We've been closely following Mortal Kombat: Deception since news of the game first hit earlier this year. The sixth entry in the venerable Mortal Kombat franchise continues the reinvigorated approach seen in 2002's Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance by presenting an impressive amount of new content. While the game will make its playable debut at E3 next week, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to get an exclusive look at some of the content in the meaty demo Midway will be showing off on the show floor.

Get ready to find all new ways to slaughter your opponents in Mortal Kombat: Deception.

The work-in-progress version of the game features an impressive sampling of some of what the final game will offer. The first mode in the game we tried was the traditional fighting mode. The roster of available characters clocks in at 12 characters--roughly half of whom will appear in the final game. Old-timers Baraka, Nightwolf, Mileena, Sindel, Ermac, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion join Deadly Alliance's Li Mei, Kenshi, and Bo Rai Cho. All the characters' designs have had varying degrees of work done, resulting in slightly new looks for everyone. In addition to the old crew, newcomers Ashra (the Raiden-looking female seen briefly in the first trailer) and Hotaru (a male warrior sporting an elaborate suit of samurai-inspired armor) are on hand to brawl.

The demo features a sampling of playable backgrounds that you'll see in the final game. While all the backgrounds are totally new, they sport much more intricate design sensibilities than those seen in Deadly Alliance thanks to their multitiered layouts and interactive elements. Although we've seen snippets of most of them in action, they still pack a punch, since the clips shown haven't really done their designs justice. The level currently called The Netherbelly is set on a ship at sea, and it features corpses dangling from ropes at one end. Although the swaying corpses definitely add to the atmosphere, they're more than just ornamental. You'll actually be able to use them as you fight. Punching them will actually send them flying at your opponent. Depending on how the corpses are struck, the bodies' impacts will either dole out a modest amount of damage or knock your foe down. In addition, the level features railing you can knock your opponent through.

The Sky Temple is set on a roof during a rainstorm and features a few levels you can knock your enemies down through. In fact, a cinematic (à la DOA 3) shows them bouncing off the roof awnings on their ways down. The Red Dragon Temple is the stainglassed-heavy area seen in the latest trailers for the game, which feature examples of the environmental weapons you can get from breaking objects, such as glass shards. The Slaughterhouse is the nasty locale seen in the first trailer that features the fun-to-watch-but-unpleasant-to-experience meat-grinder stage fatality. Hell's Foundry is the factory-like setting that features a conveyor belt with a molten-metal stamping machine. The massive press serves as the stage's instrument of fatality. The losing fighter is thrown on molten metal and is then allowed to shriek in pain--while burning--right before the massive press comes down and reduces him or her to a bloody smear. The Beetle Lair is the multitier temple area we've seen in the trailers that features a heavy arachnid influence, with spider statues and web designs strewn throughout the area. However, our favorite arena is likely to be the currently unnamed platform that is in the process of falling apart during your battle. At the start of the battle, the arena is a pretty large oval, but every few seconds, a chunk of it will fall away. The reduced melee area keeps the fight pacing tight, which is very nice. In addition, the stage's fatality is represented by the time-honored MK staple of "knocking one's foe out of the arena and sending him or her plunging off of its side and down to the massive spikes of impalement below."

While the fighting system is still a work in progress, since the team is still balancing everything out, what's on hand offers a good idea of where things are headed. The basic combo and three-fighting-style systems are back but are enhanced by some significant additions. The fight-state indicator system lets you gain a better understanding of the flow of battle, because it lets you track your vulnerability and that of your foe. The indicator offers three color-coded warnings--red, blue and yellow--that let you know when you're open to attack during a battle. The system has been tweaked since our last look at the game to make the indicators less obtrusive on the screen. The meters for you and your opponent now appear under your health bars, as opposed to up the side of the left and right sides of the screen. Another addition to the game is marked by the return of the old-school uppercut, which is a comfortable amenity to have in a fighter's arsenal of common melee attacks.

Old favorites like Scorpion, Sindel, and Baraka will return for more carnage in Mortal Kombat: Deception.

The characters' various special moves are a nice assortment of painful, flashy attacks that are easy to pull off. The returning old-school characters have some of their classic moves, although they've been tweaked a bit. For example, Nightwolf's energy arrows can now stick in an opponent and can slowly drain life over time. As for fatalities, the demo does have a handful of them. While we don't want to spoil their impacts, suffice it to say that the traditional Mortal Kombat macabre sensibilities are firmly on display. It's especially nice to see the sick "freshening" that's been done to the veteran characters' fatalities.

Overall, we have to say that, despite the fact that there haven't been any massive changes to the fighting system, combat feels significantly different. You really have to be conscious of a lot more during a fight. While your positioning has always been important, the fact that you can be backed into a death trap or knocked off a platform if you're not careful makes it vital that you pay attention to where you are in relation to your surroundings. Along these same lines, you'll find that you have to be keenly aware of what's around, because you don't want an opponent to grab the weapons that are strewn throughout the environment for use against you. Your powers of observation are especially important when players are knocked through the environment, because this occurrence potentially creates weapons that can be picked up and used. While some players may not pay much attention to the fight state indicators at first, it's likely that they'll come to respect and rely on the simple system, because it can definitely come in pretty handy.