Cristiano Ronaldo and RockLive team up for addicting “Heads Up” iPhone game

RockLive, best known for their popular Mike Tyson Main Event game for the iPhone and iPod touch, is back for another high-profile game partnership. This time, the game studio has teamed up with world-leading soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo for a very fun and addicting game called Heads Up with Cristiano Ronaldo (now available). The game is insanely addictive and combines aspects from puzzle and brick-breaker type games with eye-popping graphics, crisp animations, simple pick-up-and-play game play to make a great gaming experience.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mLap2bB0aQ]

The goal of the game – as displayed in our video above – is to knock out as many soccer balls above Ronaldo in order to advance to the next level. Unlike a simple brick-breaker, knocking soccer balls down is nowhere near the full story. In order to clear the soccer balls, two of the same colored soccer balls (whether they be blue, purple, green, or orange) need to be touching. In order for those two soccer balls to disappear, a third ball of the same color needs to be launched by Cristiano Ronaldo. Knocking away all of the balls, though, is still challenging as combinations need to be discovered by the user in order for all the soccer balls to completely disappear. This makes it a fun, pick-up-and-play puzzle-type game…

The game includes four fun and unique levels. The first level is called Soccer Field and automatically comes unlocked when you first download the game. The game increases in difficulty as you move on to the advanced level called Great Wall, and becomes even more challenging when you reach the final chapter: Mount Fuji, a similar style of game play but against a timer. After you complete all three main levels, a special bonus round called “Kids” is unlocked. The goal of the game is to eliminate all of the soccer balls in a given level, but the central goal here is to collect as many coins as possible. These coins, which are collected as you clear soccer balls in levels, allow you to move on to the next levels. For example, getting to the Great Wall level requires you to reach 1200 coins (which isn’t too easy).

These coins can also be used to purchase special power-ups, which in turn will allow you to gain more points, furthermore advance to new levels, in the long-run. For example, you can buy a a two-pack of “Big Red” bombs to eliminate all the soccer balls on the screen. This power-up costs 400 coins while a four-pack of the same power-up costs 680 coins. On the subject of achievements, RockLive has built in two great solutions to managing your progress. This first is support for iOS 5 Game Center. This allows you to play against your other iOS Game Center friends with Apple’s algorithms and interface. RockLive actually went a few steps cooler, though, and put together their own gaming social network. Players can make their own username (I’m Mark), add a profile picture, add friends, and connect to networks like Twitter and Facebook.

RockLive’s leader board solution is unique in that it presents global, local, and views of people you follow for each individual level. Their solution is integrated so well that players of Heads Up will enjoy using it over Apple’s own Game Center. Heads Up is a very fun and addictive game, yet it is light-weight, easy to play, and a game you can play forever without worrying about finishing a “story mode.” One of the most unique aspects of the game is it’s collaboration with world-renowned soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo, and we think it’s a great download. The game is available in ad-free form for $0.99 on the App Store and for free with ads. The game currently runs on the iPhone and iPod touch natively, with an iPad version coming later this month. The app already runs great, though, in 2x mode on the iPad.