Blow away tanks in this mediocre gaming widget

Open Fire Gold is an all action widget that brings gaming to your Dashboard. The developer takes us back to World War 2 in search of “The Hun”.

First off, this isn’t exactly Command and Conquer. It’s more a case of “waste a few minutes blowing tanks away” and sadly that’s it. You play the role of a missile launcher looking down on a terrain of tanks passing by below – they drive by, you blow them away, you win points and that’s about it. There are at least two game modes and the sound effects and motions when a missile hits feel realistic.

In the first mode – Open Fire Classic – you have 110 seconds to cause as much damage as possible as the tanks roll by. This is clearly meant as some kind of stress relieving mission for those angry at their boss. The second mode, “Stop The Huns” sees you in the same scenario but with the added “twist” that you might get found out if any of the tanks make it past your line of view and thus, boohoo, game over.

Then problem with Open Fire Gold is that it’s simply too easy – the tanks don’t return fire, they move very slowly and you’re not under any pressure at all. As mentioned earlier, it seems the widget is more a simple way to get instant access to some “Hun” destruction if you’re feeling stressed.

Open Fire Gold isn’t a great widget game but if you really need to take your anger out on something for a few minutes, then it may serve your needs.