The Texture Pop: Episode 20: Death By A Two Pound M&M

Another week, another podcast. This one is probably one of, if not the best one yet, in my opinion. It encapsulates pretty much everything that we stand for at The Texture Pop.

Garrett once again had to miss out, but he'll make for it when he gets back! Aside from that, there wasn't much more unusual activity surrounding this cast. The recording just went particularly well.



0:00:00 Introduction.
Brought to you, as usual, by FFXIIIFanfics.
Co-Sponsored by Hot Pockets.
(Note: The lawyer that resides in my head would like to inform you that we do not actual have any sponsors.)

0:04:59 Gaming News
Rise of the Tomb Raider is published by Microsoft
This and the Street Fight V exclusive story really go hand-in-hand. Neither one really seem logical on the part of the developers. On the surface, they appear to lose much more than they would hope to gain. These two franchise sold very well, so they didn't have the same excuse Bayonetta 2 did.

DLC Weapons in the Call of Duty: Advance Warfare.
I don't think we'll be able to determine how good/bad this is until it's out. How they implement this will really determine.

Destiny "Strikes" Locked Behind DLC.
Obligatory Destiny reference.
Yes, it's SHIT! We're all pretty unanimous on this. It's astounding how low this game suck, given that Bungie developed it.
This goes into a broader conversation regarding DLC in gaming.

0:28:30 Sam finished Far Cry 4.
Overall, not bad. For better or worse, it is a lot like Far Cry 3. If you enjoyed the last one, you should probably get this one.

0:32:45 Sam finished The Wolf Among Us.
I do feel like my decision to play it as it was released really hurt my enjoyment of the game. It's a good game, though. I personally found it much stronger than The Walking Dead: Season Two, yet not as strong as The Walking Dead: Season One.
There's nothing inherently wrong with an episodic release. I just feel that for a murder-mystery, it didn't work as well as it does for other genres.
But the episodic format does have it's advantages, as we discuss here.

0:42:30 Sam got further in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
From what I gather, it seems to really improve a lot over the issues I had regarding Origins.
The conversation here regarding RPGs and choices is definitely worth listening to here. We, as people who play lots of games, often see through what they designer is doing. But many people who aren't as familiar think it's incredible, because it is.

0:50:45 Sam bought a few games.
Child of Light
The game is boring and the couples are annoying. And since the gimmick is that ALL of the dialogue is in couplets, it really grates on the nerves.
As for the game, I see it's potential, but I did not find the combat or any of the mechanics interesting.
Still, it's an Ubi-Art game, so it looks amazing.

Lichdom: Battlemage
Not much to discuss beyond the conversation.

The Vanishing of Ethen Carter
This goes into a good point regarding games that refuse to help you. While games like Myst have a good cult following, there is a reason why they did not catch on too greatly. Games need to offer some form of assistance, even if the player does not have to take it.
As a general rule, if I feel the need to visit GameFAQs, something went wrong.

Need for Speed: Rivals
Not much to say.

0:59:35 I played more Persona Q.
I don't want to feel bad for Teddie, but the game makes me feel bad for Teddie.
I do like how the game addresses HP/MP management. Thanks to the Sub-Personae, you basically get an amount of house money to spend before using your actual HP/MP. This Gamasutra article goes into more detail.

1:03:45 I beat Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor.
This Destructiod article explores what I mean when I discuss the tutorials.
As for the Branding, I like the idea. I'll be posting something more about it this weekend.
I like the mechanics of the game, but the story does leave much to be desired. It's sloppy writing, and I cannot deny that. Still, the way it plays would still make it worth going through, in my opinion.

It's weird that Sam and I are reversing our usual roles in this discussion. I like a nice change of pace. He's right, the main story is a heaping pile of suck. However, the whole package is pretty strong.

1:16:20 I finished watching The X-Files.
Shame that Garrett couldn't take part in this conversation. Season 7, David Duchovny's last season as a main cast member, was really the pinnacle of the series. Once he left the cast, it kinda all went downhill. The new guys they brought in weren't bad, but the magic that Fox Mulder and Dana Scully had was never recovered. The chemistry between Mulder and Scully never really came across with John Dogget and Monica Reyes.
We were probably a little harsh when talking about Dana Scully's character at the start of this conversation. In the story, Scully often takes a harsher, more skeptical view than she actually has because she feels she needs to balance Mulder's "Everything is real." Later, she does the opposite. When John Dogget joins the team, she takes on more extreme "believer" views than she had, to balance out his skepticism. It makes her a lot more interesting than you'd initially be led to believe.
It's a very interesting series, and the first seven seasons are great. The last two aren't as good, and the finale was terrible.

(And yes, I was playing Binding of Issac during this recording session.)

1:24:30 Chris finishes college.
Congrats to him!

1:25:30 Chris played more Mario Kart.
Them golden tires.
Them time trials.
Such interesting.

1:32:30 Chris saw a 2-pack of Two-Pound Resse Cups (but didn't buy it).
And that's a lot of Resse Cup. You would have to eat it like a Resse Cup Pie.
Kinda makes you reflect on our Hot Pocket conversation at the start, doesn't it.
We talk about all sorts of sweets and candy and other sweet food "stuff" in this segment.
TITLE DROP!

1:40:50 Chris talks pizza.
And he had a LOT of pizza, with buffalo wings.
Chris has a much greater iron stomach than I do.
We also get into a discussion about water and soda prices, and the difference between Coke and Pepsi.
Another discussion regarding movies and my Holiday Movie Habits ensues.

1:49:00 ASSASSIN'S CREED 3 IS SHIT!
We mostly just shift into a general discussion about the whole franchise at this point, so it's worth labeling as it's own segment.
Then we just talk about Ubisoft in general.

1:53:30 Wrapping up.
And next week will be our Unconventional Games of the Year (That Are Worth Talking About) Commercials.... um... AWARD SHOW! See you then!

The Texture Pop: Episode 19: I Just Want to Cheat on Myself! Is That So Hard!?

We have a very unique guest with us today. Adonisus, or as you might know him "That one guy who always sends in viewer questions." He has one of the more unique voices on the cast.
Garrett wasn't feeling well, so he skipped out.

Aside from that, you probably won't find anything strange about the podcast. It's shorter than usual, but contains everything you've come to expect.



0:00:00 Introduction
And yet another quote from FFXIII Fanfics.

0:01:17 Gaming News
The VGA Awards was our biggest story of the day. It is was certainly better than previous VGAs, but it still has that VGA soul that I disliked from the Spike awards.
This was completely independent of Spike, and it wasn't even broadcasted on television, so I don't know why this turned out the way it did.
I have nothing further to add to this conversation. It was very comprehensive.
We also detoured briefly to discuss Assassin's Creed: Unity again. To be fair, we had yet to release our last podcast when we recorded this, so many of my thoughts on the game were unknown. These were fair questions to ask.

Afterward, we discussed the PlayStation Experience. Though I have since watched the keynote, my knowledge at the time of this recording was only limited to second hand accounts, so my input was limited. Now that I have watched it, my opinions are parallel to the others. Destiny, once again, gets mentioned.
The Street Fighter V announcement was also part of the PS Exp. What I suspect is going to happen is that Capcom is going to release vanilla SF V to PS4, but later "Super/Ultra" editions will go to all major consoles and PC.

0:29:45 Adonisus got a Wii U.
And we discuss a lot of the good games that are either already out on the Wii U, and coming out for the holiday season.

0:37:50 We discover Adonisus is from Macon, Georgia.
So we talk about the game, because there was no comic or TV show ever.
I really don't think of the comics or TV show when talking about The Walking Dead. They don't even come up in my mind.
As for the location. It's Georgia. Listeners already know what I feel about Georgia.

0:43:10 Adonisus played Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Recent Bioware games have this problem where they are all extremely polarizing. Either you love them, or hate them without any real middle ground. Our discussion at the beginning of this segment is indicative of them.
Still, from what I hear, there is a lot to like about Inquisition. A lot of people enjoy it and I can see why. Hopefully, I will get Dragon Age 2 out of the way so that I can get to it soon.

Sam and Chris asked me about why I like Leliana so much. I think that it just came down to the fact that she's my type. I like girls that are sweet, but able to handle themselves just fine. Leliana is that kind of girl. There's really nothing more to it.
I also like her backstory of being betrayed and going to the church for salvation. I'm not a religious person, but I find those characters interesting.

0:59:30 Sam played South Park: The Stick of Truth.
And not much more to say other than that it's okay. A bit of a shame, really.

1:00:20 Sam got to meet George Weidman aka Super Bunny Hop
If you haven't seen any of Super Bunny Hop's videos, you should watch some of them. They tend to be very informative and interesting for the kind of people who would read this blog or watch the podcast. Check him out.

Since they played Super Smash Bros. and Super Mario 3D World, we spent most of this segment talking about those games.

1:10:20 Chris has been prepping for college finals.
And everyone knows how painful they are. I just finished mine a few days ago as of the time of writing.

1:13:00 Chris got the golden kart in Mario Kart.
Yay, him!
"[Mario Kart's] Grand Prix is very much like a Rogue-like."

1:17:00 Chris talks about the new South Park episode.
It was about YouTubers and Let's Plays. They had PewDiePie in the episode as a character.
I don't watch South Park, so I've not much to say about it.

We also use this segment to discuss the virtue of LPs, and how they can help us preserve older games. After all, our computer's might not be able to run many games after years of innovation.

I also have my own unfinished LP series, Disclosure Alert, which you can watch. It was mentioned in the episode.

1:27:00 I played more Persona Q.
Going back to Persona Q 2: The Reckoning (God Damn It!)
Naoto is Yu Narukami's destined waifu. I will not hear any objections.

1:30:30 I played Shadows of Murder (Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor)
It is a great game bound to a really boring story. From a system's perspective, this is an amazing game worthy of Game of the Year. However, the plot lacks any form of self-awareness and there's nothing noteworthy going on. It feels a lot like a tutorial for the game proper, which is the Nemesis System.

Which is by far the most interesting aspect of the game. The developers managed to create a way for enemies to grow and evolve, memorizing and learning from past events, growing in power, and becoming your rival.

1:40:00 We talk a little about This War of Mine.
Hearing the comparisons of people who have been in similar real world events to those in the game is really fascinating. When it comes down to it, people are very cooperative, and games don't tend to allow that.

1:45:30 Wrapping up, but first viewer questions.
"Did you guys read the novel, 'Ready Player One'?"
Nope.

"Do you guys miss having an adventure mode in the new Smash Bros.?"
That's a question the others are better off answering.

We kinda just end afterward.

#78: Assassin's Creed: Unity: Giving Players Freedom

Last week, I talked a lot about Assassin's Creed: Unity. Specifically, I went over the myriad of poor decisions that, while not affecting the main game too heavily, brought down the entire package. The inclusion of social media, companion apps, and microtransactions all contributed to the impression that Ubisoft was nickel-and-diming franchise fans for all they were worth. Still, the package as a whole was not bad. There were many positive improvements made to the usual Assassin's Creed formula. It is these that are the subject of this week's piece. I feel that they are worth talking about as much as the negative qualities. Positive criticism is just as much, if not more important than negative criticism, as they say.

The most notable addition to the game is the increased focus on character customization. There are two ways in which this is done: First, through the use of a character progression system. At the beginning of the game, the protagonist is relatively unskilled. He only knows basic parkour and combat abilities. As the player completes missions, the gain skill points. These skill points can be spent unlocking extra health, combat finishers, ranged techniques, and even classic moves like the Double Assassination and the Air Assassination. At first, it seems strange to be locked from many of the franchise's iconic moves. However, there is a clear sense of choice and progression granted to the player as a result. Skills fall into one of four different specialties: Close Combat, Ranged Combat, Health, and Stealth. It is up to the player to invest their points either in one of these specializations, or some combination of them. Whatever they decide on will ultimately determine how they play the game, as there is a notable difference between each choice.

The other way is through equipment. As in previous Assassin's Creed titles, primarily the Ezio trilogy, players can purchase new weapons and armor throughout their playthrough. Back then, those armors were straight upgrades. One armor was objectively better or worse than another piece of armor, and the same could nearly be said of the weapons. In Unity, this is not the case. Every piece of armor has passive abilities that are conferred to the protagonist when worn. Like as was the case with skills, these effects fall into the four categories of Close Combat, Ranged Combat, Health, and Stealth.

Weapons, on the other hand, come in several flavors of their own. The player can have only one melee and one ranged weapon at a time. For melee weapons, players can use a sword for balanced damage and speed, spears for longer range and comparable speed in exchange for less damage, or heavy weapons for extra damage at sword range, but with slower speed. In terms of distance weaponry, the choices are pistols, which come in accurate single or close-range multi-barrelled varieties, and rifles for extra long-range combat. No one piece of equipment is important by itself. When the whole package, including armor and weapons, is combined with the skills as outlined above, it produces a player avatar that is almost wholly unique for that of every other player's. As a result, though the general control scheme is the same for all, each player will be able to craft a protagonist and playstyle that is wholly their own.

This feeds into one of the biggest improvements made in Unity's design, the new take on Assassination Missions. Rather than the more linear, semi-scripted sequences seen in Assassin's Creed 3, Black Flag, and even the recently-released Rogue, the developers took a different approach. Referred to a “Black Box-style”, these segments strongly resemble what one would get from either the original Assassin's Creed. What can best be described as a rudimentary version of Hitman-style “choose your approach” gameplay, Unity's Assassination Missions are more free-form in the way they play out. Instead of following a linear script, with minor deviations, players are just given a zone of operation and the objective “Kill [Target Name]”, along with the number of possible routes, secret routes, and guards on location. Players only fail the mission if die or if the target escapes the area. Though the player is shown a couple of “opportunities”, side missions which they can completely to make the assassination easier, they are given no further direction than that. The game asks them to think for themselves and figure which method they would prefer to take out a target.

This is a fantastic change to the way these missions usually play out. Being able to decide for oneself how to approach a situation is empowering to a significant degree. I personally appreciated the autonomy, as it made me feel like I was an assassin in a way I have not since playing either the original Assassin's Creed or Hitman: Blood Money. Scouting the area to plan the approach, getting close without being detected, and striking at the right moment are all parts of that feeling. Though it is indeed possible to charge in, sword in hand, the player also needs to be careful when making this choice. While it is technically possible to charge in and shiv a target, that is only advisable to someone who has invested heavily in Close Combat and Health. Other characters will lack the damage output and survivability, as combat has taken a turn for the tougher and guards will easily dispatch the careless. Most characters will require more subtlety and thinking in order to accomplish their objective, using a playstyle better suited to their skillset. There are multiple possible methods and approaches, but the game will not judge the player for whatever one they take. Whatever works is a valid option, no matter how silly.

That is the best thing that Unity has done for the formula. Players now have much more freedom to think for themselves and plan out their own approaches to missions and general gameplay. Despite the many, many flaws present in the game, there is a lot of potential here to expand upon these ideas. Still, I fear that after Unity's poor reception, Ubisoft will learn the wrong lesson from this. Rather than expand upon the good of this game, they will simply retreat from it in fear after their technical blunders and unnecessary additions brought the whole thing to its knees. Perhaps another year would have polished off some of the glitches, but the fundamental design decisions talked about last week would not have changed. This seems to be what Ubisoft wants. Until they realize how bad a decision that is, they are going to suffer for it.

The Texture Pop: Episode 18: Going Back to Persona Q

Happy late Thanksgiving from the Texture Pop! We recorded this on the Saturday after Black Friday, so we hope that you were in good spirits to the kickoff of the Holiday Season! We, as usual, were completely out of control.

0:00:00 Introduction

This intro referenced an earlier conversation we were having before the recording stuff.

And we mention Destiny again!

0:03:25 Viewer questions.

"What do you guys think about Sega?"

We jested on the cast, but in all sincerity, Sega has everything they need to be a successful company. However, they do not seem to have the saaviness to produce what audiences outside Japan want. Like many Japanese companies, it seems like they are unable to see too far outside of their national bubble. They've lost touch with the outside world, and they are paying for it. Especially with the release of the new Sonic and the not-release of Valkyria Chronicles 3 outside Japan.

This article talks a bit more about this, regarding Valkyria Chronicles 2.

0:17:20 News time, children.

Assassin's Creed: Unity's Season Pass is no longer on market.

And then we discussed Unity a little more. While this is the correct way to handle the problem, Ubisoft really should not have put themselves in this position.  The microtransaction discussion made us bring up this piece I wrote about Dead Space 3.

Dark Souls 2 coming to next-gen consoles.

And Sam said all that needed to be said.

Nobody is getting review copies of The Crew

Which is never a good sign for a game. This is especially egregious after what happened regarding Assassin's Creed: Unity and its embargo.

Sony is offering $25 rebate to early PS Vita adopters.

Halo: Master Chief Collection is still broken.

0:45:20 Chris has been playing more Hyrule Warriors

They released new DLC, feeding Chris's habits. Yes, Nintendo is very much like a drug lord.

We pretty much just run down the DLC in this segment.

This leads into a conversation about DLC, pricing, and Season Pass.

0:58:40 Chris played Mario Kart.

And again, there's not much to add.

1:02:00 Chris and Garrett played Warframe.

And he get a Destiny reference in. Truly, we are the best Destiny podcast on the internet. It's a lot like Destiny, except not bad.

It's free to play, so if this conversation caught your interest, you should check it out.

1:10:00 Garrett has been playing League.

And eating hi-chews. Also, he has Twitch violate Sly Cooper's copyright.

We also tell Sam about various mythologies and how much he doesn't know about them. Most of those deities are Personas in the Persona series, so I know quite a bit about them.

1:18:00 Garrett has been doing Holiday shopping.

And we talk about credit cards and shopping and stuff.

1:21:00 Garrett watches an anime called "The Devil is a Part-Timer".

Anime. And anime McDonald's clones.

It did remind me of Invader Zim (and my previous job), but that's not worth talking about too much.

And, so course, Sam talks about anime.

1:28:00 Garrett read "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" some more.

I admit, the comparisons between the book and the movie versions are quite interesting, because it highlights the difference between what readers want and what viewers want.

1:31:50 I played the Binding of Issac: Rebirth
When playing on my Vita, I was always constantly trying to minimize screen glare from the sunlight, which really hindered my experience. Further, the screen made some details hard to see even in ideal situation. Just moving to the TV in my room solved a lot of my problems.
But even then, the PS4 controller is so much more suited to playing the game than either KB&M or the Vita. Really, I would say that's the ideal way to play. Either that, or with a controller on the PC. Do not use KB&M, it will hurt you physically.
As on the time of this release, it is no longer free on PS+.

1:40:05 I played Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth.
And you'll quickly see how we came up with this episode's title.
Also, I should not play games in the middle of the cast.

Going back to Persona Q:
If you like Persona 3 and/or Persona 4, this is a game that you need to play. Even if you dislike the Etrian Odyssey stuff, the rest of the package is so great that it is easily worth the asking price. You won't regret it. It feels a lot like an old-school JRPGs, for better or worse. However, someone like myself would be totally fine.
I actually made a mistake in this. I said that Zen/Rei get refunded for their SP they use for exploiting weaknesses. I was wrong, they actually have a skill that regenerates their SP as they walk around the map.

2:05:11 I talked about Black Friday.
(My opinion does not reflect those of my employer.)
For the record, I work retail. (Also, this was recorded on the Saturday after Black Friday.) I worked three shifts from the end of Thanksgiving to the end of the Saturday afterward. It was not great.
Black Friday is an interesting subject to think about, because really wants to do it. It's just the natural consequence of the fact that nobody wants to shop before Thanksgivings, but everyone wants to buy tons of stuff immediately afterward. Shamus Young wrote a really interesting piece on the matter.

2:12:20 Sam played Hatsune Miku... something or other.
You know how it is.

2:13:00 Sam played more Far Cry 4.
And this kinda speaks to the Ubisoft formula. They prefer, for better or worse, small iterations as opposed to large changes. Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and even Watch_Dogs show how similar the Ubisoft open-worlds are.
If you liked Far Cry 3, you'll like Far Cry 4. If you didn't like Far Cry 3, you won't like Far Cry 4. It is as simple as that.

2:24:10 Sam played Assassin's Creed: Unity.
I am really glad that Sam got the chance to play Unity. The reason is that I have noticed that my viewpoint regarding video games is very critical. Sam is much more optimistic and positive in his viewpoints. As a result, I can play off him and we can talk much more about the positives of the game much more than I'd be able to talk about alone.
Because there is a lot of good to talk about. The character customization is great. The equipment and character development are great. And the assassinations are... amazing. I would almost recommend the game for the assassination missions alone.
So yeah, go optimism!

Sam's article about buying games on launch is here.

In response to Chris's question, if Unity would have been better after one extra year, I would say "No", with a caveat. While many technical issues would have likely been resolved in that year, I would posit that many of the fundamental issues I have with the game would still be present. This is because they mostly come down to design decisions, which I talked about here.

2:53:00 Wrapping Up
And we plan stuff regarding future shows on the air. Such professional!

#77: Assassin's Creed: Unity: The Broken Shell

There are many different types of games out there. Some of them are astounding bad in all categories. Others do one or two things well, but are brought down by mediocrity in other areas. Still more are games that are excellent, despite minor issues. And then, there are special games. Games with certain aspects done incredibly well and others miserably bad. Assassin's Creed: Unity is one such game. This is a title where the fundamental core of the game is solid, but the systems surrounding it, the shell, if you will allow this analogy, is irreparably terrible. In other words, it is broken. This week, I will tell describe this “broken shell”, and why it is the fundamental reason why Unity has become a laughing stock among gamers in recent history.

The most noticeable section of the broken shell is the Companion App. When the game proper came out, Ubisoft also saw fit to release a companion app for the game, available on both Android and iOS. This is not the first time Ubisoft has done something like this. Watch_Dogs had a companion app as well. C_TOS, as it was called, allowed players to enter the game of, and attack, other players. They could send police and trigger traps to defeat their friends, from anywhere in the world with a solid internet connection. Overall, this was a neat little diversion that was not necessary, but gave players a way of interacting with the game when they were unable to play it.

The Official Assassin's Creed: Unity Companion App works differently. Chief among these differences is the fact that it can only be played while Assassin's Creed: Unity is running on a PS4, Xbox One, or PC. It has several features, including a map of the title's rendering of Paris. Furthermore, a “Nomad” minigame, similar to the Brotherhood mechanic found in previous titles in the franchise. Players can recruit characters to develop their skills and undertake missions to earn resources. These nomads can even be used to open treasure chests scattered through Paris, like those in previous Assassin's Creed games. In fact, and this is perhaps the most egregious part of the whole thing, there are several chests and unlockables that can only be obtained through the use of this companion app. As a result, if one does not want to use it, or (like me) is unable to do so due to technical reasons (my phone will not run it), it is impossible to complete everything in the game. In this way, the app has gone from an interesting way to continuously interact with the game to a necessary component of it.

Another component of this broken shell is the integration with Assassin's Creed: Initiates social network. Not many people are aware of this, but Ubisoft has been pushing this little social network ever since the release of Assassin's Creed 3. Franchise fans can sign up for an account, separate from their Uplay account (though the two need to be synced to make best use of the feature). As they play Assassin's Creed games that have Uplay integration, they gain experience and level up on this profile. This unlocks series lore and information on the website. Furthermore, they may even receive in-game bonuses resources on certain titles.

Assassin's Creed: Unity makes more use of this feature. By syncing their Initiates profile to the game, they can gain Initiates experience by completing challenges in the game. Through tracking both these accomplishments and what players do during the assassination missions in the main story, Initiates will also determine the player's style. By itself, that would be fine. The issue comes from the fact that there are many unlockable outfits, and again treasure chests, that will only open if the player has a sufficient Initiates level. Just like before, this leaves it impossible to completely finish the game without first having such an account. Further, these unlockables are likely out of reach unless said player also goes back to all the older Assassin's Creed games and syncs their progress to Initiates. Unless the player has been a long-time fan of the series, they are unlikely to progress far enough to get much of anything.

The last section of this broken shell is the newly added microtransactions. In Unity, the player can purchase new equipment, which affects their character's abilities, and upgrade it as well. They can, and likely will, spend in-game resources on these items. However, they can also spend Helix Credits, which can be purchased using real-world money. These Helix Credits can also be used, along with UPlay credits (which are acquired in the same way they are in every Ubisoft game), to purchase temporary boosts like “Extra Attack Power for 5 Minutes”. Given that the game already costs $60, it feels a bit like Ubisoft is nickel-and-diming players when they do not have to. It is worth noting that none of these are necessary to complete the game. Most players will never even consider purchasing them. However, the mere existence of this offering is indicative of what I hope is not going to be a trend going forward for the franchise.

I bring all of this up because it feels like many of the critics talking about Assassin's Creed: Unity are mentioning these grips only in passing. Rather, I am hearing many comment on the more obvious technical issues, like the face glitches. Though the technical problems are certainly worth mentioning, too much time is focused on them. They can be easily fixed and do not represent the vision laid out for the game. However, the design issues discussed in this article are representative of Ubisoft's vision. Unfortunately, this part of their vision is ugly. It represents a forced integration of social apps and social networking and a willingness to try and get players to make microtransactions in full retail-priced games. None of this really enters into the structure of the main part of the game, but it brings down all the same. This outer layer, what I call the “broken shell”, is what keeps players from appreciating the core of game. And there is a lot of like about Unity, despite these elements. Next week, I plan to discuss the good parts in more detail.