Cryo Interactive Entertainment

Background

Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French game company that was started in 1990, when a small group of employees from Exxos left their parent company ERE Informatique and changed name. In 1992, Cryo was registered as an official company and since this time, they published a variety of highly acclaimed games. In 2002, Cryo filed for bankruptcy, and their assets were absorbed by Canadian co-publisher DreamCatcher Interactive. Some of the developers went to launch Atlantis Interactive Entertainment. In October 2008, Microids retrieved the former assets of Cryo and all intellectual rights for their games.

1st Logo (1991)

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Visuals: There is a purple triangle depicting an anabiosis chamber with a face inside. The word "Cryo" in a decorative and overly abstract font slides in from the bottom-left corner to the center, and "PRESENTS" in a futuristic white font appears at the bottom-right corner.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Only appeared on Extase, the first game produced by the company.

Legacy: This is the only logo from the company not to feature the Female Android in any way.

2nd Logo (1992)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a circle transition that changes color respectively to magenta, light blue, white and purple. Nearly to the end, the female Android from Extase who's looking right to the bottom, appears as the shell draws in. Suddenly, a blue box with the word "CRYO" below, in an orange/brown color appears behind the face. After a few seconds, the logo flips to reveal the Virgin Games logo used at the time.

Technique: Sprite-based animation.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen on the original floppy disk versions of Dune and KGB for DOS.

3rd Logo (1992-1995)

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Visuals: There is the female Android again, wearing a spacesuit with light playing, looking right. There is a red planet (presumably Mars) on the screen. The face slowly pans and turns to look on us, then it freezes and fades through black to the famous logo with the Android's face in a blue cryo-tube (or a spacesuit). "CRYO" is seen below in the Serpentine font. The logo is taken into a box.

Variant: On MegaRace and Dune for Sega CD, the logo is tinted sky blue, due to color limitations.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A wind-blowing sound ending with weird fading spacesynth. The quality of the sound depends on the platform.

Availability: Seen on the CD-ROM versions of Dune and KGB and strangely, on Lost Eden. The blue version was seen on MegaRace and Dune for Sega CD.

4th Logo (1993-1995)

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Visuals: The same action as before, but the red planet is replaced with Earth below. When the picture changes, it shows an enhanced box and "CRYO" is written directly on it, this time in Times New Roman font. The name casts shadows.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A re-imagined windy soundtrack with two fading alien synth notes, the second one being longer. On Commander Blood, its sequel and Super Dany, the logo is silent.

Availability: Seen on Commander Blood and its sequel. The still version appeared on Super Dany for SNES and MegaRace for 3DO. The blue-colored still version, which is similar to the next logo, was seen on Dragon Lore and on Philips CD-i ports of some games.

5th Logo (March 1995-November 15, 1998)

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  Later variant

Visuals: The sequence starts in a close-up of the Female Android's face inside the space suit, turned left. There is a starfield around and a planet is seen. The face pans to the right, with light playing on the glass, and then the box zooms in, with "CRYO" below in white.

Variants:

• On later games, "INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT" in stacked words is added below.
• On Atlantis: The Lost Tales, the text shines and flashes, that leads into an animated opening cutscene.
• On Ubik, the logo already starts formed, and then plays in reverse, turning into an animated opening cutscene.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Same as the previous logo.

Availability:

• Seen on Atlantis: The Lost Tales, MegaRace 2, Hardline, The Raven Project and other games.
• The original version was first used on Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure and later appeared on Hard Boiled, Dreams to Reality (and its PAL-exclusive PlayStation port Dreams).
• The later "INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT" version appeared on Egypt 1156 B.C.: Tomb of the Pharaoh and China: The Forbidden City.

6th Logo (1998-May 8, 2003)

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  Version with "INTERACTIVE"
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  Frank Herbert's Dune

Visuals: Once more, the sequence starts with the Female Android in a space suit. Then two comets are shown, orange and blue, swirling in the skies. The view changes to the face, then to comets again, and to her right eye. The Android opens her eyes, then the comets collide and create the "cryo" word surrounded by two still images of the comets. Sometimes, "INTERACTIVE" appears below.

Variants:

• On some later games, a re-animated version is used. This version begins with a segmented shell, which opens, revealing the Female Android's face (features changed) inside. The "cryo" text also blurs in and pans with the comets.
• Sometimes, the "INTERACTIVE" version appears still.
• On Hellboy: Dogs of the Night, the logo pops up still with "CRYO STUDIOS NORTH AMERICA" below it.
• A much more longer, 80-second version exists, which was likely used for promotional purposes. It shows a longer pan to the Android, some shots from inside her spacesuit, and more of the comets swirling around.
• On The Guardian of Darkness, the logo is sped up. Despite this, the music remains in standard speed and so cuts out when the logo ends.
• On Frank Herbert's Dune, the logo is above the Widescreen Games logo and is still.
• In the European version of Gore: Ultimate Soldier, the logo is still without the word "INTERACTIVE" below.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A soundtrack with synth elements and cymbals composed by Eric Los. The soundtrack is adjusted in the later variant with several time changes and minor rearrangements.

Audio Trivia: One of the synth elements used in this logo is taken from the Orchestral Colors sample library by Peter Siedlaczek.

Audio Variants:

• On Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar, the music is NTSC pitched.
• On the European version of Gore: Ultimate Soldier, the game's opening theme is heard.

Availability:

• The standard version appears on Woody Woodpecker: Escape from Buzz Buzzard's Park!, MegaRace 3, Aztec: The Curse in the Heart of the City of Gold, Odyssey: Search for Ulysses, Roland Garros French Open 2001, Gift, Egypt II: The Heliopolis Prophecy (although the logo does not appear until after the first part of the game is complete), Atlantis III, The Mask of Zorro, and other games.
• The "Interactive" version appears on 360 - Three-Sixty, Aztec and The Guardian of Darkness.
• The still version appears on several games, including Asterix and Obelix Take on Caesar and the European version of Test Drive 6 with the last half of the music, while the version without music appears on China: The Forbidden City, Frank Herbert's Dune, and games for the Game Boy Color.
• The later variant appears on Agassi Tennis Generation 2002, Mystery of the Nautilus, Stealth Combat: Ultimate War and Universal Monsters: Monsterville.