Safety First

• Before you even get to the games, be aware of security. Viruses, spyware and other malware excel at hiding in highly interactive content such as online shooting games. Before you visit a game site, check its safety with the search tool at safeweb.norton.com. Also, be sure your virus scanner is up to date when Googling for games. Ensure that your virus software actively protects you from malicious sites and doesn't offer only user-activated file scanning.
  
  

Backstory

• Seek games with backstories to increase your chances of enjoyment. Backstory, or exposition as literature studies refer to it, sets the narrative backdrop of the main story. The scrolling text at the start of the original "Star Wars" movie is a great example of a backstory that draws you into the central conflict of the main story. Seek this feature in games. Pick a game with an engaging backstory that psychologically involves you even before it starts.
  
  "Sheriff Rage," at dailyFreeGames.com, is a game with a good backstory. Against the background sound of a lonesome bugle, your screen fills with text in a Western font. It relates the saga of Ted Rage, who turned away from a life of violent crime, but had to pick up his guns again to save the town from a band of evil varmints.
  
  

Sound and Music

• Search for games with good music and sound effects. A game with a gun that sounds like a wimpy cap pistol might not interest you as much as one with a booming cannon or explosive machine gun.
  
  

Visual Realism

• Another factor impacting playability is visual realism. Be aware of whether the game you're considering playing features two or three-dimensional graphics. Three-dimensional games more closely match how we see things and might seem more fun to play, but as "Donkey Kong" and "Super Mario Brothers" have shown, two-dimensional games can be equally as riveting.
  
  

Read Game Rankings

• In your game search, find sites with rating or ranking systems, like those with four or five potential stars, and note the rating a game has compared with other games. Keep in mind that even a five-star game won't be fun if the game's theme doesn't match your interests. If you hated "Star Wars," a shooting game with lasers and stormtroopers is not for you.