Akira Toriyama’s manga, Sand Land, was always a lesser-known work of his. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where water is the most valuable resource, the story follows a small demon child who befriends two old guys. Together, they embark on adventures, traveling in tanks, mechs, and motorcycles as they battle gangs, monsters, and army generals.
Running for a short stint in the summer of 2000, it was collected into a single volume. While it received some adaptation into other media, Sand Land never achieved the critical acclaim or notoriety of Toriyama’s other works. However, there was a lingering notion that the premise would have been better suited for a video game.
With Toriyama’s passing, a return for Sand Land seems unlikely. It stands likely as one of his final projects, alongside the upcoming Dragon Quest XII and possibly some unannounced works. I got the chance to experience the demo and was set loose in Toriyama’s sprawling world, got to play with some of the vehicles, and got into a lot of fights.
Sand Land‘s demo is a seemingly curated experience where the developers don’t want players to know too much just yet. There is almost no story content present beyond some banter between Beelzebub, the demon kid-hero, and the two old men who struggle to keep up with him.
Immediately, Sand Land captivates with Toriyama’s style evident in every character design. Beelzebub’s elderly comrades are Rao, a dutybound and tenacious former general, and Thief, who seems to be Beelzebub’s sagely caretaker. However, without any context in the demo, it’s difficult to understand their full dynamic. One thing is for sure; Rao and Thief can help Beelzebub in vehicular combat with their unique abilities.
Sand Land‘s demo offers no story setpieces or any direction. It drops the play into a literal sandbox with a tiny taste of what to expect. All you are given is three vehicle capsules which are sort of like poke-balls but for vehicles. The motorbike comes equipped with a mounted shotgun turret and a frontal machine gun. This is the fastest way to get around in the demo and the nitro-boost lasts a long time.
The motorbike is tricky to use in battle. It brought back memories of playing old Twisted Metal games on PlayStation because most of the time the bike is so fast that battles with gangs or monsters unfold like jousting matches or dizzying circling around while spraying and praying.
The battle tank appears to be the all-around choice when battling on the dunes. It’s capable of short bursts of speed, has a machine gun, and the main canon has long-range with devastating power. This is the vehicle to use when going up against massive centipede dragons and alligators the size of shopping malls.
The third vehicle capsule contains a large egg-like mech that resembles Robo from Chrono Trigger. This ride has limited long-range capabilities since its machine guns are pretty weak, but up close, its punches wreck almost anything. It has an annihilator uppercut that is so powerful, that it had to have a cool-down.
The mech can jump, dash, and hover. While it can reach heights higher than Beelzebub’s jumps, the mech is not able to reach many of the points of interest on top of the many rock formations in the demo. There is a mech dedicated to leaping extra high that was not in this demo but can be seen in various trailers.
Sand Land‘s demo curiously has a lot of unreachable content in the allotted zone that is on offer. There is a village that’s off-limits and all three vehicles in the demo can’t upgraded or modified like in the final product. Beelzebub can’t even level up or earn skill points for his skill tree. It will be interesting to see how it all comes together in the main game
When not in the driver’s seat, Beelzebub is a decent fighter. He moves swiftly, can dodge effectively, and he can even sneak. The range of actions at his disposal is fairly diverse and his skill tree suggests that he will be able to do more. Since there are no missions available in the demo, it will be interesting to see how the final game will maximize his abilities.
Aside from getting into fights and exploring an admittedly large desert, the Sand Land demo did not offer much content. This seemed more like the kind of demo that you might encounter at a kiosk back when you could play samples of games at game stores in the mid-2000s. You jump in, run around a bit, hop in a large mech, and pummel a bunch of Mad Max-like punks… then you’re done.
Releasing a demo to Sand Land with no structure or context to the setting was certainly a questionable choice. At the very least, the mechanics and kinesthetics of playing as Beelzebub and driving three of the vehicles feel good. On PlayStation 5, the frame rate was always locked at 60 and image quality was always clear and crisp.
