Hands-On Preview of SAND LAND
02
Apr 24
Want to see if the SAND LAND demo is worth checking out? Find out what we thought about the gameplay and battle here!
SAND LAND
I recently got my hands on the demo of SAND LAND as soon as it dropped. If you haven’t tried it yet and want to give it a go, then why not see what you can expect from it? While the game doesn’t drop until the 25th of April, here are my impressions so far.
Throughout the demo, you can get a taste of the gameplay and combat more than anything. While some games offer the first element of the story, SAND LAND has elected to save that for the full game, and personally, I appreciated that.
While you can’t explore the cities and locations that they’ve created for the game, as Beelzebub, you can run around with Rao and Thief and explore the desert. Beelzebub has some simple attacks that showcase his strength, and you can summon three different vehicles.
The vehicles you can summon are held in capsules, which is a familiar system to anyone who has ever played any Dragon Ball games. These vehicles include the iconic tank, a motorcycle, and a mecha suit. In the mecha suit, you can focus more on melee combat, while the tank is perfect for battling any durable enemies. While I wouldn’t choose the motorcycle for combat, you can shoot at enemies with a turret, which I found to be better for any flying enemies (like pterodactyls).
For some enemies, you will need to use your vehicles to do battle, which makes sense, as SAND LAND has always focused on travelling the desert in a different vehicle to ensure that they don’t struggle. Naturally, if you find yourself injured or tired, you can return to your camp, which consists of a campfire and water supplies. If you’re in battle, you can drink your bottle of water to replenish your health.
Outside of battle, you can’t drink water, but you can drive around. As you drive, you’ll be met with different dialogue between Rao, Thief, and Beelzebub. It showcases the relationship between the trio well. Upon returning to camp, you can rest at the campfire until morning, or until night.
To make it easier for you to navigate, the developers have given you a selection of different items to customise your vehicles and mech suit in the menu. All the items have different perks, so you can focus on strength, accuracy, and the like. Play around with the customisation menu, and you’ll be able to find different weapons and gear that will help you fight a variety of opponents.
All enemies are Level 15, to sync with Beelzebub’s level. If you’re fighting outside of some vehicles, you can get Rao and Thief to help out. Thief will throw a bomb at your enemies, and Rao will summon a mech to do a high-damage attack.
Overall, I thought that the SAND LAND demo showcases a good number of features that will persuade you to play the game. I love how they focused more on combat and gameplay, so I know that I’ll enjoy it when it comes out.
SAND LAND
You can try out the demo for yourself now. Remember, if you like it, don’t hesitate to pre-order it from us here at Fanatical.
