Krazy Ivan

Krazy Ivan
Publisher(s)	Psygnosis
Platform(s)	PlayStation, PC, Sega Saturn
Release date(s)	PlayStation [1] EU: January 1996 NA: 15 February 1996 JP: 4 October 1996 Windows [2] EU: 1996 NA: 31 December 1996 Sega Saturn EU: December 1996[3] JP: 27 June 1997[4]
Genre(s)	First-person shooter

Krazy Ivan is a mech first-person shooter released for PC, Sega Saturn and PlayStation in 1996 by Psygnosis.

The player takes the role of Ivan Popovich, a Russian soldier controlling a giant mechanical suit, defending the Earth from robotic aliens. The game consists of five zones: Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, USA and Japan. The game has an interface at the end of each zone allowing the player to spend the game's form of experience points (power cores) on upgrades and weapons.

The game uses full motion video for its intro movie and a cut-scene between each level. The in-game soundtrack was written and produced by CoLD SToRAGE, who also composed the music for the Wipeout series of games released by Psygnosis Limited.

Development

The live action cutscenes were all filmed using the blue screen technique.^[5]

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score EGM 7.75/10 (PS1)[6] Maximum (PS1)[7] Sega Saturn Magazine 75% (SAT)[3]

Krazy Ivan received generally mixed reviews. Air Hendrix gave the PlayStation version a mixed review in GamePro, saying the gameplay is repetitive and requires little strategy but demands fast reflexes, the controls are tight but conspicuously lack the ability to jump, and the graphics are detailed but suffer from slowdown. He concluded that "Krazy Ivan has some problems, but it stands tall above its Saturn counterpart, Ghen War."^[8] Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the PlayStation version a 7.75 out of 10, calling it the first great mech game for the console and praising the graphics, the cinematics, the controls, and the close guidance through mission objectives. However, they criticized the lack of replay value.^[6] Maximum summarized that Krazy Ivan "is far too limited and, in all honesty, suffers from the perennial problem of presentation over playability." They specifically found that the game offers no motivation for the player to not simply head straight to the boss of each stage and defeat it using the simple strategy of firing while strafing.^[7]

Paul Glancey of Sega Saturn Magazine praised the graphics and premise, but criticized the gameplay as being shallow and overly easy, with the simple strategy of sidestepping and firing working in most situations.^[3]

Reviewing the PC version, GameSpot echoed Sega Saturn Magazine by praising the graphics and premise but ultimately dismissing the game for going no deeper than a sidestep-and-fire strategy. They scored it a 5.4 out of 10.^[9]

References