Yomo

Harrier Attack 

Yomo is an old-skool-styled shoot ’em up by Aaron Fothergill for Mandarin Software. It even managed to place runner-up in the 1989 Games Writer of the Year competition, which is no small feat. I’ve had this one on my bucket list for years, largely because of its 8-bit vibe, which reminded me of games I played as a youngster back in the early '80s. Is anyone else a 50-something and reminded of Harrier Attack?

The action unfolds in a two-dimensional world filled with destructible buildings and an assortment of vehicles, all governed by wonderfully infuriating physics. You play as a tiny stickman tasked with recovering a dodgy nuke dropped behind enemy lines. Naturally, the locals aren’t thrilled about this, and you’re soon under constant attack. They're the baddies, so why not fire off heat-seeking missiles, leap into whatever creaking aircraft happens to be nearby, and cause as much destruction as possible? Going on foot is rarely fun, but if you spot enemy stickmen wobbling across the screen, a quick tap of the fire button will gun 'em down!!

Visually, this is no Bitmap Brothers showpiece, so keep expectations low. The graphics are crude, with tiny sprites and rough scrolling that had my Atari STe crying out in agony. Boy, is the scrolling bad. That said, the sound effects fare much better, with plenty of crunchy samples, the crack of lightning being my favourite.

Yomo is, frankly, a bit pants, yet it’s also undeniably lots of fun. The freedom to jump into almost any aircraft is genius, even if limited ammunition and the fiddly process of resupplying can be maddening in the heat of battle. It’s frustrating and unfair, but if you enjoy blowing things up, Yomo is probably worth your time.

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