Preview: Sand Land shines when you’re in the tank

destructoid.com:

Sand Land is an odd situation. Announced during the Summer Game Fest 2023 live show, Sand Land is an interesting pick for an ILCA-developed, Bandai Namco-published action-RPG adaptation.

While many in the west are familiar with Akira Toriyama’s work, Sand Land isn’t quite as popular as, say, Dragon Ball. But that relative disparity is what made Sand Land interesting to me. I’ve seen tons of Dragon Ball. I don’t know much about Sand Land. And after playing a little bit of the latter at Summer Game Fest 2023, I’m curious to see even more of its Mad Max-like arid wastes.

For those unfamiliar, Sand Land is a single-volume manga from Toriyama set in a world with little water. After years of disasters and war have ravaged the land, a single king lords over the water supply. The elderly Rao partners with Beelzebub, the prince of the demons and playable character in Bandai Namco’s Sand Land, to find a new water supply.

My demo kicked off with a bit of action, as I was driving the crew’s car and dodging attacks from a sand beast. They were a bit hard to discern, but it was an interesting little introduction to the chaos and danger of the world.

What also immediately popped out at me was the art. Akira Toriyama’s work is quite recognizable, and it’s been adapted well in the slice I played of Sand Land. Character models looked great, and the designs had a visually distinct look that represented Toriyama’s work well, especially the vehicles.

After effectively fleeing, we made it to a town; I couldn’t go in to check the area out, but it did at least seem like a hub of sorts. The producer, who was shepherding me through the demo, directed me towards the next area. And to get there, I’d be making use of a special vehicle: the tank.

Whi