The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road Hands-On

The beloved tale of a young girl with ruby red shoes and her loyal canine companion makes its way to the Nintendo DS. The magic and wonder of Oz are included, and the story--with some creative modifications--unfolds like a colorful children's storybook. We had the opportunity to play The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show when it was called Riz-Zoawd, and we were captivated by the beautiful visuals on the handheld, even though we didn't understand a word of what was going on in the game. Now, Xseed Games is bringing the charming role-playing game to a wider audience in North America, and we got a chance to run loose around the wonderful world of Oz and take in the lush scenery.

The game begins with Dorothy and her dog Toto, who are suddenly swept away by a tornado to a magical land ruled by a powerful wizard. For those familiar with the tale, the main points of the story and some of the characters are the same, but don't expect this to be an accurate retelling. Along the yellow brick road, Dorothy meets a brainless scarecrow, a cowardly lion, and a towering tin man, and together, they venture deeper into Oz to help the bizarre disembodied wizard so that he will grant them their wishes. The wizard instructs Dorothy and her band of warriors to defeat the four witches that have been causing trouble in Oz. First, she must weaken the witches by collecting eggs at various locations before she can infiltrate their castle and send them packing. As Dorothy, you spend most of your time exploring the wonderfully decorated world, fighting, and picking up coins to level up and upgrade your equipment.

The Wizard of Oz is a simple and linear turn-based RPG. Oz's castle acts as your hub, where you can heal your hit points and magic points, as well as buy equipment, buy items, and save your progress. We were told that the save system is being worked on because, at this point, you can only save at the castle, and your progress is lost if you don't beat a stage. Each area you visit is split into several levels, and the only way to clear the stage is to reach the end by finding the right path. As the story progresses, new locations will be made available to you on the overworld map.

Exploration is a bit limited in Oz because you're essentially running along a set track until you hit an intersection, almost like a maze. Finding the correct path in each stage is fairly straightforward, especially with the help of sign posts. To prevent you from needlessly backtracking and getting lost, there are sign posts in which you can assign a symbol to indicate what's farther down that path. You're given a handful of symbols--such as Xs, Os, hearts, and exclamation marks--but they're enough to let you mark down which path leads to a dead end. This is a great way to keep track of your progress because you won't have access to a map during your travels.

What's interesting about The Wizard of Oz is that all of your interactions are accomplished through the touch screen. You will never need to use the buttons at all. Dorothy is controlled via a trackball on the touch screen, so you'll be using the stylus to swipe the big green ball to determine her direction and speed. This is a unique idea, except that constantly flicking the screen can get tiresome. Enemies are seen onscreen and will chase after you , but you can avoid them by quickly running behind them. The turn-based battles take place in the first-person view, similar to Dragon Quest. However, in battle, you get up to four commands per turn. After each round, you can choose whom you want to fight next, which gives you the option to remove characters that are low on health to safety. Dorothy and the Scarecrow each take up one slot, but because the Lion and Tin Man hit harder, the Lion takes up two turns and the Tin Man takes up three. Another thing to keep in mind is that monsters are classified under different types, and each character has his or her own strengths against a certain genre of beast. For example, Dorothy is strong against ghosts, so if you come across any floating phantoms, it's a good idea to put Dorothy in the lineup. Some light strategy is involved, but it's not too taxing from what we encountered.

As you're running through flower gardens and a forest of cherry blossoms, it's impossible to ignore the stunning visuals that have been placed on the DS. No matter where you go, there's plenty of detail in the background and even in the characters themselves, from Dorothy's layered blue-and-black dress to the Scarecrow's guitar. The artwork and character designs are extremely well done, and Hitoshi Sakimoto's playful score brings the adventure to life with its catchy themes and whimsical melodies.

With so many great RPGs already to choose from on the DS, it looks like The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road has a good chance of being a part of that growing list. So far, the game is on the easy side, but everything--including the story, visuals, and music--is so endearing that it's hard to put it down. While the gameplay doesn't push the genre forward by any means, it's done extremely well, and it's fun. It allows newcomers to easily jump in and play, but it also allows others to experiment with depth and strategy. We look forward to bringing you the full review when the game is released on September 29.