Sands of Destruction
By Alex Porter,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Japanese anime role-playing epic with fantasy violence.
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What’s It About?
SANDS OF DESTRUCTION follows the story of a humble, country boy, Kyrie, who has an innate \"gift\" of destruction he's unable to harness. He's called upon by the World Annihilation Front, a faction of anarachists who are at odds with the beast-like Ferals that have enslaved humanity. You and your team will take on a series of creatures, bosses, and enemies in caves, prisons, dungeons, and swamps. Random encouters are spinkled heavily throughout. During battles, players select actions from a menu screen (e.g., \"attack,\" \"defend,\" and \"run\") to defeat enemies, which earns them money, items, and experience points. They can then customize and upgrade their characters in nearly infinite combinations.
Is It Any Good?
For fans of Japanese RPG games, this is a solid entry. Sands of Destruction offers standard, turn-based battling, a linear, well-told story, and lots of data and attributes around each character that can be endlessly tweaked. The story and somewhat fiddly style of play go hand-in-hand, so players need to have an appetite - and patience - for both. For newcomers to the genre, the experience can be at first daunting and then immersive, as narrative, character, and music are all really well presented. Overall, this is a solid if not especially original game.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the story and how the world is divided into rival races, one who has enslaved the other. Are there parallels in our world?
The story here has a group determined to blow up the world in order to save it. Do you think terrorists in our world have the a similar view?
This game is familiar to many Japanese RPGs and yet has some unique features. Families can talk about how the game differs from others of the genre and whether these differences are assets or liabilities.
Game Details
- Platform: Nintendo DS
- Available online?: Not available online
- Publisher: Sega of America
- Release date: January 20, 2009
- Genre: Role-Playing
- ESRB rating: T for Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
- Last updated: August 31, 2016
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