Reader's Choice Best Of 2016 Awards

Good grief, has it already been a year? Every year, around this time, we look at the games that released over the previous 12 months and give the best ones a special shout out as part of our best of the year awards. In addition, we poll our readers (that’s you!) to see what they think should win the awards. Sometimes the picks align, sometimes they don’t. You can see for yourself how everything panned out today, with the release of the results.

Nearly 20,000 of you participated in the polling this year, which is great. Thanks for taking the time to make your voices heard, even if your opinions were wrong (KIDDING). Without further ado, here are the complete results, in all of the categories.  

Best Sony Game: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
This one wasn’t even close. Naughty Dog’s game pulled in 57 percent of the vote in this category, with the next-closest contender, The Last Guardian, trailing back at about 11 percent. If you squint hard enough, you may be able to make out No Man’s Sky’s 5 percent. In other words, people seem to like that Nathan Drake fella.

Best Microsoft Game: Gears Of War 4
Microsoft’s field of contenders was tighter, and also considerably smaller. Gears of War 4 took the number-one slot with a little over 37 percent, with Forza Horizon 3’s 22 percent earning the racing game a second-place position. Third place was practically a tie between Dead Rising 4, Quantum Break, and Superhot. 

Best Nintendo Game: Pokémon Sun & Moon
People still like Pokémon, in case you forgot. Readers certainly didn’t, with the latest installment, Sun & Moon, handily winning with 40 percent of the vote. Fire Emblem Fates pulled in 10 percent, which was enough to give it second place. Are you a fan of Azure Striker Gunvolt 2? Did you think it was the best Nintendo game of 2016? If so, you’re a real outlier, since only 39 of you picked what was ultimately the last-place choice.

Best PC Exclusive: Civilization VI
Finally, a little competition. World of Warcraft got its long-awaited Legion expansion in 2016, but it wasn’t enough to take the top prize. It earned a respectable 15 percent of reader votes, but Civilization VI edged past with 22 percent. Perhaps Gandhi was secretly threatening you guys to vote for the game or face his vast nuclear arsenal.

Best Mobile/Handheld Game: Pokémon Go
Remember that time I mentioned that people still like Pokémon? I wasn’t kidding! The franchise dominated the mobile/handheld field, with Niantic’s augmented-reality spinoff and the latest proper entry in the series. Go barely squeaked past Sun & Moon for the victory, at 27 percent compared to 25 percent. Meanwhile, our pick, Clash Royale, trailed behind Deus Ex Go and Fire Emblem Fates. 

Best Action: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Ah, action, everyone’s favorite genre/category that you use when nothing else fits. Let’s all tip our caps to Dishonored 2 (19 percent), Dark Souls III (17 percent), and Watch Dogs 2 (4 percent). They tried their best, but couldn't come close to Uncharted 4’s 28 percent. Three of you weirdos picked Bound as the best action game of 2016. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do with that information, but there it is. Action.

Best Adventure: Firewatch
In the adventure category – also known as games where you walk around and do stuff – one game towered over the others. Appropriately enough, it was Firewatch, a game partially set in a tower. OK, it was actually fairly close, but I desperately wanted to work in a tower reference. About 24 percent of you guys liked Campo Santos’ game, with Batman: The Telltale Series taking second place at 19 percent. Telltale’s two other game in the category followed closely after (The Walking Dead: Michonne and Minecraft: Story Mode), along with Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham VR.

from www.GameInformer.com - The Feed http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/01/04/reader-s-choice-best-of-2016-awards.aspx