I share the sentiment with the author. When the animation is /the content/, you’ve basically built a low-bandwidth video player controlled by a mouse wheel.

I always back off such websites, they're extremely low density and filled with fluff, no thanks.

viewport is fixed ‘terrain’ visualization

zoom in/out to reveal/obscure fine-grained details

no scroll, only zoom

I both agree with all this AND still believe scroll is one of the better ways to allow for a self-paced journey through storyingtelling and animations