Review: ‘Sand Land’ shows depth of ‘Dragon Ball’ creator’s imagination

'Sand Land' carries Toriyama’s unmistakable art style. It’s seen in everything from the character design to the vehicles. — Photos: Bandai Namco

Although the late Akira Toriyama is widely known for his work on Dragon Ball and its sequels, the artist and storyteller wasn’t limited to a single medium or creation. He’s responsible for crafting the visuals of legendary games such as Chrono Trigger and the Dragon Quest franchises, and he also created other projects such as Dr. Slump and a post-Dragon Ball Z work called Sand Land.

That latter effort never caught fire like Goku and company did, but Sand Land showed off his fertile imagination. Now, Bandai Namco has brought that world to life through an open-world adventure game of the same name. As the name implies, it takes place in a desert world where water is scarce. A greedy king sells the resource for an exorbitant amount.