IGN writes: "At first glance you might assume that The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road is just a random piece of licensed shovelware. You'd be wrong. XSEED again adds depth to its US publishing repertoire with this surprisingly fun role-playing experience, complete with stylus-only controls that are actually fun, and gameplay that's simple enough for newcomers while still being deep enough for open-minded hardcore players too. The game loses a little while it walks the line between every-gamer and die-hard though, so for every neat mechanic there's also an overwhelming feel of repetitious "ease-in" throughout the game. The ratio and elemental system are both nice additions, but they're also a bit shallow. The battle system is fun, but nearly every fight feels similar in strategy and execution. The world is inspired, but then ultimately pretty two dimensional and formulaic. If you're looking for a laid back RPG to sink into, or want a simple game to get younger players into the genre, Oz has you covered; otherwise there are far deeper offerings on the system".
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.
