Global warming. Rising oceans. Greedy, rich dudes sucking up resources. Cities falling into disrepair and societies splintering into warring factions. Man, the future sure is forecasted to suck — but somehow Brink makes all that human depravity and despair look downright lovely with its subtle comicbook looks and bright, colorful palette.

In the hands of Splash Damage, the studio behind the multiplayerfocused Enemy Territories titles (Quake, Wolfenstein), this futuristic spin on shooters does a lot to convince you that you’re adventuring as much as action-ing. A nifty feature called the SMART (Smooth Motion AcRoss Terrain) button gives you the ability to change up your movements up, around, or through different obstacles. Basically, you’ll no longer have to manually jump, shimmy, or do-si-do with any object. With the SMART button pressed, you’ll make like an acrobat and simply glide over obstacles with hops, leaps, and the like. It’s an impressive, Mirror’s Edge–style feat that’ll hopefully keep you focused on staying alive, rather than navigating a field.

At Brink’s outset, you’ll choose to play as a conspiracy theory–spouting resistance member fighting against, literally, The Man — some billionaire jerk who supposedly caused the world’s woes — or as a security officer just trying to earn some paper and keep the peace. Customization options run deep, but you’ll also be able to pick your character’s class on the fly to meet all the objectives the game dynamically generates depending on whether you’re playing with friends and on the situations you stir up during your playthrough.

In one scenario, we started as a soldier, only to eventually suit up as an engineer called on to defend a group of friends by setting up a turret. (The game adjusts in real time to accommodate drop-in/drop-out party size.) Variety is Brink’s strong suit — a quality we’re eager to see even more of.