Price: £34.99 Players: 1 Widescreen: Yes Online: No Multiplayer between PSPs: No Talkman is the kind of release you don't normally expect to see, given its educational bent, and it's certainly one you wouldn't see released on a console but then the reason for this will soon become very apparent and is actually quite a revelation once you realise what it is capable of. In the most basic of descriptions for this title, it is a language translator - the words spoken by blue multilingual bird Max, which works best on a handheld console, like the PSP, as opposed to a regular console, because you need to carry it about with you when you go and it's great for asking questions and finding your way round the shops, restaurants, hospitals, taxis, airports and all manner of utilities like that, but with 3000 phrases it's not got a massive range beyond the standard fare in the 'Basic Conversation' section where it will translate whatever you say into the five languages available (French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish). Even if your memory goes and you just can't think of what you want to ask about, although if you've got a full bladder you certainly won't forget the word 'toilet', there are crib notes on the usual things you might say in any given situation, such as asking where the locker rooms are at the beach. Each location is also populated by amusing animations in the background so, for that one, you'll see on the beach the little Maxies (presumably Max's offspring) are playing beach ball with a beached shark.

There are several modes to this title, the first being Talk Mode, as described above where you can talk to the game and it will translate what you say, subject to it being in its database, but even if it doesn't quite understand you it will offer appropriate, albeit relatively basic, suggestions. Of course, once you've had translated the question you're going to want to know what the answer is and you can bet the person you're speaking to certainly doesn't have a PSP to hand, so they can speak their reply into the unit and it will translate back to English (or any of the other languages). The Pronunciation Mode will test your ability to speak in a foreign language, as words and phrases of increasing difficulty will be read out, depending on which part of an onscreen 'puzzle' you pick, going from easy at the top-left to difficult at the bottom-right. Get all "A"s in any of the 25 squares in the 'jigsaw' you'll reveal part of a picture. If you get one wrong, you can go back and redo the ones you didn't get an "A" for. Now, as my old French teacher used to say, 'Ecoutez et repetez!' :) In the Listening game Max will read out four similar phrases in the chosen language for you to remember (which is a bit of a nightmare if you're not familar with Japanese), then he will read back a random one and you have to select with the triangle, circle, etc. buttons what he was saying out of the ones displayed onscreen. I see this one as a bit of fun but not really as fun or educational as the Pronunciation mode. There are also two modes reserved, marked "???". Does that mean more will become available later via a download?

The first thing you might wonder is how you actually talk to Max since the PSP doesn't have a built-in microphone. Well, rest assured because this game comes with one that screws on to the top of the unit. It is a fiddly thing and you do feel like it's going to snap when you try to disconnect it. The problem is that it plugs into the top of the unit via the USB 2.0 connection and isn't easily unpluggable like the average USB cable which would go in perpendicularly to its destination. When you do start to talk, it recommends you do so from approximately 8 inches distance. Perhaps that's to make you be careful not to spit all over the screen as if you're Roy Hattersley :) If I had a couple of little niggles it's that when you're setting up the unit at first there are long load times which lessen off a bit later on; and When he talks in English he sounds like a Cockney. However, there are many plusses to its repetoire, such as a Voice record function, a currency converter - you can alter the exchange rate if things change drastically while you're way (like it did to me during a month's interrailing in Europe in 1992 when I was in Norway, one of the most expensive countries, and Britain crashed out of the ERM. Thanks, Mr Lamont!), you can bookmark regular sentences and it even includes an emergency alarm - hold down the left/right shoulder buttons, the up and left D-pad buttons and the triangle and circle buttons (it's more intuitive than it sounds) and an alarm emits from your PSP in case you're in serious difficulty while abroad. Fantastic!

Put simply, Talkman is the modern day 'Babelfish' and is an absolutely essential if you're going abroad, as you can either learn how to say a phrase and read it back out to the person you're speaking to, or you can get Max to say it instead. You can even get it to address both males and females, individually, adding expressions of positivity or negativity, depending on the situation. However, it's a bit odd to apply the negative aspect to telling the time in German and wondering why he's crying at the mere thought of saying it's 5pm(!) In fact, I found the German language is easier to say (between that and French) since most of the words have very precise syllables. I haven't tried Spanish yet, but perhaps I can hold it up to my complete collection of Eldorado and translate all those sections early on where we hadn't got a clue what was being said, as huge chunks were people talking, unsubtitled, in their own language. And, you can indeed test it out with some rude words, but don't expect it to reply with understanding. Overall, this is an engaging title you'll play with for a while, as you get to grips with the languages, but it was never intended as a game you'd play all day long and it's great for kids to learn a new language. Why, it'll even help George Bush find out if the French have a word for 'entrepreneur' :)

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2006.