Compared to many RPGs, it's a disappointingly shallow experience. Abilities and stats are beyond your control, doled out at each level-up. The most you can do is add one weapon and one piece of armour to each of your warriors – sold to you by the Wizard himself. Oz may be beautiful and occasionally inventive, but it doesn't delve deep enough into the original story to be a satisfying adaptation, or far enough into RPG territory to make up for it. A pretty game, but mostly insubstantial.
gamrReview's Xavier Griffiths: "Movie tie-in games have a reputation for being notoriously bad and shoddy, doing both a disservice to the original film and videogames as a medium. More often than not the movies that get adapted into videogames are high octane, action-oriented summer blockbusters and the aim is simply to extract as much money from the market as possible. Realistically no one expects games based on trashy films such as Catwoman, The Cat in the Hat, or Eragon to be good in the first place, but what about games based on films that have garnered recognition for the highest award in cinema?"
A list saluting horribly wonderful movie games like Street Fighter: The Movie and The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road.
In a cluttered RPG market on the DS there isn't any real reason to recommend The Wizard of Oz. The new story is generic, the exploration hampered by unnecessary backtracking and the dreaded locked door puzzles. An interesting combat system is ruined by the default party actions and clunky menu navigation. This certainly isn't what L. Frank Baum had in mind, there aren't even any flying monkeys.
