Makeout Mania! from StormHatch ($0.99)

Makeout Mania! is a "chain-reaction puzzler" that puts you in the role of that love-spreading cherub, Cupid, on a mission to pierce the heart of a school full of unsuspecting students with your arrows of love, sending them on a frenzied bid to kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss.

The title offers 24 levels of gameplay in Puzzle Mode, where the mission is to pierce a heart and make the perfect match (consult the yearbook to see who's nuts about who) while avoiding the teachers at all cost. There's also Mania Mode where it's a race against the clock to trigger the most kisses possible in an ever-scrolling schoolhouse, with the option to compete against your Facebook and Plus+ friends.

Free, new levels are on the way and an update has been submitted that tweaks a few areas of gameplay.

App Store Link: Makeout Mania! ($0.99)

Flower Garden from SnappyTouch ($0.99)

A big part of Valentine's Day, for those of us that don't spend all our time playing iPhone games, is flowers. And, thanks to Noel Llopis of SnappyTouch, you can have your own lovely flower garden right inside your iPhone.

As we said in our initial review of the app, Flower Garden is not really a game. It does, however, fall into the same sim / virtual pet type experience that has boosted apps such as Koi Pond, Pocket God and Touch Pets Dogs to the heights of popularity in the App Store.

There's no real goal to Flower Garden. It's something of a zen-like experience, really. Grow flowers. Unlock new seeds. Clip flowers to make bouquets. And it's the last that really puts this game under the Valentine's Day crosshairs; you can make a lovely bouquet and email it to someone special. Basically, it turns your iPhone into a digital Cupid, with email for arrows. And, to make things even sweeter, the game is currently under a 60%-off weekend-only Valentine's Day sale at $0.99.

App Store Link: Flower Garden ($0.99, sale)

Whac-a-Mole: Whacky Valentines from Mattel (Free)

Everybody's played a whack-a-mole game, in one form or another. It's a pretty simple formula: the mole pops up out of its hole and you whack it.  And, who doesn't like to bludgeon moles? Especially when the damned things are trying to ruin Valentine's Day!

Whac-a-Mole: Whacky Valentines is basically a Valentine-themed version of the iPhone original [App Store] which is, as such games go, a pretty solid take on the whack-a-mole formula. Amusingly, the digital backboard of the game provides the occasional (though highly simplistic) mini-game — a nice touch.

I'd go into further description of the title but…it's free, so just download it and start whacking.

App Store Link: Whac-a-Mole: Whacky Valentines (Free)

Touch Pets Dogs Valentine's Goodies Pack from ngmoco ($2.99 DLC)

Virtual pet buffs need not be left out in the cold on this day of love and merriment. Ngmoco is currently offering a Valentine's Goodies Pack as paid in-game DLC ($2.99) in Touch Pets Dogs for those that want to lavish their v-pooch with as much love as can be.

App Store Link: Touch Pets Dogs (Free)

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody.

My Lil' Bastard is a virtual pet game with an Adult Swim spin on it. This isn't your everyday Tamogotchi that just wanders around eating and sleeping, your lil' bastard has quite an attitude and seems to really take a liking to destroying the toys you get it and burning its cardboard box down. You eventually toilet train your lil' bastard, and even send it instant messages once you get it a computer… Assuming you don't kill it before then.

Like other Adult Swim games, the flash version of My Lil' Bastard can be played for free online. The iPhone port of the game is remarkably similar, with the only major difference being using your finger instead of a mouse. Here are the first few minutes of the flash version:

If you like virtual pet games, but found ngmoco's Touch Pets Dogs [Free] to be a little too cute for your tastes, My Lil' Bastard might be right up your alley. Try the flash version first, if you find yourself enjoying your flash lil' bastard, you'll have just as much fun on your iPhone.

App Store Link: My Lil' Bastard, $2.99

My Lil' Bastard is a fairly simple virtual pet game where you raise your own lil' bastard, starting with adjusting a heat lamp to determine its sex. From there you learn how to feed it, clean it, look after it, and keep it happy. Of course, being an Adult Swim game, this isn't your average virtual pet. Your lil' bastard will inevitably have an attitude problem which will lead to lots of vomiting, thrown molotov cocktails, and even breaking the water bottle you use to discipline him or her.

Like the other Adult Swim games, My Lil' Bastard is playable for free on the Adult Swim Games site, and this is a pocket-sized carbon copy of the same game with touch controls instead of a mouse pointer.

Here is the trailer for the identical flash game:

My Lil' Bastard is set for release on the 23rd of this month, so if you find an iTunes gift card under your Christmas tree and are looking for a not-so-adorable virtual pet– Look no further than getting your own lil' bastard.

The core gameplay has remained largely unchanged since our first looks at the game earlier. The way your dog interacts with objects along with the various animations associated with each interaction seem very refined, and at times border the edge of the canine uncanny valley, if such a thing exists. The touch gestures to interact with your virtual dogs feel very natural and the way they romp around playing with the various toys and objects can be somewhat eerie at times with how much the in-game dogs act like puppies would in real life.

Since we last saw the game, one of the big additions is the resource management aspect. Your dog obviously needs to eat, and buying food requires spending puppy bucks. Puppy bucks are earned by keeping your dog happy by petting it, teaching it tricks, and fulfilling its other needs. Puppy bucks also can be used to buy new clothes for your dog along with accessories required for the various dog career paths previously discussed in the other previews.

The negative effects your dog can experience are limited to its various happiness statistics falling and your dog whining until you make it happy again. It can never starve or die, or really be abused in any way. You will never permanently run out of food — if you use it all you will earn more slowly over time. There will never be a point where you are unable to get more food.

The big reveal with the latest showing of TouchPets Dogs was the deep Plus+ integration in the game. We've always been told that the game was going to offer a social experience as you interact with your friends' dogs, but seeing the way the whole system works really changed my opinion on the game from "I guess it sounds kind of cool" to "I can see myself getting way too involved in this game."

Each change to your dog's statistics, personality, and equipment/accessory load out is constantly synchronized with the TouchPets Dogs servers via your Plus+ login. Keeping all of your dog's information online guarantees that even if you invest hundreds of hours in to perfecting your in-game dogs, they will never be lost if your device fails or you upgrade to a new one. In addition to this, you and your Plus+ friends will have constant access to each others dogs to go on play dates.

If my dog feels like socializing, or if I feel like getting a second dog to play with, I just tap the globe icon, look through my friends list and invite their dog in to my game. This essentially grabs a snapshot of their dog off the Plus+ servers, and brings that dog with all of its statistics and equipment at the time in to my dog's house.

For instance, I was going through the scientist career path with my dog and eventually got to a mission that required two dogs. I went online, looked through my friends' available dogs, and invited Neil from ngmoco's dog Comet to play. Comet arrived both hungry and dirty, so I gave him some food and a quick bath then we went on to complete the science mission. I played with both dogs enough that Comet went home happy and in the process became friends with my dog.

I know it sounds silly, but how this all works is so simple and the way the dogs interact with each other is so intriguing to watch that I walked away from the experience completely amazed with what had just transpired. On top of this, the next time Neil opens TouchPets Dogs to play with Comet, he will find that he's well fed and clean.

Sounds great, right? But there's a catch: TouchPets Dogs currently can only be played with an active WiFi or 3G internet connection. ngmoco has put so much emphasis on the social aspect of the game that they seemingly have designed the interaction with other dogs as one of the primary focuses of your TouchPets experience. When I asked why there wasn't an offline mode, various technical limitations and conflicts with the synchronization process were cited.

I had a great time with TouchPets Dogs, but I really have to question the logic behind this decision. If you have an iPhone, you're in the clear, but I would think that most of the younger gamers that a game like this would appeal to would be playing from an iPod Touch in the backseat of a car or other places without WiFi access. With the game so close to submission to Apple, it appears unlikely that an offline mode will be included in its initial release, though they said it remained a point of discussion that they were considering.

All in all, the time I spent with the game really changed how I felt about TouchPets Dogs. The social aspects of playing with my friends' various dogs and forming relationships with these virtual pets is an oddly captivating experience, something that I was not at all expecting from the game.

Here's a title that may appeal to a specific audience. Namco has released Tamagotchi: 'Round the World in both full $5.99 [App Store] and free Lite [App Store] versions.

Interact with cute clouds, playful plants and gleeful geysers to raise the ultimate pet: An entire planet! Keep your Tamagotchi well-fed with fresh fruit and tickle them until they fall down laughing! Play with the environmental creatures called Gaiatchi and earn Stars to buy Tamagotchi stamps for your virtual stampbook! Eat, dance, play and even poop your way to a happier and healthier planet!

The game is an updated version of the virtual pet phenomenon that was/is Tamagotchi.

• Four Tamagotchi to choose from! Mametchi, Memetchi, Kuchipatchi and Violetchi.
• Five mini-games to play with the Gaiatchi – Rock Paper Scissors, Bubble Game, Move It, Beach Ball and Dancing
• Three activities to play with your Tamagotchi – Tickling, Memory Match, and Math Puzzle
• Lively, interactive environmental creatures such as geysers, plants, clouds, and seedlings!
• Earn Stars to buy special Tamagotchi stamps for your virtual stampbook!

The game revolves around raising and interacting with your Tamagotchi. It may appeal to those interested in virtual pet experiences and the Lite version gives you an opportunity to try it out.

App Store Links: Tamagotchi Lite, Free, Tamagotchi, $5.99