Dark Arena

Dark Arena is a first-person shooter video game for the Game Boy Advance. It was the first FPS game announced for the Game Boy Advance, but it was the fourth released. Another Game Boy Advance game, Cruis'n Velocity, used the same game engine.[1]

This article is about the Game Boy Advance game. For the novel by Mario Puzo, see The Dark Arena.
Dark Arena
North American cover art
Developer(s)Graphic State
Publisher(s)
Platform(s)Game Boy Advance
Release
  • NA: January 18, 2002
  • EU: February 15, 2002
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot
Dark Arena has been labeled a Doom clone due to the similar look and play of the game

The United Arms Organization constructs a top-secret training facility, codenamed Dark Arena, on a small, isolated island. Genetic splicing was performed to create dangerous Genetically Engineered Organisms (GEOs) that were intended to train troops, under the assurance that special security fail-safe systems would prevent the creatures from breaking free. However, in the summer of 2146, the failsafes failed, allowing the GEOs to overrun the facility and slaughter its personnel.

No sooner after this occurs, Angelina Bradshaw and her special operations team are summoned to the island to try and get things back under control, but all of her men are no match for the GEOs, leaving her trapped alone deep in Dark Arena. She manages to hide for a while to recollect herself and inform authorities of the situation before the GEOs finally find her. Unwilling to share the fate of her comrades, she begins to battle her way out of Dark Arena and must race against time to clear out a path to a hanger on the outskirts of the island and evacuate before a nuclear strike is called to destroy all GEOs as a last resort.

The game's ending depends on the difficulty level set by the player. If the player completes the game on the easiest difficulty, Angelina fails to escape the base alive. Finishing the game on medium difficulty will see her barely escape. She makes a better escape if the game is beaten on hard difficulty.

Reception

Dark Arena received "mixed or average reviews" according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[2] The mixed reaction was primarily due to poor enemy AI and uninspired level design, but the game was also praised for having many nice touches often not included in pseudo-3D FPS, such as a sniper rifle with zoom functions and a guided missile. Many people regarded it as a Doom clone, as it had similar gameplay and level designers were recruited from the Doom modding community.[13]

References
  1. Harris, Craig (December 13, 2001). "Cruis'n Velocity". IGN. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  2. "Dark Arena for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  3. White, Jason. "Dark Arena - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  4. Bramwell, Tom (March 3, 2002). "Dark Arena". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  5. Brogger, Kristian (April 2002). "Dark Arena". Game Informer (108): 89. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  6. Star Dingo (January 23, 2002). "Dark Arena Review for Game Boy Advance on GamePro.com". GamePro. Archived from the original on October 29, 2004. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  7. Lopez, Miguel (April 3, 2002). "Dark Arena Review". GameSpot. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  8. D'Aprile, Jason (March 9, 2002). "Dark Arena". GameSpy. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  9. Lafferty, Michael (February 8, 2002). "Dark Arena Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on March 1, 2005. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  10. Harris, Craig (January 30, 2002). "Dark Arena". IGN. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  11. "Dark Arena". Nintendo Power. 154: 136. March 2002.
  12. Concepcion, Miguel (March 8, 2002). "'Dark Arena' (GBA) Review". X-Play. Archived from the original on August 14, 2002. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  13. "Dark Arena". Doomworld Forums. January 15, 2002.
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