SAND LAND

You’ll want to get lost in the well-realised world. No single element is a revolution, and it’s sometimes a little thinly spread, but it’s still a successful adaptation. [Issue#41, p.86]

Sand Land is for better and worse, will be Akira Toriyama's last addition to his legacy, the changes to the story with new character is very welcome, but the desert is big and will get repetitive fairly quickly, and unfortunately this will be another addition to the growing anime games that I might forget later.

Sand Land successfully conveys Toriyama's vision in an interactive format, offering players a unique adventure full of action, strategy, and personalization. If you're a fan of oversized vehicles and RPG systems with occasional platforming elements, this game will be a great fun for the upcoming hot summer days.

Sand Land definitely isn’t essential, but if you have an interest in vehicle combat or a classic story written by one of manga’s greats, it’s worth playing. If you see Sand Land at a reasonable price, you’re going to have a good time.

A gift from Akira Toriyama, bringing back childhood memories. The original story depicting events after the original work is pretty enjoyable to watch. However, the overall monotonous core gameplay is somewhat disappointing.

Sand Land is a gorgeous game that is far larger than you might expect, and it's ultimately worthy of a journey, but there are several factors that are holding it back from being one of the biggest anime games of all time.

The video game adaptation of Sand Land brings one of Akira Toriyama's lesser-known works into the spotlight. It follows the source material well and cleverly expands on the story, but the gameplay is lacking.

Sand Land is an enjoyable game for those who love Toriyama's works, but it fails to fully stand out for its narrative quality or all the mechanics underlying its gameplay.

It’s unfortunate that Sand Land isn’t quite up to the standard that one of Japan’s all-time great artists deserves. It’s not that it’s a bad game. It’s very entertaining, especially when you start messing around with the tank battles. It’s just nothing more than a well-made licensed tie-in, something that you’ll forget soon after you play it, and never feel the need to return to. It really does look great, though. Akira Toriyama is going to be missed.

Sand Land is a solid action RPG with a significant amount of vehicle customization and combat, gorgeous graphics, and extensive activities, making for a fun experience.

Sand Land is an adventure that keeps you entertained throughout its main storyline thanks to an interesting plot and endearing characters. However, it feels overly ambitious as it tries to do many things, ending up in its simplest state. Additionally, its side quests fail to captivate the player.

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.

Sand Land is just a good game, as some would say: an enjoyable but in many ways dated experience, that brings Akira Toriyama's style to the screen with stunning cel shading that, however, is not supported by animations up to the mark, while the desert maps that characterize the main setting prove to be very uninteresting to explore. The vehicles work well in the game, however, as does the combat, and in the end ILCA takes home a decent result that Sand Land fans will appreciate.

Much like the vast desert making up nearly everything in it, Sand Land can be rough and coarse at times, yet also provides a lot of beauty in various ways. The story is great, the characters are an enjoyable lot, and the vehicular combat and traversal are superb, marred only by annoying travel dialogue and bland levels at times. Whether you're a fan of the great Toriyama's work or not, there's still something special here to check out if you're willing to put in the effort.

Sand Land is therefore a tie-in that is not fully successful on the gaming and content front, but it is a video game adaptation that expresses a lot of affection towards the work from which it is based. A fun and varied management of the arsenal of vehicles and a cast of charismatic characters contrast with a lackluster open world and a rather cumbersome combat system. For everything else, nostalgia reigns supreme, in an adventure aimed mainly at fans of the adorable Beelzebub.

Sand Land is the latest video game adaptation of one of Akira Toriyama's works, presenting us with a world devoid of water, tyrants, bandits, and numerous secrets. With a simple open world and outdated combat, Sand Land falls short of offering a complete experience to the player.

Sand Land is both a good licensed games, since it relies heavily on fidelity to the source material and good dialogues, and a formulaic open world action rpg, with a static structure and bad AI. It can still appeal to al Toriyama fans, thanks to its love for the original manga, but all of the other players will surely find much better options in both the ARPG genre and in the open world one.

If you're a big fan of Akira Toriyama's work, perhaps it's worth taking a chance on the world of Sand Land. Otherwise, it might be better to stick with the manga or the animated series.

SAND LAND has its merits in respecting and expanding the original work of the legendary Akira Toriyama. But what it gets right in terms of narrative and design, it fails in combat and exploration systems: , which are as generic and uninteresting as a desert full of sand and... more sand.

Anyone who read the manga in the 2000s must acknowledge: what this game looks like is how the static manga images came to life in your head. It is of the last things Akira Toriyama did before his death: congratulate the developers for bringing his creation to life so beautifully. Rightfully so. So really one for the fans, because the gameplay is okay, but it doesn't break any pots: it's a typical action game in an open world.

Sand Land is a fine game, thanks to a fun story and a loveable cast of characters. The gameplay is just a bit too simple at times, while some frustrating design choices can leave you frustrated at certain points.

Sand Land offers an action-packed RPG thrill ride, highlighting the importance of the friendships formed during the adventure and emphasizing the bonds between the characters. However, the game is marred by excessive repetition of activities and discouraging melee combat.

While the game feels like a filler episode, particularly as you trample through the same patches of deserts and other terrains, completing similar quests with similar goals, it remains a pleasant experience, thanks to its stylistic touches. It might not be a perfect adaptation of Sand Land, but for those who wish to inhabit its world and expand the tale of the iconic manga, it’s a fine road trip that brims with enough style and personality to paper over its biggest flaws.

Ultimately, the game's story is a fun one that does touch on some heavier themes, too. But it's the collective action at Spino that helps it feel special. Sand Land feels like a game that you can't believe wasn't originally released on the PS2. It's the fact that you can so strongly feel Toriyama within the game that that results in it feeling like a wonderful, imperfect send-off for one of the most influential artists ever. It won't knock your socks off, and I doubt it will be part of the game of the year conversations further down the road. But I don't care. I'm just happy to step into an old, but new, Toriyama world once last time.

Sand Land is a visually stunning adaptation of Akira Toriyama's cult hit manga. Though it showcases some interesting gameplay concepts, the game ultimately suffers from repetitive mission structures as well as bloated crafting systems.

Part of a project that also includes an anime series and a film, the video game adaptation of Sand Land highlights, in many ways, a less celebrated side of Akira Toriyama: its talent for building worlds and technology. And there's probably no better way to showcase this than in a game.

Our feelings about Sand Land The Video Game are mixed. On one hand, this is a perfect adaptation of the manga from Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball). It's absolutely gorgeous with phenomenal cel-shading and all the characters that we love. But the open world formula is too classic and the game suffers from a slow pace, narratives issues and a lack from impactful moments.

Sand Land is a definitive adaption of a great Akira Toriyama manga, but just fine as a game.

Sand Land’s vehicular focus shows potential, but devolves into a by-the-numbers open world action game with storytelling that only occasionally manages to live up to the joys of the original work.

Unfortunately, Sand Land seems like a game that only fans of Akira Toriyama could enjoy. Fans that would overlook the shallow combat system, lack of enemy variety, and the non-existent challenge.

There are points of interest here, but they're scattered too far and wide to make this a worthwhile excursion. [Issue#398, p.118]

Sand Land offers great vehicle combat and a strong array of customization options, but sluggish brawler combat and a vehicle imbalance with the tank let it down. It's a crying shame that character development gives way to boring corridor missions in the latter stages of the RPG.

I enjoyed my time with Sand Land, despite its many flaws. The vehicle gameplay feels great, and it’s the main pull for me – I didn’t mind that the side quests were pointless and the open world samey, because I had an incredibly powerful tank that could blow up small groups of enemies in two seconds. But if you’re hoping that this game will be the best adaptation of Toriyama’s manga series, you’re out of luck. I’d just watch the anime instead.