Legend of Zelda beats GTA V, Last of Us for Game of the Year

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n one of the most surprising, unpredicted moments of the year, The Legend of Velda: A Link Between Worlds have been voted as Game of the Year by Gamespot.

The website today announced that the Nintendo 3DS game was voted Game of the Year beating critically acclaimed games such as Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Super Mario 3D World and others.

Rockstar Game’s Grand Theft Auto V won the Game of the Year at the recent Spike TV VGX Awards and Golden Joystick Awards beating stiff competition from Naughty Dog’s apocalyptic survival thriller The Last of Us. Whilst The Last of Us lost to Game of the Year, it has won awards for Best Studio, Best Voice Actor, Best Voice Actress, Best Story and Best Newcomer.

GTA V itself earned critical acclaim worldwide for its immersive open world and engaging story. It broke $1 billion in just three days following its launch on September 17th, broke 7 Guinness World Records and sold more than 29 million units.

But despite the accolades of GTA V and Last of Us, and the other acclaimed nominations, the fantasy action adventure game Zelda, which also won for Best 3DS Game, pulled off an astonishing victory. GTA V went home with Best Xbox 360 Game and The Last of Us was awarded for Best PlayStation 3 Game.

Explaining its victory, Gamespot wrote: “Decades have come and gone without an entry in the Zelda franchise reaching the heights of A Link Between Worlds. While such an accomplishment warms the heart of anyone who has dutifully stood by Link during his ups and down, it has little bearing on this prestigious award.

“Just for a second, remove the nostalgic tingle of exploring a familiar version of Hyrule. Forget any sentimental attachment you may have for hookshots and bottled fairies. A Link Between Worlds is fantastic in its own right. It frees you of any tutorial shackles and sets you loose in a bustling world with only your own curiosity to guide you. Such unrestrained exploration is empowering. And when the many puzzles stumped us, it was all the more satisfying to figure out a solution using our own ingenuity.”

Amongst the other awards was Tearaway for Best PS Vita Game, Super Mario 3D World for Best Wii U Game, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for Best PS4 and Xbox One Game and Path of Exile won Best PC Game.

The award for Most Anticipated Game will be revealed tomorrow.