| The Fourth Protocol |
| |
| Aliases | The Fourth Protocol - The Game |
| Release Date | 1985/Jun/20 |
| Original Publisher | Hutchinson Computer Publishing (UK) |
| Min. Hardware | ZX-Spectrum 48K |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Adventure Game: Graphic |
| Max. Players | 1 |
| Documented by | The Fourth Protocol: Playing the Game |
| Original Price | £12.95 |
| Competitions | Computer Gamer's Game of the Year Awards 1985 |
| Features | Bookware, Icon/Menu Driven Control, Padlock Protection |
| Themes | Espionage/Secret Service |
| Tie-in Licences | The Fourth Protocol (Book) from Frederick Forsyth (UK) |
| Other Platforms | Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, PC/DOS |
| Average mag. score | 90.00% (3 reviews) |
| Martijn's WoS score | 81.2% (28 votes) |
Standalone re-releases
| #1 - Boots (UK) | (1985) | as "The Complete Fourth Protocol" | |
| #2 - Century Communications Ltd (UK) | (1985) | ||
| #3 - The Home Computer Club (UK) | (1985) | ||
| * Release price: £8.95 |
Authors/Contributors
| John Lambshead (UK) | - Game Design/Concept | ||
| Gordon Paterson (UK) | - Game Design/Concept | ||
| Andrew J. Glaister (UK) | at Electronic Pencil Company Ltd | - Code | |
| David Jones (UK) | at Electronic Pencil Company Ltd | - Code | |
| Ray Owen (UK) | at Electronic Pencil Company Ltd | - In-game Graphics |
Authors according to SPOT/SPEX
| @ The Electronic Pencil Co <Electronic Pencil Company Ltd (UK)> Paul Norris & Rupert Bowater *** Data provided by SPOT/SPEX is unconfirmed. Please help us validate this information! |
Annual Awards
| 2nd place in the Game of the Year Awards 1985 - Best Adventure. |
Review Awards
| "Crash Smash" | at Crash | issue v.1 #19 - 1985/Aug | page 91 | |
| "Sinclair User Classic" | at Sinclair User | issue #40 - 1985/Jul | page 17 |
Remarks
| This game has parts where you need to use a decoding pad included with the game, to decipher messages. According to a feature in the Big K magazine: "This will be engineered so that it is virtually impossible to photocopy [...] making life harder for pirates". |
Publication
| The game was intended to be released on May 23rd 1985, but it was delayed until June 20th due to a programming hitch. |
Main File Downloads
| Filename | Release | Machine | Scheme | Language | Comments | |
| FourthProtocolThe.tzx.zip | Original | ZX-Spectrum 48K | (Unspecified custom loader) | English | ||
 | FourthProtocolThePart1.tap.zip | Original | ZX-Spectrum 48K | (???) | English | - part 1 |
| FourthProtocolThePart2.tap.zip | Original | ZX-Spectrum 48K | (???) | English | - part 2 |
| FourthProtocolThePart3.tap.zip | Original | ZX-Spectrum 48K | (???) | English | - part 3 |
Additional File Downloads
| Filename | Size | Release | Type | Language | Comments | |
| FourthProtocolThe.scr | 6,912 | Original | Loading screen | |||
| FourthProtocolThe.gif | 3,202 | Original | Running screen | |||
| FourthProtocolThe_2.jpg | 38,064 | Original | Inlay - Front | |||
| FourthProtocolThe_Front.jpg | 551,482 | Original | Inlay - Front | - Cardbox case (big) | ||
| FourthProtocolThe_Back.jpg | 635,055 | Original | Inlay - Back | - Cardbox case (big) | ||
| FourthProtocolThe_SideA.jpg | 88,746 | Original | Media scan | |||
| FourthProtocolThe_SideB.jpg | 92,208 | Original | Media scan | |||
| FourthProtocolThe.txt | 34,290 | Original | Instructions | English | ||
| FourthProtocolThe(EN).pdf | 2,040,058 | Original | Instructions | English | ||
| FourthProtocolThe_2.jpg | 208,475 | Original | Advertisement | |||
| fourthprotocol.zip | 0 | Original | RZX playback file | - Recorded by Jamie Angus (with rollback) | ||
| FourthProtocolThe(CompleteFourthProtocolThe)(Boots)_Front.jpg | 101,645 | #1 | Inlay - Front | - Cardbox case (small) | ||
| FourthProtocolThe(CompleteFourthProtocolThe)(Boots)_Back.jpg | 231,823 | #1 | Inlay - Back | - Cardbox case (small) | ||
| FourthProtocolThe.jpg | 163,865 | #1 | Advertisement |
Magazine Reviews
| ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) | issue #12-1988/Sep | page 79 | - Review | |
| C&VG (Computer & Video Games) | issue #45-1985/Jul | page 86 | - Review | |
| Crash | issue v.1 #19-1985/Aug | page 91 | - Review: 9/10 | |
| MicroHobby | issue #70-1986/Mar | page 15 | - Review - Nuevo | |
| Sinclair User | issue #40-1985/Jul | page 17 | - Review: 5/5 | |
| Sinclair User | issue #44-1985/Nov supplement "Top 50 Sinclair User Classic" | page 22 | - Review | |
| Your Computer | issue v.5 #8-1985/Aug | page 31 | - Review: 4/5 | |
| Your Spectrum | issue #18-1985/Sep | page 34 | - Review |
Magazine References
Magazine Advertisements
| Computer Gamer | issue #2-1985/May | page 2 | - Full-page ad | |
| Computer Gamer | issue #3-1985/Jun | page 2 | - Full-page ad | |
| Sinclair User | issue 1986 special "Annual 1986" | page 132 | - Full-page ad | |
| Sinclair User | issue #43-1985/Oct | page 131 | - Full-page ad | |
| Sinclair User | issue #44-1985/Nov | page 131 | - Full-page ad | |
| Sinclair User | issue #45-1985/Dec | page 155 | - Full-page ad |
Links
| CASA | (Information - in English) | |
| Centre for Computing History | (Information - in English) | |
| MobyGames | (Information - in English) | |
| RZX Archive | (Information - in English) | |
| RZX Archive - YouTube | (Information - in English) | |
| Spectrum +2A/+3 Incompatibility | (Information - in English) | |
| The Tipshop | (Information - in English) | |
| UVL | (Information - in English) | |
| Wikipedia | (Information - in English) | |
| ZX Spectrum Reviews | (Magazine Reviews) | |
| Spectrum 2.0 | (User Reviews) | |
| The TZX Vault | (Software Preservation) | |
| ZX-Art | (Spectrum Graphics) | |
| ZXInfo | (ZXDB Front End) | |
| Every Game Going | (Multi-Platform Archive) | |
| New World Of Spectrum | (Spectrum Archive) | |
| Original World Of Spectrum | (Spectrum Archive) | |
| World Of Spectrum Classic | (Spectrum Archive) | |
| Spectrum Computing | (MAIN VIEW) |
