Dark Arena

"Are You Ready to Step into the DARK ARENA?"

Dark Arena, one of those many first-person shooters coming out of nowhere for the Game Boy Advance. It might be hard to tell them apart, and only interested in getting one. So what does this one have that the others don't? Well, assuming that someone actually chose to read this review, I'll get started.

Story 7/10
Dark Arena has that creepy sort of story where you're conveniently left alone with a horde of blood-hungry monsters obsessed with killing, and you're the only one left. The difference here is that you're in space, and these things were created for the purpose of killing. They were made for training exercises, but due to the ignorance of man, someone screwed up (it's kind of the rule of sci-fi stories that a serious computer error or something has to occur to allow for the massacre to begin) and of course, being trained to kill, the monsters did, wiping out the whole crew. You are sent with a team to investigate, and ambushed, leaving you to take them all on yourself.
Can you succeed when everyone else to this point has met a bloody, violent, hideous, gruesome, horrific, terrifying end?

Graphics 8/10
The graphics are clear and allow you to easily see what's going on. The enemies never become distorted and no glitches in the graphics occur, at least to my knowledge. For a handheld, they're pretty good. The character sprites look pretty cool, and the design for the final boss is bad-ass.

Sound 8/10
Nothing creeps me out more than when I'm walking down the halls and I hear some freakish sound coming out of nowhere. Seriously, those sounds are ****ing creepy. I don't like it, it makes me nervous. And paranoid. Though I usually am. The sounds of the monsters as you approach them can make you a bit cautious, and certainly adds to the overall dark theme of the game. The voice you hear of the main character whenever you start a new stage is also very clear and sounds great.

Music 3/10
There is no music. Not while you're playing through the levels. Needless to say, that causes it to lose some points. As for the opening and ending music, it's pretty good at presenting the feel of the game. The few tracks they included were good, but, like I said, that's really not very many.

Controls 8/10
It's a first-person shooter, so you should be able to pick it up and play it pretty quickly. There's no jump ability, but you can strafe in this game, so that adds to the strategy.

Challenge 10/10
You have three difficulty settings to choose from, each with a different ending you can get. The game doesn't start out to hard on the easy setting, while it can get rather tough on the hardest difficulty, which make this a great game for novices and pros alike.

Gameplay 7/10
This is a pretty fun shooter, but it's got its own advantages compared to others. The weapons are pretty cool and varied, which makes it fun, especially with the infinite ammo code on. The challenge it can provide makes you want to keep coming back to make yourself better, and the stages are different enough to keep it from seeming repetitive.

Replay 7/10
With three endings for each difficulty level, it gives you reason to go back again. The game also has codes such as invincibility, all weapons, and infinite ammo, which are fun to play with. There's also an FAQ on gamefaqs that has several challenges which you can try out, and I recommend you give it a look.

Overall 8/10
Though it might seem like another first-person shooter, this really is one that I recommend you give a chance, as it's very fun and enjoyable.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/28/03, Updated 01/28/03