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 on an alien planet.[2][3][4] 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.[2]

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.[2]

The game's ending depends on the difficulty level set by the player. If the player completes the game on the easiest difficulty, Angelina is ambushed and killed at the hangar by enemies that she did not encounter on her way out, who intelligently set a trap for her.[5] On the medium difficulty, she makes it to the hangar and successfully escapes, but not before being threatened by some enemies she didn't fight.[3] If the hard difficulty was completed, she discovers that she has wiped the entire facility clean of monsters, leaving none to stop her at the hangar. Confident in her unparalleled combat skills, she then takes off and plans to investigate a similar disaster occurring on the planet Wolf-354.[4]

Reception

Dark Arena received "mixed or average reviews" according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[6] 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.[17]

References
  1. Harris, Craig (December 13, 2001). "Cruis'n Velocity". IGN. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  2. Graphic State (2002). Dark Arena (Game Boy Advance). Level/area: Intro.
  3. Graphic State (2002). Dark Arena (Game Boy Advance). Level/area: Medium difficulty ending. Narrator: "You have found the main hangar - it looks like all of your troubles are over. You move towards one of the shuttles, eager to escape from this terrible place...You step onto the ramp - and your heart stops - in the distance you hear a blood curdling scream. You run into the shuttle, heart pounding, desperate to get this thing off the ground. The engines fire up quickly...Panic hits you, but you manage to keep control, guiding the shuttle forwards toward the hangar door. It was close, but you did it! You have made your escape. As you look back at the distant planet from which you have just left you think to your self that it is about time you booked that vacation.
  4. Graphic State (2002). Dark Arena (Game Boy Advance). Level/area: Hard difficulty ending. Narrator: "You have found the main hangar - it looks like all of your troubles are over. You move towards one of the shuttles, eager to escape from this terrible place. You listen for any sound of movement, but all is quiet. You were thorough. Nothing was left standing. A one-woman killing machine...The shuttle stands before you. It's time to get off this rock and look for your next battle. Don't you recall someone mentioning that a second training facility had been constructed over on Wolf-354? A bigger facility, with creatures bred to be even more fierce? You tap in the coordinates. Time to take a look.
  5. Graphic State (2002). Dark Arena (Game Boy Advance). Level/area: Easy difficulty ending. Narrator: "You have found the main hangar - it looks like all of your troubles are over. You move towards one of the shuttles, eager to escape from this terrible place. From behind, you hear a glutteral [sic] roar. As you turn, you realise that all is lost - you will never leave this place. Your biggest mistake was choosing the easy path - all of the creatures you missed have tracked you down. They want your blood - you should have known it would never be that easy.
  6. "Dark Arena for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  7. White, Jason. "Dark Arena - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  8. Bramwell, Tom (March 3, 2002). "Dark Arena". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  9. Brogger, Kristian (April 2002). "Dark Arena". Game Informer. No. 108. p. 89. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  10. 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.
  11. Lopez, Miguel (April 3, 2002). "Dark Arena Review". GameSpot. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  12. D'Aprile, Jason (March 9, 2002). "Dark Arena". GameSpy. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  13. Lafferty, Michael (February 8, 2002). "Dark Arena Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on March 1, 2005. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  14. Harris, Craig (January 30, 2002). "Dark Arena". IGN. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  15. "Dark Arena". Nintendo Power. Vol. 154. March 2002. p. 136.
  16. Concepcion, Miguel (March 8, 2002). "'Dark Arena' (GBA) Review". X-Play. Archived from the original on August 14, 2002. Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  17. "Dark Arena". Doomworld Forums. January 15, 2002.
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