Ubisoft has canceled its free-to-play survival shooter Tom Clancy's The Division Heartland, three years after it's reveal.
07.05.2024 - 14:17 / thesixthaxis.com
The bountiful creations of the late Akira Toriyama are household names, but you won’t find any of his most well-known characters in Sand Land. His lesser-known graphic novel has remained a footnote when compared to Dragon Ball Z’s prodigious success, but it’s clear that someone out there thinks that now is Sand Land’s time, with the arrival of a movie, an animated series, and a video game adaptation, all in the last six months. This multi-format assault showcases that the genius of Akira Toriyama extended far beyond the Dragon Balls, and while it might have taken a long time coming, it was well worth the wait.
The titular Sand Land is a kingdom beset by a great drought, leaving a barren, desolate sandpit where humans and demons alike struggle to survive. While the humans here eke out an existence amongst the sand, the long-lived demons struggle just as much without water to sustain them. They come in all shapes and sizes – from ghosts to slime monsters and the occasional centaur – and humanity is as terrified of them as you’d expect. Lucifer is at the head of this mischievous menagerie, but his son and heir, Beelzebub, is the star of Sand Land.
Sheriff Rao convinces Beelzebub – Belz to his friends – to join him on a quest for the Legendary Spring, hoping to bring water to all the residents of Sand Land. Beelzebub opts to bring the wise and curmudgeonly Thief along with them, and this trio form the heart of your adventure, their journey and their shared experiences forming an unlikely bond between them.
This is all helped by the excellent voice acting from both the Japanese cast and their English dub cohort, and the central protagonists from the anime reprise their roles here too. Risa Mei manages to make Beelzebub a genuinely likeable central character, while Joanthon Lipow lends Rao a true sense of gravitas and emotional depth. The star of the show though remains Owen Thomas’ Thief, whose constant complaints could have become annoying if handled differently. I found myself rooting for the team from the very beginning, and there’s a high chance you will too.
Sand Land is a compact open-world adventure, and I really appreciated its relatively streamlined storytelling, with a run time of around 20 hours. That’s helped by the fact that the Sand Land manga is a single, self-contained volume, though Akira added new characters and events that appear here and in the new anime.
Early on in the tale you steal a tank, and vehicular combat forms a major part of the game’s action, blasting enemies and parts of the scenery to smithereens as you head to your next destination. It all feels very similar to Halo’s excellent on-wheel combat, and as your garage expands to include an ever-wider and wilder selection of
Ubisoft has canceled its free-to-play survival shooter Tom Clancy's The Division Heartland, three years after it's reveal.
reviews have begun to pour in after the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel’s celebrated premiere. Its Rotten Tomatoes score suggests another enjoyable entry by George Miller, having attained significant critical acclaim already.
The Game Boy – Nintendo Switch Online app will add has added Alleyway, Baseball, and Super Mario Land, Nintendo announced.
When it comes to video games, it's Samurai season. Medieval Japan is no stranger to the medium; From Okami and Onimusha to Tenchu and Total War, the setting has been explored in poetic and punchy ways before. But a few popular recent games have brought renewed interest in sword saints and shinobis. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice established the ethos of a modern action game set in Japan's tumultuous past, and Ghost of Tsushima refined the open-world, action-adventure genre for a Samurai story.
Hi-Fi Rush fans are currently leaving tons of positive reviews on the game's Steam page, marking another community-driven instance of reverse-review bombing. The occurrence follows parent company Xbox's decision to shutter Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks.
Like a lot of people, I played the incredible cat-driven adventure game Stray back in 2022, and also like a lot of people, I came away wishing that the whole game was just a simply, atmospheric cat simulator like the opening hours had been. I loved scratching trees and hopping across balconies, but as soon as the game introduced coloured keys and nuanced NPCs I lost interest. Little Kitty, Big City is a game that’s laser focused on delivering that wandering cat power fantasy I had been dreaming of.
Dambuster Studios, the studio behind Dead Island 2, has good news for the game regarding its future. Dead Island 2 has been through a lot, even before release, but it seems things are looking up.
iFi Audio is one of the biggest names in the audiophile space. Its products routinely make best-of lists and push the limits on sound quality, features, and power for their size. We’ve put its latest product, the iFi GO Bar Kensei through its paces, seeing just what it has to offer over the original GO Bar. It’s a tiny, very pocketable DAC/amp that puts out a surprising amount of power — enough for most over-ear headphones, let alone in-ear monitors (IEMs) — and supports advanced features like sound customization with filters and its own X-Bass and X-Space enhancements, as well as JVCKENWOOD’s K2HD upscaling tech. It exists on the high end of the dongle DAC price spectrum, but if you want an audiophile experience on the go, it delivers.
After Sony U-turned on its controversial decision to force Helldivers 2 PC gamers to account link to PlayStation Network, the game’s community has launched an initiative to drag Steam user reviews out from under rock bottom.
What a week it has been, with the sun finally showing its face again after a chilly April for the UK. We’ve still had plenty of time to play games though, and I’ve been continuing to plug away at Fallout 4 and No Rest for the Wicked, as well as taking some time to chill out with Endless Ocean: Luminous which is just a little bit too calm for its own good. Besides that I’ve made a start on Sand Land for our review which will appear after the weekend.
Editor's Note: Our first NordVPN review was published back in 2017, but after significant updates we've revisted the review.
A brand new has emerged, showing how the radiation-riddled world is beautiful and dangerous