Sand Land review - A fitting tribute to the legacy of Akira Toriyama

Sand Land might not be a manga many Akira Toriyama fans might remember, but it originally ran from May to August 2000 in Weekly Shonen Jump. It was a short, but comical shonen manga, set in what appeared to be a post-apocalyptic world where Demons and Humans lived on the same plane. The titular area was ravaged by drought, with rivers that had been dry for decades.

Fans who read the manga will find the first half of the game to be very familiar, as it does cover the primary story beats. The second half is based on the 2024 anime, and while I noticed minor bits weren’t there, the most important parts are.

Sand Land gives players a vast, open world, and plenty of amazing vehicular combat. There’s a lot to love about this, whether you’re a long-time fan of Toriyama’s work or not, this game delivers.

What does the Sand Land game cover, storywise?

Fans of the manga and anime will have plenty to love here (Image via Bandai Namco)

Sand Land from Bandai Namco covers the entire story as presented in the current 2024 anime—from the originally 14-chapter-long manga of the same name to the second story offered in the anime. Much like the Dragon Ball games of our past, this game tells a story that many will be familiar with, though perhaps in fewer numbers than the Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z fans.

The Sand Land manga wasn’t as big or popular as some of Toriyama’s other works, but it’s just as important. It has the same heart as any of the mangaka’s other works. Like the original Dragon Ball, it blends comedy and combat seamlessly in a way seldom seen in modern media.

The gameplay of Sand Land is simple but enjoyable

The monsters can get pretty big out there in the desert (Image via Bandai Namco)

Players control the main character, Beelzebub, son of King Lucifer, as he starts the story simply getting water for his village. Like any good manga though, it spins into a much bigger story, with him joining up with Sheriff Rao, and a mysterious female mechanic named Ann. Combat is handled either in melee combat as Beelzebub, or one of several vehicles, though it’s easier and more fun to use the vehicles/bots.

The game is an open-world action RPG, where players wander the wastes of Sand Land completing main story quests and eventually helping bring more people to the battered town of Spiro. You’ve got a wealth of vehicles to unlock and upgrade, secrets to find, and bounties to complete.

There are plenty of things and people in the desert to beat up, too. You’ve got lizards, junkers, lions, pterodactyls, and many other monsters to beat up. They all drop crafting materials, which you’ll need to upgrade your bots, but there’s another sort of problem with this.

Hey! It's Bonaparte! (Image via Bandai Namco)

You get virtually no experience for killing enemies. You need to fight them for crafting materials, but the exp is not worth it. Sure, you could grind off of enemies and eventually level up, but it’s not worth it. Most of your exp will come from defeating major bosses. Even side quests don’t grant experience points.

The game isn’t especially challenging on Normal difficulty anyway. However, as a long-time JRPG fan, I feel a painful need to grind and gain experience, which this game doesn’t allow me to do. On the one hand, it saves me a ton of time. On the other, I like having the choice to grind, if I’d like.

The bosses are larger than life and primarily huge mecha battles, but there are times when Beelzebub has to fight on his own in Sand Land. You get several vehicle types, too: a tank, jump-bot, hovercar, and other surprises. I spent more time in the tank than anything else mostly because it reminded me of Bonaparte in Dominion Tank Police by the legendary Masamune Shirow.

Blowing stuff up with a tank is so satisfying (Image via Bandai Namco)

Beelzebub’s attacks are pretty standard; weak/strong attacks, a few specials, and he can call on his allies in battle. The game really shines when it comes to the vehicle battles, too. At first, it made me a little nauseous to drive around, but I acclimated to it, thankfully.

Stealth is easily the worst part of Sand Land

Metal Gear Beelzebub (Image via Bandai Namco)

While I love the combat of Sand Land, and exploring the world is a blast, one part of the game stands out as something that makes my bones ache: Stealth. The game doesn't have too many stealth missions, but each and every one of them is miserable. It makes no sense for someone as powerful as Beelzebub to sneak around and scare the human guards.

What makes it so frustrating is how frequently a soldier can show up from around a corner and set you back to the last checkpoint. Another problem is if you start moving too fast, you might accidentally blow past them, or they’ll turn around, sounding the alarms. If you’re really fast, you can dodge roll behind them and trigger a scare. I just think these missions slow down the overall gameplay.

The aesthetic and voice acting of Sand Land are top-notch

It's a vast, beautiful world you get to explore (Image via Bandai Namco)

I adore the graphics in Sand Land; so many great Akira Toriyama designs are on display here. Whether you’re a fan of Dragon Quest or Dragon Ball, there will be a memorable design from the mangaka’s past. The graphics are spectacular, and I’m a big fan of the English dub as well.

It was honestly a surprise to me that there was an English dub at all. When I first started watching the Sand Land anime, I only saw the subbed version, so that’s what I watched. Sand Land looks brilliant and performs just as well on the PS5.

In conclusion

This game was a pure delight to play (Image via Bandai Namco)

Sand Land is a decent-length open-world Action RPG. The story covers all the important beats of the manga/anime, and while there are tiny moments that don’t match up, overall, I was satisfied with how it was presented. There are plenty of optional things to do, like side quests, collecting bounties, and repainting/adding designs to your bots.

As a long-time fan of Akira Toriyama’s works, I was thrilled to see what feels like his final work to be treated so well. Sand Land is a brilliant RPG, and fans of Akira Toriyama will not be disappointed. I do sort of wish Beelzebub had more variety in what he does in combat, that would have led me to play more as him instead of spending about 80% of my battles behind the wheel of a tank.