But, it looks like it's undergone a few improvements.
(Strangely, I know,) I trust the people working on Ubuntu to make rational decisions. It looks like unity pulled through.
I don't have any problem right now with the size of the icons, but screen estate is always an issue. Window organisation, as it has been for the last 15 years, seems like it has much better room for optimisation.
Other choice have also seemed a bit arbitrary - like moving the power options to the status bar, whilst also moving the window controls away from the status bar. Mouse movement has increased in my experience.