Passport to Paris sounds like the sub-heading of a terrible action movie, probably starring Steven Seagal. But it isn't - in fact, this isn't even a game - it's a PSP version of the popular Lonely Planet Travel Guides. But this leads me to my first question - why would you spend £19.99 on something you can pick up in your local bookshop for less than £5? Well, there are lots of reasons - most to do with how much you want to integrate your PSP into every part of your life. As it's been stated before, you can do everything with your PSP - listen to music, watch movies, view pictures, browse the Internet, play games, and now you can add using it as a travel guide to that list.

It seems a stupid idea to review this item sitting on a couch in Bristol, and so with Passport in hand and two free days I made my way to the airport. Booking the flight, I waited the mandatory three hours in which I spent most of my budget on a tuna sandwich and a coffee. While I waited, I switched my guide on and was helpfully informed of France's currency and customs, as well as the usual social differences. (They speak another language too, apparently!)

Landing in Charles de Gaulle, I checked into my hotel and decided to take one of the three audio tours the guide offers - Postcard to Paris, which takes you to the classic icons such as Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, Couture and Kebabs, which takes you through the cafes, bars and 'funky boutiques' (their phrase not mine!) and finally Lazy Left Bank Stroll, for the culture lovers, taking you to some of Paris's most historic and multicultural buildings. Of these I chose the obvious Postcard to Paris to begin with and I can only say that the directions on the audio tour are fabulous, with the female narrator giving me amusing and informative little titbits as I made my way from one place to another. At times it did feel like I was retracing my steps, but this just meant that I discovered a lovely little café I hadn't noticed the first time around.

Entering the quaint little place, I realised that I had no way of communicating and no knowledge of the language other than cul-de-sac (and my girlfriend would kill me if I said "Voulez vous couché avec moi, ce soir?" to anyone). No problem, as the wonderful phrase book within Passport to Paris, as you might guess, has hundreds of phrases to help you in many common situations. What makes this so wonderful is that as well as showing the translation, you can also hear it spoken. This is useful to learn how to pronounce a certain phrase, or for the lazy ones (like me) you can simply select a phrase, pass the earphones to the waiter, doctor or shopkeeper, then press play, thus alleviating you of the stress of shouting pidgin language and waving your arms wildly as you point at the cake you wanted. One of the more interesting, though odd, features, is the inclusion of other languages in the phrasebook (German, Italian, Czech, Dutch and Spanish). This further increases the usefulness of the guide, giving you a head start when you're planning your next trip. (I'm hoping this means that guides for other capital cities will be released in this series.)

While I drank my hot chocolate and tried to figure how many calories were in my vanilla slice, I looked through the Sights section and was surprised at just how much there is to do in Paris. (I should at this point note that this guide only covers Paris and so I can't imagine how much would be on here for the whole country!) The guide helpfully gives you all the information and pictures of where places are, how to get there, what times they open and, most importantly, how much they cost. By doing this I was able to budget myself properly, so I knew how much I needed to put aside for the trip. (I can do without heating this month!) It was at this point that I was glad I brought a book of the guide too, as seven hours into my travels the PSP's battery ran out. This is understandable, as it had been on for a good long while (maybe I shouldn't have played Ridge Racer on the way over!) and so I found my first real negative to this guide - without the PSP it's no use to you whatsoever! However, a few hours of charging later and I was back on the streets and while this did disrupt my trip a little, it did give me time to check out the hotel and have a complimentary steam bath.

Now, if you aren't planning on going to Paris then this is more or less useless to you, although this isn't all it has to offer, giving you a nice video overview of several European cities (London, Berlin, Madrid, Prague and Paris). This is a great way to see what each capital and country has to offer, although they seem to revolve around the same time-lapse montage of people commuting, marketplace hustle and bustle, food, happy old people and the traditional dog in the park shot. I do wish this had been incorporated into the audio tour, as the creation of an audiovisual tour would've been a wonderful precursor to my trip. As an exercise in what the PSP is like as a travel guide, or indeed any type of guide, this is a success, with clear menus that are quick and uncomplicated, while the video and music are both crisp and clear, adding polish to the overall effect of the piece.

Passport To Paris has so many positives that my only negative comes from the actual practicality of this as a guide, because once your PSP battery runs out it's up to you to figure out where you are - if you're in the middle of an audio tour this may cause some problems! I never usually complain about unnecessary costs, but I must come back to my first question - "Why would you spend £19.99 on something you can pick up in your local bookshop for less than £5?" and to be honest I can't really think of an answer. As a tool to help you plan your holiday this is great (although the net could do the same) and as a way of finding your way around Paris it's also very useful (but then that's what maps are for) while the language section is a fabulous way to get out of any communication problems (phrasebooks!) and so there is little point in paying £15 more for a Lonely Planet guide book, much in the same way that a PSP version of a £1.50 book of Sudoku is also pointless. However, arriving back in Bristol after two days, I began to think about how much fun I had and, to be honest, the Passport to Paris guide made it so much better. Rather than feeling like a stupid tourist wandering around with a confused look on his face, trying to find Disneyland Paris holding a huge map in front of me and ending up back at the hotel after taking a wrong turn, I was a stupid tourist, wandering around with a confused look on my face, who found all the best sights in Paris thanks to his PSP - and that is most definitely worth paying £20 for!

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).