The average new video game runs from anywhere from $30-50. Though players can watch previews and read reviews about the games, actually playing the game at home can prove much more difficult than it sounds.

There are many difficulties that can arise for a player faced with a brand new game: different controls, bad graphics or no challenges are a few of these obstacles.

When I looked into a game called H.A.W.X. for PlayStation 3, I never considered all the difficulties I could encounter. The main objective of the war game is to complete missions set out for the player, always as some sort of pilot.

Each mission is fairly straightforward: players are asked to shoot enemy fighter pilots through the Airforce. All in all, the game takes about five hours to complete. There are 50 planes to choose from, all made with different styles and weapons. Players can connect online or with other players during a mission, or just fly around in free mode.

Through my experience with the game, I encountered two types of obstacles: short-term and long-term. The short-term problems included learning the controls, learning what everything does or even grasping the plot of the story. The long-term problems were things like leveling up, beating hard opponents and learning about the locations.

The first difficulty for me was the unusual control style. The button configuration is completely different from the average shooter game. To turn, players must turn sideways, then lift, instead of just holding left or right and automatically turning in other games.

This is the biggest problem in the game and it took me a while to learn how to use it as an advantage. The best way to endure learning new control schemes is to just stick to playing that one game until it’s fully memorized.

The next problem is simply learning how not to crash into the earth — a tough job for a player attempting to remain in the air while shooting down the enemy. However, practice definitely makes perfect in this case.

One of my biggest complaints is the fact that the enemy is way too easy to defeat. Missiles are simply dodged and planes are destroyed within seconds. A solution for this is to enter a higher level; the settings are normal, hard or elite.

As for the leveling up (excelling at the game to earn more benefits for things such as weapons and aircraft) the difficulty was more my unfamiliarity with the game. Unfortunately, characters level up way too slowly for my taste. A lot of effort is put out for little gain — until, of course, new weapons and aircrafts are unlocked.

The missions are annoying at times because much of the realism is obscured, such as when a bomb hits a building, it doesn’t collapse; or how from a high altitude the city looks normal, but up close, the roads are tiny. So when picking a game always try the demo or just rent it to see if the game is worth playing.

A major problem that occurred was when the only weapon was the machine gun. Instead of just aiming at the plane and shooting, a player would have to aim ahead of the plane and shoot. When it comes to estimating or problem solving, pause the game, and think through what to do.

When it comes to buying a video game, there is more than just the problem of not being able to afford it with tax. There’s the problem of not being good at the game, not liking the controls of the game, not liking the game options or even not being able to unlock something. So be careful, because on the warning label it won’t say that this game may cause stress.

For more coverage of video games, visit the March 9 article, World at War maintains successful series.