Not solely is Akira Toriyama the creator of Dragon Ball, however he’s a prolific manga author, creating over 40 manga sequence. One such sequence was Sand Land, a manga a few desert world inhabited by survivors searching for water. Suppose Mad Max by manner of Dragon Ball. For causes that also aren’t tremendous clear to me (although you’ll hear no objections) Sand Land is again in an enormous manner. Not solely is an anime adaptation premiering later this 12 months, however Bandai Namco is on the point of launch a full Sand Land online game, and IGN acquired an opportunity to play an unique preview for Fan Fest and located a pleasant throwback to a bygone period of anime gaming, with additional enjoyment for longtime Toriyama followers.
One side of Toriyama’s recreation that usually goes unheralded is his brilliance as a designer. One have a look at his steampunk-y, round automotive and airplane designs and immediately who drew them. Car design is clearly a ardour for Toriyama, having drawn every part from hovercrafts, airplanes, spaceships, to Toriyama-fied automobiles. His trademark machines have appeared in each certainly one of his sequence, from Dragon Ball to Dr. Droop. Sand Land lastly put me within the cockpit of those fantastic automobiles, and it was a dream come true.
My hands-on preview started with our hero Beelzebub in want of the suitable automobile (a recurring aspect in my preview) to get throughout some quicksand. To take action, he enlists the healp of a brand new character, an excellent mechanic named Ann, who says she will get Beelzebub and the crew throughout quicksand on her bike. Sadly, she misplaced her bike throughout a chase and now the gang has to go and retrieve it in an space referred to as Talbo.
Sand Land, is at its coronary heart, an open- world journey recreation about Beelzebub and the entire cool automobiles he can pilot. The principle mode of transportation is a customizable tank that may traverse the sands and blast away enemies. And sure, it makes use of traditional tank controls for that additional hit of nostalgia.
However as we study whereas making an attempt to retrieve Ann’s bike, Beelzebub can swap between a number of totally different automobiles right away. As soon as we uncover that some flying creatures have stolen Ann’s bike and brought it to their lair up within the mountains, we change to the Bounce Bot, a walker with the power to, nicely, bounce.
Whereas the tank is supposed to be a form of gradual however all-purpose automobile designed for fight, the Bounce Bot is particularly designed for the form of platforming areas I noticed in Talbo. The Bounce Bot can leap vertically to scale the tall mountain, in addition to jump over some tough ledges.
As soon as we attain the monster’s lair, it’s again to the tank to blast away on the flying creature. Maneuvering round whereas firing the tank’s cannon takes a little bit of a studying curve, although my preview began half manner via the sport; you could be spared mentioned studying curve via a tutorial and/or the observe gained within the early a part of the sport. However, the controls are intuitive sufficient for anybody who grew up enjoying previous PlayStation video games, so taking down the flying monster was no drawback.
The second a part of my hands-on was the place the automobile customization really shined. As you get additional into Sand Land, Ann’s workshop will open up, permitting you to completely customise not solely your tank however quite a lot of different automobiles Beelzebub has entry to in Sand Land.
Focusing totally on my tank, I used to be in a position to pick-and-choose totally different weapons, sub-weapons, threads, and other forms of equipment to construct my private Sand Land destruction machine. I largely went with aesthetics this time, however I did go for a rocket launcher weapon that I acquired to check out later in my demo to nice impact.
However customization doesn’t cease there, as a result of after you have your loadout picked out, you’ll be able to go subsequent door to present your journey a customized paint job with quite a lot of colours and decals to select from. Like I mentioned, should you’re a fan of Toriyama’s distinctive automobile designs, Sand Land will allow you to absolutely geek out.
Aspect Hustle
The second half of the demo was devoted to a few of the aspect actions Beelzebub can tackle. There are aspect missions the place Beelzebub can settle for bounties on some high-profile targets (extra on that in a bit), in addition to races the place you’ll be able to take your newly custom-made journey for a real take a look at. With three totally different race difficulties to select from, every altering the course indirectly, you’ll be able to take a look at your journey towards enemy riders and time itself.
There are different aspect actions Beelzebub can tackle in Sand Land. One in every of which is accepting bounties for powerful enemies roaming the desert. I took my newly custom-made tank out to try to nab a few of these unhealthy guys and located that my new missile launcher geared up tank was greater than sufficient to take out a few of these unhealthy guys in a blink of a watch.
One ultimate word is that even with my restricted hands-on time, Sand Land is shaping as much as be huge. If it weren’t for a while constraints I wouldn’t have used the quick journey characteristic to get from place to put, and as an alternative I might’ve liked to have taken my candy time to soak up the sights. Alas, that must wait till I get my arms on the complete recreation.
Sand Land’s transmedia return is a real shock to date, actually. I haven’t thought of it since studying it in a replica of Shonen Bounce over 20 years in the past, and right here it’s with a brand-new recreation and even a brand new anime. For followers of traditional, PS2-era anime video games there’s quite a bit to be enthusiastic about in Sand Land, even with out figuring out something in regards to the sequence.
Nonetheless, Sand Land actually looks like a love letter to Akira Toriyama followers. I’m speaking in regards to the Dr. Droop and early Dragon Ball followers. There are dozens of fantastic Dragon Ball video games you’ll be able to play proper now, however should you’re a traditional manga fan and somebody who’s liked the Toriyama artwork model and world-building, remember to take a look at Sand Land when it hits consoles and PC on April 26.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s Senior Options Editor. You possibly can attain him @lawoftd.