The stakes are high as players assume the role of the world's most fetching foe of the forces of darkness in THQ's Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wrath of the Darkhul King on Game Boy Advance.

Buffy hunts loathsome legions through 16 twilit levels before confronting the ultimate evil in the form of the Darkhul King.

This side-scroller is crammed with interactive environments -- a fancy phrase meaning you get to break lots of stuff, like doors, crates, spider webs, vases, benches and even stone walls. Sometimes, broken items will yield that key weapon in the vampire hunter's arsenal: a stake.

Weapons range from the primitive (torches and crosses are excellent at keeping vampires at bay) to the mystical (holy water) to the high tech (a laser rifle). Buffy can combine weapons too; for example, combining the crossbow with a vial of holy water lets Buffy fire a potent bolt of holy water.

Buffy can also pull off impressive combo attacks, but only when unarmed.