DC Universe Online

By way of a compromise you can pick a pre-built character who comes equipped with the same set of abilities as your favourite superhero, rather than trying to recreate them from scratch. "You could choose the Superman-type character who can pick up and throw cars, or the character who's filled out with Batman-type abilities - martial arts, acrobatics, gadgets. Then you customise your own appearance," says Cao.

Appearance is key, apparently. There's an "immense array" of costume options to choose from, all designed by veteran comic book artist Jim Lee and his team. "But they focused on things that make you look cool at a distance. It's less about your eyebrow shape and more about your silhouette, your brand."

Regardless of what you start out with, you're not stuck fulfilling a particular role for the entire game. You choose four reactive and four active powers to fight with from the range at your disposal, and can change them around at will. "So if we're in a dungeon and we need a tank, you can take on different abilities and assume that role. But you're still an ice person," Cao explains. "It's like golf - you have a bundle of clubs to choose from, but you can only bring four out to play on the green."

Time to go out on the green, then. Cao explains that to choose from the four active abilities you hold down R2 and press one of the mapped shape buttons; targeting is done with L2. Basic moves, such as light attacks and throws, are also pulled off using the face buttons. As a console player, it all feels familiar and easy. It's not long before I'm encasing characters in blocks of ice, picking them up and chucking them at enemies without any trouble. On the PC, it's WASD to move and the mouse to look, while the numerical keys are used for special abilities.

H aving got to grips with the controls and my character's special moves, I'm able to start helping out the likes of Supergirl, who is taking on Lex Luthor. I manage to encase him in ice, and she takes the opportunity to give him a good kicking. Some more player characters join in and Lex is quickly outnumbered and overwhelmed. I needn't worry about sharing XP, explains Cao, as DC Universe uses what they're calling a "surplus model". XP isn't divided amongst the players who defeat an enemy; they all get as least as many points as if they'd done the job on their own. In fact, the more players team up, the more XP they earn.

"We wanted to make sure people are encouraged to play with each other," says Cao. "It's a physics-based environment, where you could throw something and accidentally hit something that someone else is beating up. So you have to share a lot more. Plus, it's more fun that way too." Of course, heroes and villains don't share XP with each other, so there's plenty of potential to rain on your rivals' parade.

Because XP is shared rather than split, there's no need to create a formal group to carry out actions with other players. But there is the option to - you might decide to patrol the streets or explore a dungeon as a group of four, for example, or go on a raid with 16, 20 or 24 others. You can also create your own heroes' or villains' guild - known as leagues and legions, respectively - with the goal of saving or ruling the world.

But for the purposes of this demo, I'm limited to soft grouping and exploring the five blocks of Metropolis SOE has opened up. Limited is the word; after 20 minutes or so I've worked out what all my powers do and seen Lex Luthor respawn twice. Defeating waves of the same enemies within the same confined space is starting to feel an awful lot like grinding. This area makes up less than one per cent of one city in the game, though.

Which means there are still important questions for SOE to answer. At this stage, it's clear the control system works, but still needs work - particularly with reference to flying on the PS3. It's hard to evaluate how the superpowers will balance out without having been able to create a character and see what happens when you mix up different abilities. As for whether console gamers want to play MMOs at all - that question may not be answered until after DC Universe Online hits the shops, but perhaps SOE is about to change some minds.