Sand Land Reviews
Sand Land captures the heart and soul of Akira Toriyama’s classic tale. Jumping in a vehicle and fighting creatures is a highlight of the experience and overshadows the lackluster melee combat. Side quests are a little dull but the main campaign is varied and an accurate interpretation and interesting extension of the Manga. With its stunning visuals, fans of anime will love this thrilling journey through Toriyama’s iconic universe.
Broken down into individual pieces, Sand Land doesn't do anything particularly amazing, but when taken as a whole, this is one of the best anime-based games that we've played in a long time. It's got plenty of great story moments, its open world structure is moreish, and combat is satisfyingly solid. A robust and lovingly crafted adventure that charms from start to finish.
The end of our journey is just the beginning of your adventure. Sand Land is a work that feels very personal, leaving us with a great reflection, which is hidden with demons, humans, tanks and battles. War only brings desolation to everyone, no matter who they are.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sand Land harkens back to a time when action adventure games were hitting their stride after the jump from 2D pixels to 3D polygons. It just feels like a familiar friend from the old days — one that you’re quite happy to see return after a long while. Yeah, he may still be sporting an outdated mullet and using old slang. But he’s still the same good guy that you know and had fun times with and, honestly, that’s really all you need sometimes. Add the late Akira Toriyama’s unique visual style and you have a game that fans of old-school 3D action adventure games just might have a super time with.
A lighthearted yet emotional open world adventure with some great exploration and progression held back only by its lack of diversity.
Sand Land is therefore a tie-in that is not fully successful on the playful and content front, but it is a videogame adaptation that expresses a lot of affection towards the work from which it is taken.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
Review in French | Read full review
Sand Land is a definitive adaption of a great Akira Toriyama manga, but just fine as a game.
Definitely not the perfect job was done in terms of gameplay, but at least it is a good tribute to the original work and therefore, to the author, who unfortunately was not able to see the finished project. So, if you were looking for something different and with a concept that is not just about fighting, it is very possible that you will find this game fun with the good customization options on vehicles.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sand Land, peppered with great characters, is a real feel-good adventure for Toriyama fans, but it comes across as too shallow in terms of gameplay.
Review in German | Read full review
Children and Akira Toriyama fans will probably love Sand Land.
Beyond being a fun game to play, Sand Land is a great and timely example of the work of Akira Toriyama, and a reminder just how much more he was than just the Dragonball Z guy. Sand Land is its own thing – it was actually exciting to have a demon called a slime appear, and have it NOT be the dollop-shaped slime of the Dragon Quest series. While the vehicle combat system isn’t breaking any new ground, it still goes about things in its own, slightly odd way. It’s a breath of fresh, desert air – and I think there’s a few miles left in the tank yet.
A bright and vibrant world filled with dull combat and a plodding story.
A stunningly realised rendition of Akira Toriyama's work, Sand Land matches its aesthetics with fun, breezy systems and a charming, if clumsy, tale of war, friendship, and hope.
Despite several lacking elements, SAND LAND is a solid adaptation of Toriyama's work with a well-realized setting, sharp presentation and fun combat.
With a extraordinary art style, touching story and interesting gameplay loop, SAND LAND ended up really hitting home with me.
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 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.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sand Land wraps Akira Toriyama’s charm in a decent action RPG that serves as an adequate entry point to the Sand Land franchise.
Sand Land is a competent and occasionally excellent anime tie-in game. It's a good way to experience the franchise for the first time, and even if you're not a Sand Land fan, I can see it scratching the itch for a simple, open-world experience. It might be a tad too easy for more hardcore gamers, but for younger players, it seems like a great introduction to open-world gameplay.