Clever graphics were also responsible for the slick presentation of the adventure Smash The Fourth Protocol released by Hutchinsons and programmed by The Electronic pencil Company—a name to be reckoned with in the future. Here, for the first time, Macintosh-like business icons were used to drive the adventure along, and it worked a treat—so did the adventure. — Crash Online
I guess it's a pity this game was never ported to an icon-based platform—be it Macintosh, Atari ST, or Amiga. But it wasn't. As far as I know, it existed only for those three, of which the PC was probably the only one for which a mouse existed at the time, and of course the game didn't support it. You have to browse the icons using the space bar.
When you start the game, the telephone rings. Conveniently, the
cursor is placed over the telephone, so just hit Enter. You will get
a message congratulating you that you made it.
If you jump to
the computer at the bottom right, you will find out what you
made
: you have been appointed head of the C1(A), which is
supposed to be an agency of the British Secret Intelligence Service,
or something.
That's about as far as I got. The Fourth Protocol is obviously one of those games where you have to figure out yourself what you are supposed to do, and I've never been very good at those.
And just for the record, The Electronic Pencil Company did not turn out a name to be reckoned with—The Fourth Protocol was the only game they ever created.
Reviews
- The most captivating and enjoyable game to grace the C64,
Magnus Welander thinks:
The Fourth Protocol takes us back in time, to the age when there was such a thing as a Cold War between the Western and the Eastern blocks. You are head of a top secret British government agency called C1(A)—and your mission is to investigate all sorts of suspicious activity within other governmental departments. Mostly, look for spies.
- Well worth a try for fans of this niche genre,
Home of the Underdogs says:
A fascinating political thriller based on best-selling Frederic Forsyth novel of the same name, The Fourth Protocol is a good game that is bogged down by cumbersome interface and a very slow pace that makes it very boring in mid-game. The plot is Forsyth at his best: in the Soviet Union, a secret faction of high-level minds have hatched
AURORA,
a plot to rule the country that even the KGB is unaware of. Master spy Kim Philby and a high ranking Soviet official are at the helm of the cabal, and British agent Jim Preston is the only person who can stop them. But can he stop them in time? - Your Spectrum, Issue 18, September 1985 - Adventures & The Fourth Protocol gives a much-needed introduction.
