Wizard of Oz has an interesting design and is a great looking game, but unfortunately falls into heavy repetition.
Wizard of Oz is closer to Witch's Tale than WEWY, doing many things in a refreshing way, but keeping base game mechanics in place. Unfortunately, also like Witch's Tale, the game has some shortcomings that mar the experience.
The good:
* Amazing visuals -- the 3d character models and environments look great! Some of the best 3d detail and animation you'll find on the DS
* Creative movement system -- You use a virtual trackball, spinning it with your stylus to control your character's direction and speed. Thankfully, it's not used for combat
* Creative combat system -- The game's combat is rote turn-based JRPG style (stats determine attack order, use weapons, magic, items, etc. one action per turn). The creativity is that you choose your actions in groups of 4 -- you may choose to have character #1 attack, #2 use a potion, #1 attack again, and #3 cast a buff spell. The battle then plays out the 4 turns for each side (your party and the enemy party). If the battle is not over, you choose 4 more turns.
* Decent classing system -- Your party of 4 each have strengths against certain monster types. So when fighting 4 of a certain monster, you may choose to have the same person with the right strengths attack 4 times while everyone else hangs back (and does not take damage). You can also outfit your party with equipment of certain class types, further enhancing combat tactics.
The not-so-good:
* Grinding -- If you march through the game's areas too quickly, you'll die quickly. Monsters regenerate on the main paths, so you'll need to retread back and forth to grind your levels up.
* Repetition... -- See Grinding, above... Because you will be grinding, you will fight the same monsters over and over.
* Level design -- The levels are each made up of a set number of maps, and each map in a level looks IDENTICAL. The maze structure differs, but visually, it's all the same. So you'll spend a good 1-2 hours seeing the same world over and over. Even though each level is a unique world (ice/wind/fire/etc.), there really is very little visually different, other than new monsters. You'll walk the same linear light-maze path over and over again.
As a whole, the game has a ton of promise, and is fun. But ultimately, the experience feels very shallow. The plot is rote from the story, is entirely linear, and each portion of the main quest is basically the same -- wander the path, fight bad guys, fight the boss, repeat. There's no real side questing or sense of "I wonder what comes next?"
It's worth trying, because it is so unique, just don't expect the world's most compelling experience.