That seems like enough prior art to invalidate much of what could conceivably be considered novel in the pending patent...

Yep. First time I saw this idea was Animal Crossing: Wild Word's "rolling log" effect in 2005, albeit in reverse. (So you get a top-down view and a horizon view at the same time). Second time I saw this specific idea was a Minecraft vertex shader in 2013 with the "Acid Shaders" vertex transform shaders.

Was thinking the same thing- I still have those posters and was thinking of them when I saw this was patent pending.

For me it was Halo: Combat Evolved

Exactly what I thought of, I bought these posters at the time and they are still in the cardboard tube.

Great memory, great reference!

I remember working on something like this as early as 1999! It was for a small European company, sadly we weren't able to put it out due to licensing restrictions at the time.