Like many of us, David Jaffe, the creator of the God of War and Twisted Metal series, is playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom at the moment – and he seems to be having a good time. Only one thing is bothering him with Nintendo's latest Switch epic, and it's the way it looks.
"I don't give a f**k about amazing production value [and] visuals," he said on Twitter a few days ago. "A great game is a great game. Just starting and so far, so good. But given how much everyone goes ape s**t over visuals, it's staggering how this game can look like this and not get at least a little dinged by reviews," he ponders.
When one person replied "it looks great, dude", Jaffe responded with "Not to me". He added that he had "been trumpeting gameplay over visuals and games as an artform since I started making games professionally 20 years ago. Fact is tho, there are distractingly ugly parts of this game. Deal with it or don't but it's true."
Today, Jaffe has posted an image he says was created using AI which shows a more realistic-looking Link gazing out over an eye-catching vista. A nice enough image, you might summize, but one which doesn't really capture the tone of the Zelda series. "Someone should send this to the folks at Nintendo and show them how to do the art next time," Jaffe says.
"This is why you're no longer working on God Of War" was one of the many predictably barbed replies Jaffe has received since posting the image.
Jaffe's career dates all the way back to the early '90s, when he worked as a tester on Sony ImageSoft titles such as Cliffhanger and Skyblazer. He stepped into a design role on Mickey Mania before creating the Twisted Metal series on the original PlayStation.
In 2005, he acted as lead designer and director on the first God of War game and would serve as creative director on its 2007 sequel. Since then, he has worked on the likes of Calling All Cars, Twisted Metal (the 2012 PS3 title) and Drawn to Death.