Sand Land PS5 Review. Based on Akira Toriyama’s iconic manga from 2000, Sand Land has a large legacy to live up to. With the recent passing of the legendary artist, more eyes than ever are on this adaptation of one of his beloved works. The developers at ILCA took on this task to adapt this story and chose to expand upon the story there and continue it on, essentially making this two stories in one.
Sand Land Review (PS5) – Just a Man and his Tank
Sand Land allows us to take control of Fiend Prince Beezelbub as he sets off on a journey with Sheriff Rao and the demon Thief. This journey takes them all across Sand Land and beyond. During this time, they meet people of all sorts, both established in the manga and original to the game.
It also takes us to many locations never before explored by the manga. Many of these locals are not very significant to the main story, but it does serve to flesh the world out and make it feel more natural and lived in.
One town in particular is used as your party’s main hub in Sand Land. It begins as a very run down town with only a garage and a small shop, but as you complete both main story quests and side quests, the town attracts more people and grows. Just for this simple fact, I found myself playing far more side missions than I had planned to, just because I wanted to see the town flourish with life.
The story of the manga is mostly left intact as it was written, with a few changes like this town and a new main character sprinkled in. Completing the story of the original manga, which is about halfway through the game, still feels like the end to the story because of this. After this point, I could feel the game almost trying to say, “But you need to stick around and here’s why.”
The continuation of the story takes the players to a new location outside of Sand Land, and it does a lot to keep the game feeling fresh and varied. Unfortunately, I feel that the new continuation of the story does not keep with the same quality of what came before. I found that the story was at its best when it was simply taking what we have seen on the page before and translating it to the screen.
Fiend Behind the Wheel
Easily the standout of the gameplay is any time the player is in a vehicle, which are used for traversal, combat, and puzzles through the course of the game. While the gameplay outside of the vehicles is not bad by any means, there are so few restrictions put on vehicles that I often found myself resorting to my tank before even thinking about any other strategies.
While using the vehicles was often the path of least resistance, the gameplay outside of the vehicle is enjoyable, and Beezelbub’s combat is fun and flashy. There are moments, such as boss fights and platforming sections inside the dungeon-esque battleships, where you will not be able to use your vehicle. I found myself enjoying those moments a little more just because of the variety in the gameplay that I was presented with.
The vehicles are the stars of the show for a reason, though. They are required for many parts of the game, such as puzzles and traversing over certain hazards. Even when they aren’t required, I found myself having more fun shooting at groups of enemies with my tank’s cannon than taking them on in hand to hand combat.
The combat, both as Beezelbub and in the vehicles, truly shines in the larger boss fights. Mindlessly shooting and scaring away enemies (remember, Fiends don’t kill) is fun on its own, but when you have five bosses standing in front of you, or are in the battlefield swarmed by tanks, it is that much more fun and rewarding to take them all down.
Prince’s Many Tricks
Beezelbub is not the only character that the player will be controlling during their time in Sand Land. You’re able to briefly take control of other characters for certain story missions, too. On top of this, there is also a skill tree for both Thief and Rao, allowing you to command them in battle similar to the way Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy implemented control over Starlord’s companions.
The biggest credit to Sand Land in my opinion is the sheer variety in it. Players will experience open world adventure, vehicle combat, high speed chases, sidescrolling platforming, bounty hunts, and much more. All of this means that players, even if they aren’t completely engaged in the main story, will always have something different to do right around the corner.
The game is also incredibly charming. The 3D hand drawn art style makes it look like these characters were ripped straight off of the pages of the manga, and the wide open vistas never fail to be visually appealing. The timeless style of Toriyama’s art does a lot to make this game very beautiful to look at, even when the character’s don’t always have many interesting things to say.
Sand Land is a fun filled game that offers players a lot of different things. Easily the best part of the game is the vehicle combat and puzzle solving, but the narrative of the adventure can’t seem to keep up. Fans of the manga may want to check this out to step into the shoes of these characters and see beyond the scope of Sand Land, but I would not instantly recommend this one to every person I see on the street.
Sand Land is out today for PS5, PS4, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.