The Docks… All Aboard!

The Docks… All Aboard! – Gonchong (James D. Roberts)
Released – August 20, 1999
Games – Thief 1 & 2
Mission type – Docks/Guards

!!!POSSIBLE SPOILERS WARNING!!!
“You have been entrusted by the Keepers to recover a stolen amulet which was aquired by one of Ramirez’s agents on a distant island. A ship has now returned and is in dock awaiting unloading. But you aim to unload it first…” – Gonchong

After playing this mission for Thief 1, I played “The Docks” for Thief 2; not realizing until I saw the objectives that it was not a sequel, but a re-make of the Docks for Thief 1. I plan to do reviews for more missions from Gonchong; I’m a big fan of his “Willow Island” mission and did not know that it and “The Docks” were part of such an expansive series. Exciting!
My first thought was that this mission might be a bit like the OM: “Shipping… And Receiving”, or maybe vice-verse since that came out later; however, I wasn’t too far off. The objectives involve breaking into warehouses on the docks to retrieve various things; only instead of combination locks, Garrett must find door keys… this is Thief 1 after all. A difference I noticed in the Thief 2 version is that the keys are named, which may shave some time off of going to test them.
The Docks comprises a small area, and I was happy to see the use of pitch darkness in a few areas. The pitch black areas really added to the suspense and adventure. In one of the warehouses, I could hear a frog and worse… a bug beast, but I couldn’t see them. Were they hiding somewhere in the shadows? I managed to escape being seen by guards while hiding on the outskirts of such a shadow! I was sad to see that the Thief 2 version does not have the same dark areas, due mostly to the optimizing of light balance. Thief 1’s pitch blackness was sort of a glitch, if you look at it that way, but it had its perks.

(Above: Thief 1; Below: Thief 2)
This mission is a bit more challenging if you play it in Thief 1, since there are more guards for whatever reason, but the Thief 2 mission did fix a minor bug or two. Burricks are also able to cause more of a ruckus in the Thief 2 version, so it makes for some extra fun. In both versions, one of the guards shoots gas arrows; it was fun to dart out and get him to mistakenly shoot a fellow guard from time to time. There are guards and AI in these missions who make things hilarious under some circumstances.