Super Mario Run, CATS get Google Play 2017 nods
Nintendo claims most downloaded new title while ZeptoLab's battle bot fighter awarded Game of the Year
It's year-end awards season, and Google Play kicked off the month-long gauntlet of honors by naming its Best Games of 2017.
Super Mario Run was the most downloaded new game of the year on Google Play, as reflected by its position atop the "Most Popular" category. (While the game debuted on iOS in 2016, the Android version wasn't out until March of this year.) Super Mario Run was followed on the chart by Snake VS Block, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, Pokemon Duel, and Ballz.
However, popularity doesn't always equal quality, so Google Play also had a Game of the Year award that was given to ZeptoLabs' CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars. The fighting game has players designing robots to fight one another in backyard battles, and the storefront said it "blew us away with its spellbinding gameplay, glossy graphics, and an impressively intuitive interface."
Google Play also doled out awards in a number of other categories, including Best Indie (Miracle Merchant), Most Innovative (After the End: Forsaken Destiny), and Best to Pick Up & Play (Cooking Craze - A Fast & Fun Restaurant Chef Game).
Gaming was also represented on Google Play's list of top books, as Ernest Cline's Ready Player One was the fifth best-selling book on the service in the US this year.