Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Been there, done that"

There were quiet a lot of first person shooters on the Game Boy Advance from the awesome Duke Nukem, short lived DOOM and even the so-so Ecks vs Sever. But Dark Arena is hardly a reason to own the GBA at all.
On the positive side it controls well enough and although the weapons aren't highly imaginative they're actually fun to use. The levels are also expansive and well thought out making it for a week or two worth of gameplay. However, the flaws unfortunatly drag it down significantly. The enemies aren't that well designed and the artificial intellegence is just as pathetic as the sounds they make. They're also remarkably easy to kill, even if you only use your pistol. Even if you play it on hard mode with about twenty five enemies in the room you could easilly take them all down without breaking a sweat. Where's the challenge?
All in all, Dark Arena had it's moments but there are a lot better games on the GBA.