Casino is new game in town

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Each week, the Browser features some pop-culture places on the World Wide Web offering the coolest in free interactive sounds and action.

Shaken, not cyber-stirred

James Bond is back and in theaters with his 21st feature film, "Casino Royale." Sony Pictures Digital delivers a fantastic online tribute to the superagent's latest adventure in a Web site (www.sonypictures.com/movies/ casinoroyale/site/) that provides visitors a first-person point-of-view seat at a poker table to take part in a selection of multimedia moments.

Multiple sections are revealed as dealt cards are touched with the mouse pointer and the corners lift slightly. When clicked on, cards pop up to offer another level of choices. One of Bond's cards is a queen of hearts that has been ripped in half, reminding junior agents how spies on the same side can use torn cards as a way to identify each other.

Another card opens the Dossier section for visitors to access M's computer and read her e-mail to learn about a new recruit to the 00 branch of the British Intelligence Agency. A link leads to Bond's history and records, complete with original source documentation and narration.

Clicking on another card leads to the Surveillance section, which contains photos, videos and 360-degree tours of the Casino Royale and a luxurious Venetian suite viewed via the QuickTime plug-in.

The card displaying the Basic Training section gives the player a quartet of games to enjoy. Under the guise of a new recruit, he takes target practice using a pistol with 20 clips, has three minutes to drive a sports car to the casino, must move around a room undetected and answer an assessment quiz administered by M to see where he might fit in the agency.

Finally, the revealed ace on the table provides one of the major components of the site, a complex online multiplayer challenge with an uninspiring name: the Casino Royale Strategy Game.

The real-time turn-based adventure has a pair of opponents battle each other in an airport for control of a briefcase full of terrorist funds. Each player maneuvers a team of seven agents within a three-dimensional gridded arena. The characters can move, attack or use a special attack to deplete another agent's health during a timed turn. Weapons assigned to various agents include tasers, shock guns, gas grenades and trip mines.

The winner either eliminates all of the opponent's agents or successfully escapes with the briefcase.

Nuances to the challenge include the ability to use queen characters to heal fallen comrades, an option to coerce enemies to join the other side, an area to text chat with the opposition, and the use of surveillance monitors to view the location of the case.

The site offers 150 slots for matches and maintains a leader board for the registered agents. It is easily one of the most ambitious online games I have seen for a film and really takes some time to succeed.

Of course, a visitor may wonder how he can be seated at a virtual poker table in the main site and not get to play the actual game. Well, a click on a poker chip labeled "dealer" leads to an actual Texas hold 'em simulation in the casino. Card sharks get 1,000 points to wager against up to five live or computer-controlled opponents in a simulation that delivers nearly all the fun of an actual event. A tutorial is available for those unsure of some of the high-stakes terminology and rank of hands.

Hard-core 007 fans will want to check out the official James Bond site (www.jamesbond.com/home/), which delivers a massive, encyclopedic resource devoted to all of the films. Labeled as Miss Moneypenny's Rolodex, the area has categories such as Bond Girls, Gadgets, Missions and Villains, and each entry provides text, photos and video clips.

Have a cool site for the online multimedia masses? Write to Joseph Szadkowski at the Browser, The Washington Times, 3600 New York Ave. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002; call 202/636-3016; or send e-mail (jszadkowski@washington times.com). Joseph also writes a Web-exclusive column for the Washington Times Web site where he reviews educational software and family-friendly video games. Check it out at www.washingtontimes.com/family times/romperroom.htm.