SandLand Review on Xbox

Sand Land is an action RPG where you become the main character as Beelzebub, a Fiend Prince. You lead your company of heroic misfits and explore the legendary world of SAND LAND created by Akira Toriyama.

The premise is after enduring years of natural disaster and war, the world is left without its main supply of water; the river that provided water to the country dried up long ago. So you take control of Fiend Prince Beelzebub, his chaperone Thief, and the fearless Sheriff Rao, who are in search of the Legendary Spring hidden in the desert. 

The game boasts an open world that goes beyond Sand Land, 13 Unlockable vehicles with a range of customization options including levelling-up with various mechanic parts, and your own room to design and decorate.

Accessibility

With regards to accessibility, there is button re-mapping, and colour blind options and 3 difficulty options. There is an Autopilot option within the game allowing for players to rest the hands at any given time outside of combat. Subtitle options are only on and off, and provide no colour variations. Sound options are equally limited, so should you have sound issues, this game would not be for you.

Gameplay

My knowledge of Sand Land was non-existent, and I went into this game with only my knowledge of the Dragon Ball franchise, being my reference of the amazing Akira Toriyama work. Whilst his creation has been around in its Manga format since early 2000, before transitioning to graphic novel, then film, its was still only really known to the most truest of fans. Thankfully the game is aimed to shed some light on this franchise to a wider audience, which is even more prominent due to his recent unexpected passing earlier this year.

The developers, and the creator himself, decided to make the game retell the manga series, but also expand upon it where the series left of. For those like myself which are new to the Sand Land, this is great as we are getting to experience the full package and join the ride of something new along with the veteran fanbase.

The game starts with you takin control of Beelzebub, the son of Lucifer and the prince of demons, raiding a sole Royal Army convoy to steal water for your fellow demons. You bring it to a halt and in doing so you learn some hand to hand combat against the soldiers driving. X is your basic attack with, B being your powerful attack, RT as your dodge, followed by Y being your finisher. 

As the game progresses you get introduced to a nice array of skills like Fury an Demon darkness which can only be used, once said special gauge is full from attacking enemies. This gives you more options when attacking and allows you to break up the button mashing when fighting enemies on foot.

After said skirmish with the Royal Army you make your way to Demon Village, one of the many NPC hubs in the game where you can pick up side quests and main missions. Soon a Sheriff known as Rao turns up and invites you to find the Legendary Spring hidden in the desert. You accept and here is where the real open world fun start as you get access to your bots, a home hub and can then enjoy the games Vehicular combat.

Whilst melee combat is often in compulsory in tight spaces and optional in open, vehicular combat is almost essential in the open world arena. There is a number of bots for your to create, pick-up and win, each with their own unique traits that are suited to specific areas of the world. For instance, the Hoover bot can cross water and quick sand, the Jump Bot can get you to higher areas, and the bike can allow you to cross big jumps allowing to access to zones not normally available.

Combat in each of the bots are very different due to their unique load-outs, but because you can switch on the fly using a option wheel, you can change to suit the enemies attacks on the fly. You will soon yourself jumping over tank missiles in the Jump bot, firing back with your own grenade launcher, before switching out to the Buggy to mop up the last foot soldiers with duel missiles and gatling gun. This is thanks to the storage capsule you get early on that allows you to carry up to five vehicles, which you can revise the load-out of at water stations or your home hub.

Compared to the melee combat, this is fast, precise and a game of cat and mouse, dependant on your choice of vehicle. How you engage with any enemy type is solely up to you, from ploughing headlong through enemy fire with your beefy tank, to zipping around hit n run style with your bike. Every battle felt fresh and enjoyable with every new vehicle I collected or created.

Speaking of creation, getting bots isn’t as simple as finding them, you actually do have to build them from scratch. You first find a core frame of the bot you wish to build, this can be done from side quests, bounties or general enemy engagements with them dropping random loot. Next is then visiting your garage in your home hub and building the parts needed to form said bot, which often entails a primary and secondary weapon, engine and suspension.

Once you have built said parts, only then can you create the bot of your choice. This is only the start of your bot customization, as you will continuously be upgrading those parts and the vehicles stats as a whole, as you progress and level up. Engagements and quests will often provide you with new parts of varying tiers with widely different stats and abilities.

EX Chips will soon be introduced that buff said stats or even provide new weapons or defences alongside your primary and secondary ones. And because you can build any part or vehicle anytime with enough resources, you can also create and hold unique variations of each bots numerous times with said different stats and abilities. Combine this with different Tier parts, like rare and legendary items allowing stat customization, and things get even more technical if you want. Want a heavy hitting tank that slow but huge on health but great at long distance attacks, or would you prefer a tank that’s fast and has a attack drone for hit-n-run capabilities. The choice is almost endless in what you want to create.

As mentioned earlier you get access to a Home Hub early on, a run-down village called Spino, that holds your garage and in the beginning, little else. One of the biggest key aspects of the game is your home hub and doing side quests, as these will often provide you with residents with special talents that then open up more customization and upgrade options. For instance you can get a painter for vehicle colour customization, or a Junker for specialised engine parts, and furniture maker for personalising your own room. That’s right, in this home hub, you even have the ability to create your very own living quarters.

Quests aren’t all go here and fetch that either, there has been a considerable effort to make each quest personal and relatable to the inhabitants. To mix it up further, some quests add a stealth element to the game, where you need to make your way through metal gear solid style, avoiding enemies sight or if you can get behind them, scaring them into submission. Racing quests has also been added to allow you win unique core frames and new parts, and are a great break from exploring this world, but like bounties, are solely up to you when and if, you take them on.

Bounties are there to give the player more opportunities to gain more coin and resources that are needed for crafting. But the biggest help for new components is exploration in general and stumbling onto ruins, caves and villages, which are a god send for keeping your pockets full and providing top tier parts. 

Now you may feel your alone in this journey, but you will have two companions at all times. Thief, and Sheriff Rao, who aren’t just there as mindless npc’s, as depending on how you upgrade your skill trees, they can provide help too.

The skill tree is split into two parts, main protagonist and companions. Each time you level up, you gain a point for both to spend as you wish. The protagonist one solely provides moves and buffs for your character. 

Whilst the companions ones add passive buffs to your bots and actionable attacks like throwing explosives at your enemies when in hand to hand combat or an extra tank to support you if things get too tough. A 3rd companion tree gets unlocked later in the game, but I wont spoil that for you here.

Playing this game, you can see there is a clear vision to ensure the works of Akira Toriyama are kept pure, and it helps that this was one of the last games he himself had direct involvement with. Fun is at its core and I can say that this game not only has made me fall in love with the lesser know works of its creator, but RPG’s in general again.

Graphics

When researching the art style of Sand Land I have to say that this is as near perfection to the original manga and anime series I have ever seen. It genuinely looks like they lifted this out of the recent anime and directed it straight at your home screen! The 3D Cel-shaded visuals are crisp, smooth and stunningly impressive, with only the slightest of screen tearing on some of the menu load-outs.

The open world of Sand Land, even with its barrenness, still manages to be a visual treat regardless of the endless amount of sand on show. The landscape may look all brutal heat and endless dunes, but often gives way to huge mountain cliffs, deserted towns and junk heaps of lost forgotten technology. The closest game that also probably comes to showcasing a truly apocalyptic dessert world would be Avalanche Studios Mad Max game. 

Whilst you can, and I would recommend you do so, explore the open world arena by foot or vehicle, the game also does provide a decent amount of water stations that provide you with fast travel options to make quest progression quick, should you not wish to travel. This then is changed dramatically in the later games arena, swapping sand for Forest with equally visual stunning vistas for you to enjoy as you make your way through the story.

The story here is also like its landscape, a bit of slow burn in the beginning, until you explore it further, before the human traits of the characters shine through and captivate you. You never actually kill anyone in the game, and the dialogue often points out the question of why do they always meet people who manage escape! Regardless vehicular battles are very impressive with explosions, vehicle parts sand being blown everywhere, and that’s not including a plethora of varied animal and human enemies often waiting for you to pick a fight with them. 

Boss fights are equally impressive and well choreographed in how they will attack you, with the level of difficulty being just right in my opinion. In fact levelling in general is superb, with enemies scaling to your level, unless you enter an restricted area, so you always don’t feel too overpowered or underpowered at any given time.

Sound

The music, sound and voicework, is equally fantastic. Hearing Jonathan Lipow voicing Rao was enjoyably unnerving as I’m sure he was challenging his inner Bruce Campbell when speaking his lines. If anything my only criticism was that during your journeys across Sand Land, there isn’t enough dialogue variations, with conversations being repeated more times than I would have preferred.

The music ranges from piano based melodies, bouncing drums beats and electronic choirs that switch seamlessly depending on location and event. Meaty weapon sounds, booming explosions and even the sparkly pick up noises, all engaged my joyful inner child that Toriyama’s works often produce.

In terms of recommendation, a good quality soundbar is the way to go to really let loose thrilling tones of this epic adventure, that will keep you coming back for more.

Verdict

This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for Sand Land is a "Must Own’’.

I think most could see the writing on the wall with this review, as my enjoyment for this new franchise has blown me away. This is no mere cash grab, this has quality and respect oozing out of every pour. If you’re an a fan of the Sand Land, this is for you but equally, if you’re a newbie like myself, then there is no better place than to pick this up and fall in love with a with new world full of amazing characters.

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £59.99 or approx. $60 and depending on skill and patience would give you well over 30+ hours worth of gameplay. Combine this with a plethora of hidden ruins, fun side quests, new gear items, a ton of customization options, you can easily add another 10hrs into the mix.

In the words of Akira Toriyama ‘’I'm full of curiosity about things, and it's fine as long as it's fun at that time, yet at the same time, I hate things that are tough’’. This game follows that ethos perfectly and couldn’t be a better tribute to the legendary man himself.