If there's one lesson to be learned from Lord Alan's Factory it's this - 
bigger is not necessarily better.  I must admit that the mission is very 
well made, but it lacks a soul.  It could use a lot less machinery and a 
lot more fun.  The huge expansive rooms are sometimes somewhat impressive 
(other times they are drab, bare, horribly repetative, and rediculously 
oversized), but then they all get boring and tedious really fast.  As 
with the other Lord Alan FMs, there is some serious layout illogic (tiny 
elevators to move huge supplies/machines?  The whole cat-walk system only 
accessable from one obscure location? 500 foot ladders? I could go on).

I appreciate that the special tricks and setup of various things works 
very well, but the story and gameplay just never did it for me.  I kinda 
feel like "there's four hours of my life I'll never get back".  As soon 
as I found out the main objective, I just groaned inside thinking about 
having to trudge all the frickin' way back through everywhere to complete 
all the parts.

Lord Alan's Factory is a fine piece of Dromed crafting that I recommend 
everyone should at least try out, but I believe it's ultimately misguided.  
It lacks the best elements that made such great missions as The Seventh 
Crystal and Ominous Bequest.  One of Thief's strong points has always been 
its lean towards uniqueness as opposed to repetativeness, and this mission 
goes against that to the max.  But on a final note, I will say that the 
mission is impressive from a technical viewpoint.  And I guess sometimes 
seeing 36 giant tinker toys in a row does give off a strong industrial 
vibe.  (And I genuinely liked the clocks in the offices and other places; 
nice to hear it click another minute now and then, such a simple but 
immersive thing.)