Sand Land Review – Fiends, Friends, and Cars That Go Boom

Sand Land is one of the most ambitious new stories from the JRPG genre, which is no surprise considering that its story and art style are that of the eponymous manga by the legendary Akira Toriyama. The famed late mangaka was well-known for his work on Dragon Ball, the Dragon Quest franchise, Chrono Trigger, and some lesser-known, but equally gorgeous work, like Blue Dragon. Sand Land is a mixture of fun and intense vehicle warfare paired with interesting characters and addictive gameplay aspects. Toriyama-sama’s final work is both a look at the start of a beloved franchise as well as a melting pot of missed opportunities that could only help it be greater than it already is.

Story: Everyone But a Fiend

Sand Land splits itself into two major story beats: the famed General Shiva who is in search of the Legendary Spring to bring water back to Sand Land and the kingdom of Forest Land being taken away from its rightful rulers. Both of these stories are facilitated through the eyes of Beelzebub, the Prince of Fiends. However, it becomes quickly established that while Beelz is the main (and only) playable character, he isn’t the protagonist of Sand Land. He acts more as a gateway to the stories that happen to the friends that he makes along the way. In many ways, his character isn’t important at all except for the last few hours of the entire game when the story becomes personal to him.

Because of the intersection of every character’s motivations, Sand Land’s story gives you a glimpse of a world bigger than itself. Characters casually drop lore that feels like they should be addressed in games all to themselves. Are there worlds beyond Sand Land and Forest Land? What kind of history do the Fiends and Angels have? What was the world like when it was known as the Flat Lands? Sand Land’s story feels like a zoomed-in snapshot of what could become a story as big as the Dragon Quest franchise and leaves a lot to look forward to. The game ends where the manga does, but there’s no way that it really ends there.

Graphics: Missed Opportunities

Personally, I felt that there were a lot of missed opportunities when it came to how the cutscenes were handled. I feel that if you’re going to focus on creating explosive vehicle combat, you’d want that fiery feeling to come across as clearly as possible; right? Every cutscene felt rushed and consisted primarily of the characters talking to one another inexpressively. Besides being uninteresting to look at, their length gave me time to look at how poor some of the models looked in certain lights, furthering my judgment. Even scenes that consisted of battles felt as though they weren’t nearly as vibrant as they could have been.

I was expecting something along the lines of how Dragon Quest XI’s cutscenes were executed. I understand that the two games were developed by different developers, but I can’t help but feel as though we could have had more. At the very least, scenes that physically conveyed the emotions that the characters were feeling in those moments.

Gameplay: Bombs Away!

I like to think that Sand Land has two major gameplay elements: vehicle combat and city building. The gameplay’s major focus is on vehicle combat, especially since the story takes you through the expanse of Sand Land and Forest Land. You’ll create different vehicles, each with special abilities, color schemes, and weapons that you can completely customize. Every major battle will teach you to switch between these vehicles, swap out their parts, and utilize their uniqueness to create the best strategies against monsters and vehicles alike. This aspect of the game was by far the most fun for me. I loved being able to create new vehicles and figure out which ones were my favorite to use; I got good at switching back and forth between the Tank, Battlebot, and Battle Armor.

When you’re not taking down enemies and earning new vehicle parts, you’re building up the town of Spino and recruiting various shop owners and residents to breathe life into the town. The town’s growth adds to the number of side quests you can access. I found myself swimming in all of the different side quests I could complete and areas I could explore as I found more people to inhabit the town. Sand Land’s fast travel is also very convenient and managed to motivate me to do more side quests as a result, adding to their addictive nature.

There is melee combat involved, but I never found myself focusing on it. You can’t switch to a different character in your party (or control them), but you can use their help when you’re in a pinch. Because most battles allowed me to fight with vehicles, I honed my energy towards that.

Conclusion: A Growing Adventure

Sand Land is larger than life and helps bring an incredible story to life in a new way. Unfortunately, the game feels as though some of the more important bits were rushed in favor of focusing on the vehicle combat. I loved driving around in different bots and blowing away enemy tanks and monsters. However, it only allows me to overlook everything I missed so much. After a while, the feeling that such a grand and awesome adventure could have been filled with more meaningful moments and stunning visuals.