Along with the contemporarily released Doom, Ecks vs Sever, and BackTrack, Graphic State's Dark Arena is one of the initial first-person shooters created for the Game Boy Advance. The small-screen style is most similar to the earliest first-person shooters developed for the PC, featuring pixel graphics and a "two-and-a-half dimensional" action scheme in which the player can move forward, back, left, and right but can't look up or down.

Players, as Angelina Bradshaw, must survive 20 levels filled with mutated monsters running amok at an elite military training facility. With access to an arsenal of nine weapons ranging from a handgun to radio-controlled mines, players blast through environments picking up card keys and med-kits, while grabbing more than a dozen power ups such as armor, energy packs, and guided missiles. Three difficulty settings determine the intelligence of the enemy and number of items available in single-player action, and games can be saved via password. Up to four players using link cables can join the frag-fest. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide