Between Dune, Fallout, and Mad Max, it’s a great 12 months for tales with numerous sand and little water. Now, you may add Sand Land — an adaptation of the late Akira Toriyama’s manga of the identical identify — to that checklist. The distinction right here is that Sand Land is available in two new flavors. There’s an anime streaming on Hulu (or Disney Plus should you’re outdoors the US) and a online game that turns the story into an open-world RPG. Each observe an identical plot, have the identical characters, and even look practically similar. Which implies that should you’re trying to soar into this postapocalyptic wasteland, you’ve gotten a option to make — and it seems, the animated collection is a a lot tighter, extra thrilling adaptation.
The very first thing you need to know is that, whichever model you’re experiencing, Sand Land is fairly bizarre. It takes place in a world that has been became an enormous desert following a collection of wars and pure disasters, the place water is operating out for everybody however a king who hoards a personal provide. So a sheriff named Rao units out to search out that offer for the great of everybody within the desert. Oh, additionally, demons exist, and Rao finally ends up partnering with a younger Beelzebub, whose dad (Lucifer) agrees to let him assist the human in trade for display time. They’re joined by a demon named Thief who commits crimes in a Santa outfit, they usually drive across the desert in a spherical tank.
What units Sand Land other than different postapocalyptic worlds is its tone — consider it like Mad Max meets Dragon Ball. It could actually get very severe at occasions, exploring the impression of a militaristic monopoly on on a regular basis residents and placing its characters by means of some actual tragedy. However it’s additionally foolish and unusual. Beelzebub is nearly like a demonic Bart Simpson, somebody who thinks of himself as evil however actually is only a goofball obsessive about video video games. There’s a gang that clothes like Olympic swimmers, a floating cyborg normal, and a military of insect males. It could happen in a desert, however it’s bursting with unusual life, like raptors operating round and demonic blobs lounging with umbrellas. All of that is rendered in Toriyama’s very explicit type.
The present manages to seize this in a brisk 13 episodes, that are principally devoid of filler and have numerous actually enjoyable motion — there’s every little thing from slow-mo sniper photographs to high-speed chases (on foot, no much less) — together with goofy character moments. The sport, sadly, is filled with filler. And that’s as a result of it’s a reasonably by the numbers open-world recreation, with numerous quests vying on your time, most of which aren’t that fascinating. The fight, the stealth missions, the dungeons — just about each facet of the sport feels easy and underdeveloped. It’s not unhealthy, per se, however it’s lacking that hook to make it distinctly Sand Land. And since it’s drawn out to RPG size, it’s additionally missing the tempo and vitality that make the present that rather more thrilling.
The one factor the sport does very well is its autos. Along with a tank, you’ll additionally get entry to issues like a leaping robotic and a slick motorbike, all of which will be upgraded with new weapons and whatnot. They make shifting by means of the world much more pleasing, and the vehicular fight might be my favourite a part of the sport. The Sand Land recreation additionally does an amazing job with scale: you usually really feel like a tiny demon surrounded by an enormous, oppressive wasteland. Sadly, the sport doesn’t do a lot with that feeling for the reason that world is fairly empty. Early on, for instance, you need to discover a completely huge downed airship, however inside, it’s principally naked rooms to run by means of with the occasional boss battle.
The principle factor the sport has going for it’s the story and magnificence of Sand Land — which the present does a significantly better job of exploring. The collection even introduces a brand-new story arc from Toriyama that strikes the collection in an fascinating new path, making it the right place to leap into this oddball postapocalyptic universe.
Sand Land: The Sequence is streaming now on Hulu, whereas the sport is out there on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.