[NDS] The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road - By Teserut

Game: The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road
Japanese name: Riz-Zoawd (acronym of Wizard-Oz)
Platform: NDS
Release Date: September 30, 2009
Developer: Media Vision
Publisher: XSEED Games
Composer: Hitoshi Sakimoto & Michiko Naruke
Rating: E-Everyone

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Well here we go. My first game review and hopefully not a bad one. The game i have chosen to review is The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road, a game based on Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (A book i own and have read many times). My own personal view on the game is that it is an excellent addition to the already magnificent library of DS rpgs.

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The game Starts with a Witch, writing in a blank book. After a short sequence of events, the protagonist (Dorothy) and her pet (Toto) wind up in a mystical far away land which we all know to be, the Land of Oz. Before Dorothy can utter a word she is ambushed by a large shadowy figure, which introduces himself as the Wizard of Oz! The Wizard gives Dorothy a mystical pair of ruby slippers which allow her to move around in this mystical land. The Wizard dissapears giving her only the instruction to follow the yellow brick road! *que cheesy music and singing*. Along the road she meets a scarecrow who wishes only for a brain, a lion who wishes to be fierce and scary and a tin man who (we can assume) wishes only for a heart. Once all party members are acquired the Wizard instructs the party to journey to the four different lands surrounding the castle, collecting magical eggs to defeats the 4 witches.

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Now onto the gameplay. To move Dorothy and Toto around the mystical land we use a system called the "track ball". To use the track ball a player slides the stylus along the green ball on the touch screen, faster to run or at a slower to walk. At first it seems slow and unresponsive but as gameplay progresses it can be looked past easily. Inside of Oz's castle the party can be healed, and items can be bought.

Next is the combat. The combat is a quite unique system partly blending the combat systems of dragon quest (the first few) and fallout (the first and second). From the four characters (Dorothy, Scarecrow, Lion and Tin man) each uses a certain number of actions. In total you have 4 action slots, Dorothy and Scarecrow use 1 action, Lion uses 2 and Tin man uses 3. you can mix and match your characters actions according to to the types of enemy you are facing. Each character beats a certain type of monster, Dorothy beats ghost, Scarecrow beats water, Lion beats shell and Tin man beats Forest. Like most rpgs the game features an experience levelling system, nothing to new but for fans of the rpg genre it will suffice. Special abilities that use up mp can also be acquired, such as healing and enhanced fleeing and attacking moves. One of the more annoying parts of the combat is what happens when an ally is on low hp, when a party member is not using up an action slot she/it does not take damage. So you can take them out of the battle sort of. The AI that sets up your action slots often takes this oppurtunity to try to heal the ally. A few button presses and your back to being on the offense but nevertheless, people who rush to attack may neglect to see this healing and end up being one attack short of the finisher.

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The graphics are quite good to say the least, a fully 3D rendered environment including monsters and npcs. Though the graphics are a bit choppy, for the DS they are almost evenly matched with kingdom hearts 358/2 days. When fighting, the party is not seen. Only the monsters, and the attacks used on the monsters/party are seen.

Moving on to the sound. The sounds and music heard in the game are one of my favourite parts of this game. Sounds to suit slashing or bashing accompany you in combat. When venturing around on the road or on the world map, whimsical and wonderous music are used to portray the magical land that awaits you.

So the final score.

Graphics: 9/10 Full 3D as i said a little bit choppy, but thats to be expected for the ds.

Gameplay: 8.5/10 Your generic, traditional turn based rpg with strategy elements. I like it alot but i believe this is a fitting score.

Sound: 9.5/10 What i would expect from most new gen non-handheld consoles. Probably my favourite part of this game

Replayability: 7/10 Not the best part of the game, There are a few sidequests and areas to be explored but not much else.

Presentation: 9/10 In the style of a story book, much like MAR or the Spirit (only the spirit was in the style of a comic book)

So to count up the totals, we get 43/50

So there we go, my first review, hopefully not a bad one. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed making it

 

good review but i believe graphics and sound are 7/10 but its ok

 

there aren't many games on the DS that have better graphics than this. And the sound was pretty awesome, i couldn't really find anything wrong with it.