Sand Land review

pcgamer.com:

What year is it? Because I'm sure Sand Land (and the Akira Toriyama-authored anime and manga it's based on) just came out, but this action RPG, complete with numbers popping out of enemies whenever feisty lordling fiend Prince Beelzebub hits them, feels like a return to the bad old days of licensed games. The sort of forgotten PlayStation tie-in that included a bit of everything whether it should have or not, a game your well-meaning grandparents bought as a gift because they recognised the name of the movie.

What is it? Toriyama's beautiful mechanical designs trapped inside a tired marketing exercise
Expect to pay: £49.99
Developer: ILCA, Inc.
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc.
Reviewed on: Intel i9-13900HX, GeForce RTX 4080 (laptop), 16GB RAM
Multiplayer? No
Steam Deck: Unknown
Link: Official site

At times the game will force a side-on platforming section on me, complete with bottomless pits and an endless supply of incoming objects to avoid. In other moments I'll have to play along with some scripted chase sequence, or hit buttons at the right as if QTE-ruined cutscenes never went out of fashion. There are even multiple stealth sections to grit my teeth through. They don't turn up often, but they do turn up more often than they should in an action RPG of any age: never.

Which is a pity, because when I'm not gaming like it's 1999 there's a definite charm to Sand Land's imaginative selection of vehicles, which encompasses bulbous tanks and gigantic battleships. They're all covered in cartoonishly scuffed metal and exaggerated welding seams, and include wonderfully fine animated details. Bashed-up trucks might have a balancing pair of back legs that only set down when the vehicle comes to a stop. Tanks rear up slightly whenever they gain a sudden burst of speed, and lighter vehicles bounce around as they navigate uneven terrain. I can almost feel how hefty these machines are just by looking at them.

Anything I can drive can be built and then generously