Wizard Of Oz Preview: Partying Up With The Tin Man
Thank goodness the new Wizard of Oz game for the DS doesn’t closely follow the movie’s plot, because this reporter, who played the game recently, could never get through that movie.
What Is It?
The Wizard of Oz is a newly announced (today!) game for the DS coming this fall from publisher XSeed. It’s a turn-based 3D role-playing game that was released in Japan by developer Media Vision and publisher D3 as the anagrammatically challenged RIZ-ZOAWD. It is based loosely on L. Frank Baum’s book that was turned into a classic movie. Players explore a 3D overworld and participate in turn-based battles in a separate battle screen, as you’d expect a conventional DS Japanese RPG to work. No party attacks or summons in this one. All stylus control.
What We Saw
Before playing XSeed’s Half-Minute Hero and under secret embargo a couple of weeks ago, I took control of Dorothy at the start of the game, made sure she wasn’t in Kansas anymore, followed the Yellow Brick Road (how am I doing with the film references), learned to pet Toto and fight enemies made of jelly before finally finding the Airy Scarecrow and adding him to my party.
How Far Along Is It?
The game was released in Japan several months ago, but the build I played, localised into English was still on a development cartridge. It will be released in the fall.
What Needs Improvement?
Toto Involvement: I’m no Oz expert, as you can tell, so I’m unshackled from any desire for this video game adaptation to be true to L. Frank Baum’s book or the famous movie. So, let Toto fight. The poor dog is reduced to a follower, a poor-man’s Fable II dog that can be petted with the tap of the lower screen.
Trackball Movement: As potential Oz players can see from the screenshots, the lower screen is dominated by a simulated trackball. Flicking on it with the stylus works okay, but it feels like a control interface from the days of Super Mario 64 and, more specifically, Pac ‘N Roll. I’d have loved for D-pad controls if only to be able to input sustained movement instead of having to keep that trackball rolling.
What Should Stay The Same?
The Visuals of Oz: DS screenshots seldom look good anywhere but on a DS screen. So if you’re turned off by what you see in this post, don’t disregard the game’s looks. The game’s 3D graphics are comparable to the best on the system. Stylized 3D may still enable a cleaner look (see Zeldas on DS), but for something more conventionally rendered, Wizard of Oz on the DS is top-flight.
The Disregard For The Classics: Yes, you can get the Lion and the Tin Man in your party along with the Scarecrow. And you do meet Oz — or the guy playing him (should I have warned that a spoiler was coming?). But that Oz meeting happens within the first hour, after which the real goal of the game is to defeat four witches and fight lots of little creatures along the way. As this kind of long JRPG is not easily experienced in a five-minute demo, I didn’t see or play much of the adventure. But what I did see mixed the familiar trappings that even a non-Oz-watcher like me have heard of with a colorful array of enemies and locales.
Final Thoughts
People love the Wizard of Oz, and yet it remains one of the most popular pieces of adventure fiction to not have much of a presence in the gaming medium. There was a Super Nintendo Oz game. And maybe another one or two. But this DS game is a rarity. If you are into the fiction, it’s worth a look. For those who need a gameplay hook, I can’t say I saw anything distinct about how this game plays. Not yet.
And now, as I end the piece, am I supposed to make a joke about not being in Kansas anymore or there being no place like home? Forget it.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
@bableebooblah-new and improved.: No.
I'm tired of every old tale with even a hint of whimsy or childlike innocence being reworked as something dark, gothic, and quote-unquote "hardcore."
Alice in Wonderland did not need the American McGee treatment to make a good game. Neither does the Wizard of Oz.
Please go sit in the corner with your collection of Spawn comics and see if they're still as good as they were when you were fourteen.
I looooooooooooooove xseed! I didn't think anyone was gonna bring this awesome looking game out. should have realized xseed snags up all the awesome jrpgs :p
@bableebooblah-new and improved.: Where did this pic come from? If there's more I'd love to see them... awesome stuff
Jimstyle
I heard about this game a few months back and I never thought it would come to the U.S., but I'm happy now!
Is it weird that I really want this game?
Really.....cmon.
( Sorry I don't have anything horrible constructive to say but I'm just in shock...)
I had been wanting to get my hands on this when it was released overseas. I'm happy to see it coming to the States.
This is just crazy enough that it might work!
Then again, that's what I said about Eternal Sonata...
Then again again, I love MediaVision's stuff and I'm a ridiculous Wild Arms fan. I even love that Dorothy has little cowboy boots to match her impossibly embellished dress.
Apparently Michiko Naruke is even on soundtrack. Paired with Hitoshi Sakimoto! Damn, I hope the soundtrack lives up to that pair of composers.
@FanBuoy: Something tells me that long, wordy books would translate well to a JRPG.
@Archaotic: I love how you had nothing to contribute to this news story until somebody posted something tenuously linked to Square Enix so you could come out of the woodwork and rip on Square Enix again.
I played this game and enjoyed it.
djricekcn
@RyuuzakiBjorn: I hear ya dude.
Alice still makes my knees go weak and my hands tremble every time I think of her.
@RyuuzakiBjorn: That was actually going to be made (quite literally called American McGee's Oz) but the project had to be canceled for some reason.
nworobes
Could be pretty good, and I love the art style. Dorothy's design is goddamn adorable. There's actually a lot more to Oz than what was shown in the movie (since L Frank Baum wrote 13 Oz books), so there's lots of material for an RPG.
@gordiehowe5: Rather odd. One of the great classics. Why is he even writing this article if he hasn't even seen the film?
i'm glad this is coming to america!
doughboyx
American Mcgee's Wizard of Oz.
Now THAT would be my type of game...
But i'll settle for a DS RPG anyway.
@icepick314: Yeah, I think so, but based on the quality of everything he's made since Alice I don't care whether it happens or not anymore. :( Alice was pretty awesome though.
Defeating the tyrannical reign of the four witches (including the "good" ones)? Hell yes. Very interested.
[ZTF]NSF Operative
Wow, I wish they'd put more literary classics as JRPG's.
War of the Worlds anyone?
This game's sales are totally going to get buffed by parents who think the game will be great for their 4 year olds.
And I am completely okay with that :D Will be picking it up, so long as reviews don't turn out to be a mess.
@Vecha: Tired of America's Solution to Health Care.: Having played the demo of 13, I can pretty safely say that the battle system is better. All we have to do is just wait and make sure the story is worth its weight.
@MrGilder: Hopefully you played the import European version since it had full english, a 60hz option to play on NTSC, and even english voice acting by Johnny Yong Bosch and others. It's a really fun game.
@Archaotic:
I just hope the game is better than 12....I just NOW tried to get back into it...after hating it when I first tried it.
Still hate it.
its nice to see this posted now since I sent info about this game to Brian and Fahey but they didn't add it to Kotaku. :( Ohh well looking forward to this game I was just watching the movie about two days ago with the family.
"I'd have loved for D-pad controls if only to be able to input sustained movement instead of having to keep that trackball rolling."
Having played the Japanese version a bit, that trackball keeps on a rollin. It's not hard to get it going and in some cases actually requires less input than a d-pad would.
I say embrace the input. Embrace the Karamari Damacy's, and Warioware Twisted, and (insert wii waggle game here) of the world. And now the Rizoawd trackball. If you only ever got everything you wanted, you wouldn't get anything new.
IvanDashSmith
@spiderweb1986:
i was sooo looking forward to his version of Oz :( they even released action figures!!!
hipnotyq
About time we get some more traditional RPGs. I've honestly gotten kind of sick of SRPGs and other hybrids.
@Ursus-Veritas:
How much damage? OVER 9000!! (Come on, this was practically beggin for it)
@The Cap'n: I'm pretty sure the Oz books were sweet and charming at its roots. Sure, they're fairy tales, so there are a few parts that are scary (look at Hansel and Gretel, for christ's sake.
So while I'm pretty sure Return to Oz was pretty close to the stories from the books, I think the overall darkness of that movie was more due to the director's vision than to the source material.
I'm making this argument because it reminds of people who claim that if you look at Batman's roots, he was always very dark and serious. Which is patently false; if you look at his early years in the Golden Age of comics, he is about as serious as Superman's comics in Adventure comics. People are still in love with this whole anti-hero thing, and just can't stand the idea of Batman only really being one in the past couple decades. Sure, the 60s Batman show and the Joel Schumacher films were a little too far in the other direction, Batman was never really super dark and serious. And neither were the Oz books.
nworobes
@Giggers: HAHAHAHAHA Alice in Wonderland is NOT sweet and charming. unless you consider kidnapping and eating children to be sweet and charming.
Fil Vina
Still waiting on an Oz MMO just so that I can rush out and be the first person to start a Lollipop Guild Guild.
@(Zombie) Goldwings: Your posting this video just makes me PRAY Square doesn't fuck the victory fanfare up in 13 or Versus. I miss that song. :[
I'm really excited to play this. The Wild Arms franchise is my favorite RPG series, and it's really interesting to see Media Vision trying out something entirely new.
Honestly though, as far as the big picture is concerned, this just makes me want Konami's stylish Oz-realted 3D action game to get a belated US release.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Etheria
The link to Oz is tenuous at best, but I played the import of this many many moons ago, and it left a lasting impression.
@it was canceled in 2004.
spiderweb1986
I was really fond of the text-based Oz adventure game for the Apple ][. Hard as hell to get the right phrase for what you wanted to do, as is the norm for those games, but still great fun, with funny graphics and great little tunes.
@spiderweb1986: I'm going to guess that the game has utilized artistic license and said that there's both a "good" and a "wicked" witch for each direction.
RealmRPGer
@Piccoroz:
@(Zombie) Goldwings: Dorothy summons wet toto, toto shakes, the witch is hit, it's super effective!!
Dorothy summons a house, the witch can't run.
Critical hit, The witch is flatened.
@Giggers:
if only video games can give a darkside to big nintendo games out there like mario or zelda.
i think it would be great to see the truth about mario; a drug addicted south bronx italian plumber who relentlessly tries to save a girl so he will not die alone in life.
bableebooblah-new and improved.
@Ursus-Veritas: COUNTER ATTACK!
Accursed Red Brick casts "Huff & Puff"!
Dorothy was blinded by rubble!
@The Cap'n: It worked for Alice.
If it gets decent reviews, i'll pick this one up. I really enjoyed the Oz books as a kid.
wasn't there going to be McGee's Oz?
@KillerBee: Maybe there's more magic in those ruby red slipper than we first thought?
bwwardiii
@spiderweb1986: no, it has to be the lollipop guild. *shivers*
@Stephen Totilo: Alice in Wonderland was sweet and charming too, and look what video games did to that.
Giggers
An Oz video game? No freaking way. That's awesome. Too bad it's only for the DS, apparently?
@(Zombie) Goldwings: Ah, but Dorothy's Red shoes are a celestial weapon, and have the break damage limit ability - doing over 9,999 damage!
TAKE THAT ACCURSED RED BRICKS!!
Do I get to drop a house on the wicked witch of the West? That's all I want to know.
AncientUnknown1
@Paradox me:
israel kamakawiwo'ole is so fat he sat on a rainbow and skittles popped out.
bableebooblah-new and improved.
@Stephen Totilo:
yes, but it would just make the story more fresh if they took a new look upon it.
bableebooblah-new and improved.
...what?
Actually it might work for an RPG.
Dorothy's party encounters 3 accursed red bricks.
Scarecrow uses "Hay-fever"
Tin Man initiates "broken heart"
Cowardly Lion is too scared to fight
Dorothy uses "ultra red shoes attack"
....
on second thought, I can't really tell how this will work out and it looks like Mr Totilo didn't get too much out of his playtime other than it looks awesome.
Game concept like these are rare indeed, so I will definitely put this on my "ones to watch" list.
@The Cap'n: And I think a dark reinvention of Oz in video game form might not be such a bad idea...
@Stephen Totilo: Maybe that's true, but it's not sweet and charming at its roots. Look up Return to Oz sometime. It's based on 2 of Frank Baum's books and brings out a whole other side of his works.
It's about time American McGee made a new...
errr... wait, nevermind.
Seriously though, wasn't American McGee doing a game based on Oz?
NeoStarr HD
@KillerBee:
as what i can see in the pic above i think she sets toto on fire and throws him at her enemies, and looks surprised like solid snake.
bableebooblah-new and improved.
Four witches? Either they're going to be improvising directions for the witches to represent (the slightly evil witch of the southeast?), or you're going to be fighting Glinda. She may be a "good" fairy, but I'll bet she packs a mean punch with that giant floating bubble.
As for the movie...it's okay, Stephen. It was those creepy flying monkeys, wasn't it?
spiderweb1986
@Paradox me: Forgot the video!
@bableebooblah-new and improved.: Why? Isn't the Wizard of Oz beloved because it's sweet and charming?
You've never seen the entire movie in one sitting? That just seems odd.
gordiehowe5
Hmm, I was just listening to Over The Rainbow and now this article.
This sounds interesting though, especially as an RPG. Looking forward to seeing more.
This seems like such an odd video game tie in.
It sounds like they has a turn-based JRPG in the works and slapped the Wizard of Oz on top of it.
What in the hell is Dorothy going to attack with? Her basket?
if only it looked like this
bableebooblah-new and improved.
Kind of an odd title to be bringing out these days, I assume there is probably a market for it though.