Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land needs more fun to be the Mad Max of games

All the demos that I tried at Gamescom were great. Sand LandIt was the least understandable. The manga is based on a one-shot series of by Dragon BallYou can also find out more about the following: Chrono Trigger legend Akira Toriyama, Sand LandIt’s a very visually appealing game. However, a preview made me want to know more about the gameplay.

Sand LandThe action-RPG is set in an ecologically-destructive world with water shortages, and a 2,500 year-old gamer-demon named Beelzebub as its central character. Alongside a pair of crusty old dudes called Thief and Rao, Beelzebub embarks on a desert odyssey to find a legendary spring that can remedy his world’s H2-wOes.

It’s a cool premise, and after watching the game’s announcement trailer, I was particularly intrigued by the clips of stealthy outpost infiltrations and open-world vehicular combat. An anime RPG in the vein of 2015’s Mad MaxThe game’s potential is intriguing; it could be similar to the way ILCA/Bandai Namco tackled Toriyama’s legacy with Sand Land, Avalanche Studios siphoned the thirsty atmosphere of George Miller’s Mad Max movies while juggling deep skill trees full of meaningful, modular car and character upgrades. A player’s only way to triumph was to find those upgrades by conquering enemy territories and unlocking convoys.

Few games have riffed on Avalanche’s unique formula since, but based on that early footage, Sand Land The game looked ready to pick up the torch. But the on-rails nature of my 15-minute PS5 hands-on meant I didn’t get access to the systemic interplay that often tends to define a good open-world game.

Image: ILCA/Bandai Namco Entertainment

It began with a driving scene in which I avoided a burrowing (kind-of adorable) dragon. Despite this opening section’s triviality, it functioned as a way to get to grips with Sand Land’s unique art style. The lines and shadings on the cars, characters, and backgrounds contrast with hyperrealism. Sand Land’s desert environments, which are full of shadows and layered crags. There are no muddy textures in sight, choices in service of a faithful translation of Toriyama’s beloved technique. A gang leader wearing BDSM gear with a wave-like Mohawk created a shadow that was convincing on his crosshatched breast.

I eventually made my way out of the Pain Canyon and found myself in a small ruined village. I spent some time there talking with its eccentric residents. The shopkeeper shared some interesting war stories, while I searched his shelves for HP, defense, and strength serums. It was also interesting to note that I can collect and sell modified parts, and I’m assuming this will be a key part of the car customization system in the final game. It was a shame that I didn’t get to play this part of Sand LandIt seems that it could be the key to unlocking the mystery and enhancing the experience.

However, I continued on towards my next destination, driving a teal buggy around the plains, and boosting to make it go faster. It’s strange that acceleration is controlled using the leftstick. These tank controls can make precision maneuvering difficult, but it makes sense once you are behind the wheels of a big car. After a few dinosaurs laying in the sun, I swapped my nitro-powered golf cart with a nearby battle-tank and got to blasting.

Images: ILCA/Bandai Namco Entertainment

Sand Land isn’t exactly Armored Core, but the game’s tank combat is good fun as you zoom and poke miniboss critters from a distance with your cannon, subduing their minions up close with your machine gun. Once again, the game’s Toriyama style spun into gear as dainty puffs of black smoke and whipped-up shrapnel sputtered out the back of my Metal Slug-esque war machine, DualSense haptics purring away in my palms.

The rusting tanks of the world are not a match for Sand Land’s optional loot caves, and Beelzebub has close-quarters combat moves for such unremarkable occasions, complemented by some deliberate magic attacks tied to the right shoulder button. It’s your typical punch-kick-evade combo fest, evocative of the bread-and-butter combat of Bandai’s Dragon Ball Xenoverse games.

If you get the timing right, Beelzebub can throw enemies or even juggle them with his tail. He will then use delayed inputs in order to sink bandits. It’s not the most exciting combat system in the world (and it pales in comparison to the tank battles), but it gets the job done without being too tedious. In the demo I played, there wasn’t anything super challenging that allowed me to explore it in any real depth, and I got the impression this was Beelzebub in the pits of his powers.

After a puncture by a band of thieves, I had to stop my exploration. A boss battle ended the demo. The fiend prince’s crabby chaperones ran around the arena aimlessly as I fought, and… Look, I know they’re ancient, but it felt like a missed opportunity for them not to offer a helping hand and flesh out the combat a bit. Sand Land’s cool character designs couldn’t save this encounter from feeling like an instanced version of everything that came before, and the “Thank you for playing!” screen arrived all too soon.

Its meatier mechanisms are not available to you. Sand LandThe game left a strange impression. I’m compelled by the variety of vehicles coming to the full game and the proposed ability to tune them up to my taste in order to torment the inhabitants of the open world. I’m also keen on the idea of pumping the brakes and stealthing through an outpost in the desert, Phantom Pain style. Beyond the disparate flashes of promise I encountered in my hands-on, I want to see all of these teased features unite toward something substantial that evokes the cohesive vision of Avalanche’s Mad Max.

But that’s not what I played, and it’s hard to square my disappointment with this early build against the clear potential come launch. My hands-on experience was not very positive. Sand Land’s aesthetic prowess and not much else.

Sand LandIt is not known when the game will be released, but it should arrive in 2024 on Xbox Series X, Windows PC through Steam and PlayStation 4.