The stakes are high. Playing as a puny light-build Operative, we’re hiding in a rusting ship’s hull clutching a hacking device — edging ever-closer to the doorway and the terminal we’re attempting to access. The closer we get, the more signal bars appear on our iPhone-like device, and the faster goes our code-assault on the missile system currently training an arc of mass destruction on the hub of The Ark, Founders Tower. Getting closer also increases our chances of being spotted by Resistance “terrorists” roaming outside amid the bodies of our fallen buddies.

The tension is immense as we sit listening to the sound of scampering terrorists desperate to hunt down the lone Security hero. Then, it all ends abruptly with several shotgun blasts to the face. But this moment emphasizes Brink’s aim — to spur countless “Wasn’t it awesome when…?” discussions after co-op games with friends.

The area that we’re fighting through during our hands-on session is The Ark’s shipyard. Once upon a time, this was where vessels were repaired, but when the Earth was flooded, The Ark became the last bastion of humanity. These days it’s the only uninhabited place on the over-populated archipelago, free from both the hoity-toity residents protected by the Security forces and the impoverished population represented by Resistance.

“It’s a very dangerous place to be, not only because things are falling apart, but because it’s incredibly toxic as well. Chemicals, heavy metals — it’s a horrible place to be,” explains Brink’s writer, Ed Stern, as we sit in one of Splash Damage’s offices. “It turns out that one missile’s still active on one of the ships. Security have just missed this thing that’s been sitting right under their noses.”

In this shipyard level it’s the role of the Security forces to destroy barricades put in your way, moving a bridge into position to let you into the second half of the level and then attaching a hacking device to a blood-spattered computer terminal, cowering nearby until the missile is rendered inactive. If you’re playing as Resistance, it’s all about defense: stopping Security from fulfilling their various objectives and constructing (and reconstructing) the barricades that make their life more difficult.

Depending on how you want to play it, Brink is an eight-on-eight objective-focused shooter. However, it has A.I. bots waiting in the wings to fill any gaps in the teams. You appear on the map as your chosen class, with three different abilities that you’ll have bought with experience gathered in former sorties. After this, though, your path is an open book. Tap up on the D-pad and you’re set the most useful task that your team requires. Hold it down and you’re be able to choose from an array of objectives — with the most necessary ones weighted with a larger XP reward. In the Shipyard map, for example, a soldier needs to set an explosive charge on one of the Resistance’s barricades, while you might be asked to head to the nearest Command Post to become an Engineer, then move the central bridge into position. Otherwise, you can run around healing those who have been shot in the face (Medic), torture incapacitated enemies into revealing enemy positions (Operative), or dash around sharing your ammo (Soldier).

You can spend the XP gathered in each mission on expanding your library of abilities — three of which can be taken into each bout, like the perks in Modern Warfare 2. There are a ton of them, and they come in flavors both general and specific to each class. After playing through the level several times, we earned the Engineer’s ability to buff weapons; the Operative’s sticky bomb, which turns grenades into a variant of Halo’s plasma grenade (that can be set in a doorway before sticking to the next pair of legs that walks through); the Medic’s power of self-resurrection; and the more global ability to unlock the Heavy character build.

Brink could be the multiplayer event of 2010, but it could also be a fleeting distraction — right now it’s genuinely too early to tell. Watch this space, as we’ll be taking the opportunity to play it and update you any chance we get.