If you don’t know Sand Landknow that this is a one-shot / manga by the great Akira Toriyama, father of Dragon Ball, which was released in 2000. 24 years later, the franchise made its return to the big screen (read our impressions of the feature film), but not only that. A series has also seen the light of day, and a video game is coming to our shelves. ILCA (Dragon Quest XI, One Piece Odyssey) was therefore responsible for the video game adaptation and, at first glance, the title is enough to titillate. We have finished this adventure, it is now time to give you our verdict. So, nice or not?
It’s fluid and vibrant!
Let’s start with the visual part. First of all, note that the developers do not give the choice of rendering. Indeed, when we go to the settings, there is no “Quality” or “Performance” in sight. However, what does that give? Well it’s very beautiful. The resolution is high, the textures are sharp (same in the background), and the frame rate is stable, the game runs at around 60 fps. It’s fluid and vibrant, what more could you ask for? In addition, we feel the graphic touch of the Japanese studio, there is a certain similarity with the assets from Dragon Quest XI.
The modeling of the characters is spot on and perfectly reflects the style of the deceased master. The firm pronounced the black outlines by adding lines here and there to create a typical manga/animated image. In addition, we drag our feet in a rather well-realized open world; well at the same time, it’s not complicated because we are immersed in a desert world. Strong point of this production, the play of light and shadow. It’s bright and flashy, sublime! Unfortunately, imperfections are present. First of all, we encountered collision bugs and a few crashes. While simply walking through a valley, the game crashed. These flaws will certainly be refined over time via patches.
Concerning the soundtrack, we have chants in line with the universe. The notes smell of adventure and become excited when we enter a more intense phase. The dubbing is either in English or Japanese. It is clearly a shame not to have French voices for better immersion. And for good reason, our heroes talk (a lot) during our escapades and our confrontations, so if you are not bilingual, can’t focus on subtitles. Another point, the translation leaves something to be desired, there are numerous alterities between the languages. To be more explicit, Beelzebub is vulgar in Japanese (at the same time, he’s a demon) and is more calm in French. The character loses his charm as a result.