Dark Arena

Strictly speaking, the Game Boy Advance shouldn't be able to do what Graphic State is planning. As we all know, the GBA is not a 3D system and, by rights, wouldn't be able to cope with a first person shooter... or would it? As you have probably guessed by now (if you have already looked long and hard at the screenshots plastered around this page) it seems Graphic State and Majesco have come up with an engine that can replicate the style of a first-person shooter and all the blood-crazed fun that comes with it.

So, if you have a disturbing thirst for buckets of blood, huge weapons and more creepy monsters than the whole Hellraiser series combined, then you will be delighted to discover that the GBA is to play host to a first-person fight to the death that goes by the name of Dark Arena!

The game places you in an abandoned training camp where genetically engineered creatures (which were designed to test the trainee soldiers) have gone a bit mad and killed everyone, leaving only you (yes, you) to try and escape with your life. Or what's left of it. Anyone who's played a game of this genre before – and let's face it, very few gamers haven't – will know exactly what to expect. You must wander around a series of long corridors, carrying a bloody big gun and blasting the hell out of anything that moves. There are six weapons for you to search for and a few of them even have a sniper mode, which always comes in handy!

You get 20 massive levels for your money, plus a mass of FMV sequences and the game can also be linked to three other GBAs for tons of deathmatch carnage. Although still in its early stages, Dark Arena nevertheless looks rather fine and should be out sometime before the end of the year. We can't wait!