Full Review:
Today I would like to review “Find your way to Oz”, a unique visual and interactive experience available to users of the web browser program Google Chrome. I have long been a Googletonian, and for several months now I have been a denizen of the land of Chrome. Chrome has a suite of apps available to users in their version of the app store, called the Chrome Web Store. But don’t get too excited. 99% of the apps in the web store are nothing more than glorified hyperlinks. It is a browser after all. What I’m writing about today is no different; you can access “Find your way to Oz” at the website findyourwaytooz.com, but of course you must get there using Google Chrome, and not Explorer. I couldn’t tell you about FireFox. I should also point out here that to get the full experience you will need a web cam.
In a nutshell “Find your way to Oz” is a mildly interactive jaunt through an early 20th century circus, the one from which the wizard of Oz is supposed to have come from. You have the choice to go through the site on a higher or lower graphics level, and I’ll go ahead and tell you right now that that this is essentially all about the graphics, so don’t bother with the lower setting. Once inside the site, you can explore the circus with your mouse, controlling a camera that has a very fluid motion. The experience is linear, and the camera is essentially on a track, so you don’t have 360° of view, but you do have a little bit of control.
As I said this is all about the graphics. The visual look of the circus is absolutely thrilling and immersive. The level of detail to the set pieces, such as signs and carnival tents, is nothing short of excellent. There are no people anywhere, and between that and some of the visuals the experience is a little creepy. But that isn’t too big of a deal, and the mood only adds to the highly immersive feel of the carnival. The graphical awesomeness was done in some very technical bit of html 5 programming that I couldn’t even begin to explain, but you can read about that here if that interests you.
There are some small interactive elements to the site that I thought were quite creative. You can click on some of the posters and signs around the carnival to view an alternate, very Oz like version. You can have your web cam take a picture of you, and then place it in some of those photo opp stands that you find in real life that have a hole cut out for you to stick your head through. In one place, you can tweak a repeating carnival song anyway you like. And in the highlight of the site you can create a short movie using a series of stills from your web cam. That last part is a little creepy too, but novel nonetheless. The experience ends with a trip into the twister that is supposedly interactive, but I’m not sure that it actually is. All in all there is not much to do in “Find your way to Oz”, but I appreciate that the creators put in something more than just the fascinating visuals.
I found the whole thing to be quite a neat little experience, but it is exceedingly short. I would doubt that it would take more than ten minutes to go through. The graphical wizardry (no pun intended) is, in my opinion, breathtaking, but given how much fun it is to go through a carnival in this way I found it to be a serious let down when it all ends. However, for the short escape into another world that it is, I feel impressed and hopeful that they will do something more extensive in the future, perhaps for the new Star Wars movies, or other story rich property. I would recommend this to anyone, so what are you waiting for? Go find your own way to the magical land of Oz!
The Summary: Worth ten minutes of your time, but don’t expect too much out of this very short but well done experience. Also, its a bit creepy in places, but not overly so.
In a nutshell “Find your way to Oz” is a mildly interactive jaunt through an early 20th century circus, the one from which the wizard of Oz is supposed to have come from. You have the choice to go through the site on a higher or lower graphics level, and I’ll go ahead and tell you right now that that this is essentially all about the graphics, so don’t bother with the lower setting. Once inside the site, you can explore the circus with your mouse, controlling a camera that has a very fluid motion. The experience is linear, and the camera is essentially on a track, so you don’t have 360° of view, but you do have a little bit of control.
As I said this is all about the graphics. The visual look of the circus is absolutely thrilling and immersive. The level of detail to the set pieces, such as signs and carnival tents, is nothing short of excellent. There are no people anywhere, and between that and some of the visuals the experience is a little creepy. But that isn’t too big of a deal, and the mood only adds to the highly immersive feel of the carnival. The graphical awesomeness was done in some very technical bit of html 5 programming that I couldn’t even begin to explain, but you can read about that here if that interests you.
There are some small interactive elements to the site that I thought were quite creative. You can click on some of the posters and signs around the carnival to view an alternate, very Oz like version. You can have your web cam take a picture of you, and then place it in some of those photo opp stands that you find in real life that have a hole cut out for you to stick your head through. In one place, you can tweak a repeating carnival song anyway you like. And in the highlight of the site you can create a short movie using a series of stills from your web cam. That last part is a little creepy too, but novel nonetheless. The experience ends with a trip into the twister that is supposedly interactive, but I’m not sure that it actually is. All in all there is not much to do in “Find your way to Oz”, but I appreciate that the creators put in something more than just the fascinating visuals.
I found the whole thing to be quite a neat little experience, but it is exceedingly short. I would doubt that it would take more than ten minutes to go through. The graphical wizardry (no pun intended) is, in my opinion, breathtaking, but given how much fun it is to go through a carnival in this way I found it to be a serious let down when it all ends. However, for the short escape into another world that it is, I feel impressed and hopeful that they will do something more extensive in the future, perhaps for the new Star Wars movies, or other story rich property. I would recommend this to anyone, so what are you waiting for? Go find your own way to the magical land of Oz!
A few screen shots:
The Summary: Worth ten minutes of your time, but don’t expect too much out of this very short but well done experience. Also, its a bit creepy in places, but not overly so.
