Sand Land Reviews
The sweet heart of Toriyama beats here, but it alone can’t help to make Sand Land compelling for most.
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.
A bright and vibrant world filled with dull combat and a plodding story.
Sand Land shows how good Akira Toriyama's storytelling and world building really was, unfortunately this is all bogged down with an empty open world filled with repetitive tasks and little to no reward for doing them.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Upon completing Sand Land, I'm left with fond memories of its narrative depth, cinematic moments, and the occasional tedious journey. Engaging with the manga version proves far more enjoyable; the adaptation could have reached greater heights, suggesting ambitious goals that fell short in execution.
The Sand Land is very similar to the rest of the games adapted from anime. Although the game may be a gift for fans of the manga or the visual content, the experience suffers from many problems in its design, especially the open game world and stages, and the modesty of these aspects. It may cause a feeling of boredom as you progress in the game.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
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.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Sand Land's vehicular combat is entertaining from start to finish, but bizarre progression pacing and the repetitive nature of the side content makes this a hard sell for those approaching the series for the first time.
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.
Sand Land's fantastic vehicular combat and adherence to the source material are let down by bland and repetitive stealth, melee combat, and mission design.
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.
Sand Land replicates both the unmistakable style and iconic character of Akira Toriyama’s work with color, authenticity, and passion. As an open-world adventure game, however, it is both conventional in gameplay and repetitive in design, resulting in a good-looking, great-sounding but overly simplistic adventure that nails the charm and aesthetic, but not the excitement and dynamism. A stylish but average escapede that never really gets out of first gear.
Sand Land is primarily a story-driven base-building game with vehicle exploration elements. While quests and storyline add enjoyment, the game’s main focus feels like a grind due to repetitive dialogues and similar tasks. Despite this, it offers a somewhat enjoyable experience for those who appreciate abundant side quests and repetition.
SAND LAND has its merits in respecting and expanding the original work of the legendary Akira Toriyama. But when it comes to narrative and design, it fails in combat and exploration systems: as generic and uninteresting as a desert full of sand and... more sand.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Sand Land is just another forgettable tie-in to add to the existing anime game pile.
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
This new Bandai Namco title has left us with mixed feelings. On the one hand we find very fun concepts such as the use of vehicles and their more than interesting customization, but on the other hand we see a development that is too classic and not very innovative in its open world. Despite these chiaroscuros, we can recommend this game if you are a fan of Toriyama's comics and want to be able to interact for about 30 hours (more if you want to explore the entire map) with its post-apocalyptic world and its quite charismatic characters. If, on the other hand, you are bored of open world games in which hundreds of points appear in which to repeat the same actions over and over again, perhaps you are not going to enjoy this game much.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Sand Land effectively conveys its story through seamless animations and gameplay. The simple combat system is enhanced by the ability to upgrade machines and components, keeping the gameplay engaging. Despite its vast but sparse open world, there are always side quests or locations like bandit camps to explore, though these tasks can be pretty basic.
Review in Czech | Read full review
Sand Land brings us a formidable, comical narrative experience that at various times evokes the good energy that the late Akira Toriyama accustomed us to, with a rich open world to explore and a good vehicle customization system. It has some flaws, but overall, with everything positive it manages to convey to the player. We invite all fans (and not only) of Akira Toriyama to discover, once again, a small taste of what he gave us so well.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review