Google Announces Best Android Games of 2016

Clash Royale, please take a bow. You’ve earned the right to call yourself the Best Game of the Year — at least when it comes to Android. Google announced all of its picks for the Best Games of 2016, awarding …

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Clash Royale, please take a bow. You’ve earned the right to call yourself the Best Game of the Year — at least when it comes to Android.

Google announced all of its picks for the Best Games of 2016, awarding recognition across several categories. Unlike awards given to humans, it really is an honor for games just to be nominated for most of them, since Google doesn’t actually rank the five titles in any area, just presents them to the world so they get their time in the spotlight.

The lone exception is for Best Game of the Year, where one game stands alone like DJ Jazzy Jeff once did atop Mt. Olympus. It’s hard to argue with Clash Royale, as Supercell’s multiplayer strategy game managed to hook people in similar fashion as Clash of Clans, yet arguably with more legs thanks to its esports potential.

Some of the other Google Play categories are a bit harder to parse. ‘Most Beautiful’ and ‘Best Family’ are pretty self-explanatory, but what makes a game ‘Most Exhilarating’ is less obvious. It’s also worth noting that games didn’t have to come out in the calendar year to be nominated, as Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes has been out for more than a year at this point.

Nevertheless, it’s a worthy endeavor to get a bunch of different titles recognized simply because of the sheer volume of mobile games released in any given year. Without further ado, let’s have the virtual envelopes please …

Best Game of the Year

Most Competitive

Most Innovative

Top Trending

Best Indie

  • Rolling Sky (Cheetah Games)
  • PewDiePie’s Tuber Simulator (Outerminds Inc.)
  • AbyssRium-Make Your Aquarium (Cheetah Games)
  • Riptide GP: Renegade (Vector Unit)
  • The Last Vikings (Springloaded Ltd.)

Most Exhilarating

Most Irresistible

Most Beautiful

Best Family

  • Toca Life: Farm (Toca Boca)
  • Disney Emoji Blitz (Disney)
  • ABC Kids – Tracing & Phonics (RV AppStudios)
  • Thinkrolls: Kings & Queens (Avokiddo)
  • My Little Pony: Harmony Quest (Budge Studios)

Congrats to all the winners, and we’re already looking forward to a brand new year of Android games in just a few weeks.

Nick Tylwalk enjoys writing about video games, comic books, pro wrestling and other things where people are often punching each other, regaardless of what that says about him. He prefers MMOs, RPGs, strategy and sports games but can be talked into playing just about anything.