The Wizard Of Oz: Beyond The Yellow Brick Road

The Wizard of Oz is a beautiful, lighthearted, and fresh RPG for the DS--and it's a game that I believe both RPG newbies and veterans can enjoy. The game starts much like the original book/movie. Dorothy and Toto have been sucked up into a tornado and dumped in a new land. They travel the Yellow Brick Road, picking up the Strawman, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man along the way, as they travel toward Oz. Once they get to Oz, the premise diverges from the original tale, as Dorothy and the gang are entreated to travel the land and gather all of the magical eggs in various witches' kingdoms, so that Oz can be the ruler of the kingdom. And so a series of quests begins and the real story of this game begins to unfold...

The gameplay in Oz is quite straightforward overall. You use a trackball system on the touchscreen to control Dorothy as she makes her way down various paths. You can control her speed and direction, just in case you want to avoid a particular enemy at a particular time, and being able to affect her speed is important for making necessary backtracking quick and painless. As Dorothy and the gang travel down these paths, they'll encounter many enemies, which you will need to battle to proceed and to level up your team. You use the touch screen to interact with objects, select battle commands, and even teach Toto a few new tricks. The entire game is touchscreen controlled, which makes for a smooth and seamless experience. It feels very natural, once you get used to it.

The battle system is simple but works well. Certain characters have certain affinities, so they do better battling certain types of enemies. For instance, Dorothy is best against ghosts, Strawman is best against aquatic enemies, the Lion is best against shell-based enemies, and the Tin Man is best against plant-based enemies. The game also uses a ratio system, so that the more powerful a character, the fewer times they can be used in battle per turn. It makes a lot of sense and makes battles more interesting--which is good, since you'll have many, many short battles and some lengthier boss battles throughout this game.

The most complex part of the game is navigational, as there are many paths to take (and you'll want to keep track of which paths you've taken and what's there). The game provides signposts, which you can mark with your own system of symbols using icons that are provided (whatever makes sense to you), so that you can keep track of such things, but I wound up making a few maps/notes on my own as well. You'll often encounter gates or obstructions that can only be cleared through the use of various switches, and most of these switches can be triggered only with the appropriate elemental (little spirits of fire, earth, water, and wind that you'll pick up along the way). You'll sometimes have to do some backtracking to open gates after you've gotten the appropriate elemental. But again, because you can move quickly, as long as you keep track of where you're going, backtracking is relatively painless--and often quite fun, actually.

Finally, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, this game is beautiful. The environments are vibrant and lush, and all of the characters and enemies are colorful as well. This is probably the most graphically gorgeous DS game I've ever played. The soundtrack is very fitting as well, and it's not annoying, which is important since you'll be hearing a lot of it. I easily sank 20-25 hours into it before beating the game, and this one's a keeper as I expect to come back to it and tie up a few loose ends.

Overall, this is a fun RPG that is accessible to beginners but also interesting enough for experienced gamers.

I bought this game on a whim and I must say I'm not disappointed with my choice. The game is surprisingly entertaining and overall charming.

The graphics are on the high standards for the DS. The charcters are colorful and wacky as you'd expect from a fantasy story. The battle system is done in first person and you can switch out party members as you please though it's a bit more complicated as a member of your party takes up a certain amount of battle slots and you have 4 battle slots in total. ie: Dorothy and Scarecrow: 1; Lion: 2 and Tinman: 3. So you can have lets say Dorothy attack twice and Lion attack once.

As for the story. There are a few complaints that this game is nothing like Wizard of Oz and that it is crappy because of that. I'll say this: yes it isn't like the original story in any sense. You aren't going to get a carbon copy of the book or film. It is BASED on The Wizard of Oz. I use the term 'based' loosely. The beginning is close to the story as you play Dorothy following the yellow brick road towards the Castle of OZ, meeting up with Scarecrow, Lion and Tinman on the way (you have to battle and win against them before they join your party). Once you get to the castle is where the story sort of deviates quite a bit. There are four witches that you must defeat in order to help the Wiz and in return he will grant your wishes and thus you are sent out in OZ to defeat the four witches (The mother South and her three daughters: North, East and West. All follows a specific season theme too which I though was cute.)

Overall it is a fun game to play if you are looking for something simple and easy. I recommend it for the younger players.

I love XSeed as a developer, as they take risks and produce gems like Retro Game Challenge and Little King's Story. This game is no exception. A turn-based role-playing game (RPG), you start as Dorothy and are soon joined by the Tin Man, Scarecrow, and the Lion. You explore different levels and different bizarrely themed enemies, collecting armor and weapons for the different characters.

This game is good for beginners and RPG veterans alike. It starts off a wee bit slow, but picks up fairly quickly. The maps can be difficult to navigate and somewhat tiresome the first time through. As you level up the enemies get easier and you can grind through older levels to pick up extra money and then buy better items.

Overall, this is an overlooked gem that is well worth a playthrough.