Game Boy Advance Critic Reviews

It's a lot of fun to play, but there's not a whole lot of "oomph" that action games require for that necessary adrenaline rush.

The plot may be a little worn (as in borrowed), but the environments are well done, there is a nice variety of weaponry to be collected, and you really don’t have to think about what to shoot – you just kill anything that moves because you are the only human survivor.

Dark Arena runs smoothly and plays quickly, which means you'll stay in the Arena a little longer than you thought.

The graphics engine developed for Dark Arena is something I never expected to see on the GBA. It seems that the more developers that dig into the hardware, the more impressive it gets.

Seems to easily fall flat into the clutches of mediocrity. The multiplayer mode is nice, though. [April 2002, p.89]

It may be a blatant "DOOM" clone, but Dark Arena still manages to be a generally entertaining and mindless shooter. Solid controls, large levels, and plenty of evil mutants all add up to a fun time out.

While the game runs well, there is little intensity to push the envelope. So much has changed since these games came out, and it just doesn’t seem nearly as exciting or intense.

It's technically competent in the end, and many of its little touches are quite impressive, but there are clearly more memorable shooters of its kind already available.

Even the level layout and "puzzle" elements--find the key, backtrack to the door--smack of things we've already seen, which makes the game, despite its arguable technical flow, something of a letdown.

Mindless, twitchy, quick-shot FPS fun...but it’s so hyper-generic it seems like a clone of a "Doom" clone.