RPGFan writes: "When I first heard that Media.Vision was making an RPG based on The Wizard of Oz, I'll admit - I was skeptical. The Wizard of Oz is so dear to my heart and connected to my childhood in such a way that I was worried a video game might not be able to do it justice. However, when I popped in my copy and watched the opening screen where my four beloved characters (along with Toto) were dancing invitingly to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," I immediately felt at ease. The magic that I experienced as a child was still intact and I felt like a giddy little kid all over again. I'll confess, it was a huge nostalgic moment. But more importantly, as I played on, I discovered that The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road (YBR) was not only a solid title, but it also ignited a spark in me that recent DS titles failed to create."
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.
