Some of you may have fond memories of Pong, Battlezone, and Asteroids. I know I've spent my entire week's allowance every Saturday and the local arcade. In all honesty, I still play these games today on my pc. They offer the simplistic arcade action that some of us crave.

Today's video games have gotten so complicated that entire books for a single game title have been written on how to finish them. The graphics, strategies, and multiplayer online aspects have taken video gaming to a whole new level. To be honest, it's rare that I can even finish a game anymore, let alone win all the bonus cars or cool weapons.

After playing for a few hours I'll often get stuck. Either I can't finish a level or can't find the special weapons to defeat the boss. If it weren't for cheat codes, I'd probably just give up. Never enjoying the full potential game play, never getting my money's worth. Even on the easiest settings, it's almost impossible to finish a game anymore without cheating.

So before I buy any game, I'll go online and check out the latest reviews, graphics, and best price. But I'm also looking to see if they have a walk through, cheats, and extras. You'll usually find these written up by the professional paid reviewers, but don't forget to check out the player reviews and forum. Sometimes the actual gamers will find even more cheats and extras that the professional reviewers missed.

No matter how good the preview is I want to see what the end users are actually saying. Also, no matter how bad the professional review is, I want to see what the actual gamers are saying. I can tell you that I've thoroughly enjoyed games that scored very low with the professional reviewers. After reviewing the gamer's scores, I found they often enjoyed games much more than the professional reviews would lead you to believe.

Also check out your local video game store, ask the sales people what they think of the games. I found most of them are big time game players too and will give you an honest answer. We gamers need to look out for each other, don't we?