Sand Land, the anime, provides a much better experience than the game. The English voice acting in the game is lackluster, while the Japanese version offers a much better performance.
The anime delves deeper into character relationships and world-building compared to the game adaptation. The reviewer, who is not a hardcore fan of Akira Toriyama, had a passing knowledge of his work and never read the Sand Land manga.
Despite this, they reviewed the game assuming that it would stand alone as an approachable adaptation of the manga. However, the game didn’t live up to expectations due to mediocre English voice acting, poorly paced dialogue, and shallow character development.
The reviewer decided to watch the anime and found it to be far superior to the game in terms of cinematography, character relationships, and emotional and thematic impact. The anime also provided a more fleshed-out portrayal of the antagonists and better storytelling overall.
Despite initial skepticism, the reviewer found themselves surprisingly emotional after watching the anime in Japanese, emphasizing the significant difference in quality between the English and Japanese voice acting. Ultimately, the reviewer recommends watching the anime over playing the game, as it provides a better-crafted and more dynamic experience.
