SAND LAND

Even with my mild critiques, Sand Land is a great game, packed with all the style, soul, and creativity you’d expect from its creator. The late Akira Toriyama will forever be missed, and while we also have his vast catalog of creations to pull from, Sand Land is a great way to remember this creator and serves as a good appreciation of his memory.

Sand Land makes up for its shortcomings with its characters, its sense of adventure, and its world. It is one of the best representations of Toriyama's work in game form in a long time. If you're like me and miss Toriyama's world building and design, but have exhausted the plethora of Dragon Ball titles, then give Sand Land a try. It's a worthy adaptation that deserves attention, and hey, it's way better than Final Bout.

Whether you dig Sand Land’s vibes and want to go full Mad Max with its combat or experience one of Akira Toriyama’s classic stories told in a fresh package, Bandai Namco and ILCA sold me on this world and its characters, and if you give it a try, you might just get sucked in like quicksand.

Whether you dig Sand Land’s vibes and want to go full Mad Max with its combat or experience one of Akira Toriyama’s classic stories told in a fresh package, Bandai Namco and ILCA sold me on this world and its characters, and if you give it a try, you might just get sucked in like quicksand.

The main draw of Sand Land is its adventure and well-written characters borrowed from the beloved source material. While their manga-like appearance might not appeal to everyone, the care and love for the original comic are evident in every move they make, complemented by excellent voice acting. However, the unfulfilled potential of the open world and the dull quest content are disappointing, only redeemed by the entertaining combat system featuring customizable vehicles. Despite these drawbacks, Sand Land is worth playing to experience its story.

Despite its shortcomings in terms of repetition and difficulty, SAND LAND is a very enjoyable experience that’s perfect for the casual gamer, even if you’ve never heard of the manga before.

Sand Land proves once again that Akira Toriyama and video games are a perfect match.

Some of the quests and open world activities felt repetitive, but on the whole Sand Land is one of the better adaptations we’ve seen from the publisher. Whenever Bandai Namco Entertainment announces a new project like this, I never know whether it will be worth my time or not. Thankfully, Sand Land ended up delivering and is worth your time on Steam Deck. I definitely recommend trying out the free demo if you aren’t sure it is for you.

A lighthearted yet emotional open world adventure with some great exploration and progression held back only by its lack of diversity.

Sand Land is a charming ARPG romp thanks to its madcap cast of vehicles that manages not only to faithfully adapt Akira Toriyama’s vision, but to expand on it in his trademark style to create something that will delight newcomers and old-school manga-heads alike.

Sand Land is a charming ARPG romp thanks to its madcap cast of vehicles that manages not only to faithfully adapt Akira Toriyama’s vision, but to expand on it in his trademark style to create something that will delight newcomers and old-school manga-heads alike.

SAND LAND is definitely a good open world game, but not a game that exactly lives up to Akira Toriyama's legacy. It is unfortunate that SAND LAND's release and Toriyama's death ended up so close to each other, but it makes you feel like they could have done more with a title that finds its strengths in how close it follows the manga and how nice the fights on vehicles feel.

SAND LAND is definitely a good open world game, but not a game that exactly lives up to Akira Toriyama's legacy. It is unfortunate that SAND LAND's release and Toriyama's death ended up so close to each other, but it makes you feel like they could have done more with a title that finds its strengths in how close it follows the manga and how nice the fights on vehicles feel.

Sand Land is ambitious, full of ideas, and clearly wears its admiration of Toriyama’s work on its sleeve. Your ever-growing pantheon of Bots is a highlight, letting you explore the world and take on enemies as you please. The town-rebuilding aspect is deeply rewarding, and the game becomes more beautiful as you keep playing. However, the abundance of menus required for crafting, the monotonous out-of-vehicle combat, and the endless fountain of repetitive chatter mar an experience that’s nonetheless worth experiencing. I think Sand Land is going to be the infrequent RPG I continue playing after review, but maybe on a better computer.

Fun anime adventure with vehicle battles, that is sadly far too simple and could have used a bit more variety.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a good role-playing game that perhaps searches for its style a little more than it has already found it. Anyone who has the necessary patience and can powergame in third instead of sixth gear will spend many happy hours here.

A story-driven game, Sand Land is a masterfully crafted world created by Akira Toriyama that finds finds itself in a conflict between its powerful narrative and a lack of detail on elements such as hand-to-hand combat and world design. Overall, an enjoyable game.

Sand Land definitely has moments that are fun and worth the price of admission, but it will also leave you scratching your head wondering if this is the best it could do. It may be leagues away from being a Dragon Ball epic, but it does its best to introduce you to a series that you may want to watch or read first.

With Sand Land, the late Akira Toriyama lays the last stone of a prestigious building. Enriched with new storylines, this video game adaptation is the ideal extension of the manga and anime. On a playful level, the adventure is far from perfect, but the scenario and the events are faithful to the original work and the progression offers several notable moments. With its ultra-endearing characters and its universe, this production has enough assets to satisfy fans of (semi) open world games. If the idea of playing an action-RPG in a Mad Max-style universe interests you, this title may satisfy you.

The thing about Sand Land is that it’s very confident in itself. It knows what it wants to be, and it achieves its goals effectively, whether those goals are what we think it should be or not. That doesn’t change how the game plays, of course. Stealth is still tedious, and combat is a bit floaty and simple. It does make the presentation stronger, though. Nothing feels half-baked or thrown in just for the sake of chasing a trend, and that confidence gives Sand Land a strong sense of identity that makes it easy to overlook some of its less engaging features…That’s Sand Land in a nutshell, though. It’s a vibes game more than anything else, charming, sometimes surprisingly incisive, and daring enough to be its own thing. That thing isn't always as engaging as it could be, but it's certainly unforgettable.

The thing about Sand Land is that it’s very confident in itself. It knows what it wants to be, and it achieves its goals effectively, whether those goals are what we think it should be or not. That doesn’t change how the game plays, of course. Stealth is still tedious, and combat is a bit floaty and simple. It does make the presentation stronger, though. Nothing feels half-baked or thrown in just for the sake of chasing a trend, and that confidence gives Sand Land a strong sense of identity that makes it easy to overlook some of its less engaging features…That’s Sand Land in a nutshell, though. It’s a vibes game more than anything else, charming, sometimes surprisingly incisive, and daring enough to be its own thing. That thing isn't always as engaging as it could be, but it's certainly unforgettable.

Sand Land is just another forgettable tie-in to add to the existing anime game pile.

SAND LAND is a brightly colored game version of the original manga, which is sure to please fans of Akira Toriyama's work. However, modern players will encounter boring side quests, and a poorly developed combat system and stealth.

The story behind Sand Land's creation is funny but also sad in a way. Toriyama initially made Sand Land for his own personal enjoyment, devising a short story about an old man and his tank. However, the tank proved more challenging to draw than expected, and since Toriyama stubbornly insisted on drawing everything himself, he came to regret the idea. He persevered anyway, eventually releasing the manga for public consumption, and his pain was certainly our gain. Toriyama's love of vehicles shines through in Sand Land and is where its most enjoyable moments reside. It's disappointing that it flounders in other areas, particularly when it comes to stealth and melee combat, but ICLA has still managed to capture the heart and spirit of the original manga through its story, characters, and vehicular combat and traversal. Sand Land is bittersweet in many ways, but it'ss a testament to Toriyama's talents as both an artist and storyteller that, despite its numerous flaws, it's still worth playing.

Sand Land isn’t aiming to rewrite the rule book, but it has oodles of heart and character, a lovely world to explore, and plenty to keep you engaged. It’s just good old-fashioned fun.