture, but I admit that I have little interest in this aspect, since all my resources have gone into improving my vehicles.
Sometimes Beelzebub progresses without a vehicle, and these sections are usually annoying, without being too difficult, fortunately. Beelzebub is a powerful demon with a literal garage of armored weapons in his back pocket, but he insists on sneaking out occasionally for endless stealth sections. These parts of the game feel like they come from a different era than the video games we left behind. The melee scenarios are not so bad, but I always wanted to get on a tank again.
Sandland has its flaws and feels a little too long, although the credits are around the reasonable 20-hour mark, but it consistently retains its charm. Toriyama’s funny sense of humor takes center stage, with Beelzebub mainly taking up the adventure so that his father gives him an extra hour of video games every day. I may not have had strong connections with most of the cast and was upset about a bunch of specific sections, but I enjoyed spending time in Sandland (and beyond) watching my garage improve and grow.
