Before I was even old enough to qualify as a teenager, I was obsessed with the works of Akira Toriyama. Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest, Dr Slump, Chrono Trigger – everything Toriyama-related I could get my hands on blew my 13-year-old mind.
Sand Land reviewPublisher: Bandai Namco EntertainmentDeveloper: ILCAPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out now on PC, PS4, PS5 and Xbox X/S.
It didn’t take me long to get around to Sand Land, Toriyama’s 14-chapter-long manga released all the way back in 2000. I was young and naive, fresh off the back of completing Chrono Trigger for the first time, but something about a video game adaptation of Sand Land immediately wormed its way inside my brain. Toriyama and video games had already proven to be a perfect combo, so I thought the scrappy, video game-obsessed protagonist Beelzebub and the barren, gang-filled wastelands of Sand Land were an obvious lay-up.
Then I grew older, and naturally I became more cynical. Sand Land’s story was barely long enough for a film adaptation, let alone a video game, and a couple of fight scenes and a few tank battles couldn’t provide enough inspiration for an in-depth combat system. Then, on the 1st of March, Akira Toriyama passed – long after his work on Sand Land was complete. My apathy transformed into dread. The odds seemed stacked against developers ILCA. Surely this would be another Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire or Astro Boy: The Video Game, one more uninspired, frigid anime game for the bargain bin. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to have been proven wrong.
Sand Land is a bit of an odd game to categorise. It’s an action RPG, on the surface. You play as Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, as he attempts to locate a water source for the barren wasteland that is Sand Land, alongside his old friend Thief and his new human compatriot Rao. When you’re playing as Beelzebub, Sand Land feels like a Musou game – a simple beat-’em-up where you hit light attack until you decide to hit heavy attack to end your combo. However, you’re probably only going to be directly using Beelzebub for around 10 to 15 percent of your playthrough. The real meat of Sand Land is in its vehicular combat, which makes it more akin to games like Rage or Twisted Metal. There are a few platforming sections, some forced stealth missions and a whole slew of NPCs you have to talk to for side quests, but make no mistake – you’ll be spending most of your time blowing stuff up in a tank or punching stuff inside a big robot.