If you didn't think zombie-killing could be emotional...

While zombies technically fall into the horror category, few zombie movies and games are truly scary. Hell, they're usually quite humorous, and that humor tends to outweigh any scariness.

Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, and the newer Resident Evil games are certainly fun, but with suplex attacks, Servebot masks, and Ellis, who remembers to be frightened? Well, Polish developer Techland is hoping to change all that their addition to the zombie action genre.

Dead Island drops players in Banoi, a tropical resort island brimming with tourists. Now the residents and visitors have almost completely fallen to the zombie outbreak, leaving only a select few who are immune -- that's you, the players. The thing is, Techland is taking a different approach, aiming for a more realistic and story-driven experience.

Okay, so the other zombie games have storylines too, but just barely. For a better idea of what these guys are trying to accomplish, you'll have to check out the Dead Island announcement trailer. It's chilling, to say the least.

So yeah, that just happened. Chuck Greene and his daughter have nothing on this family. You might've also noticed the use of melee weapons in the trailer; that aspect will be crossing into gameplay. The melee-heavy gameplay follows the idea that not every zombie outbreak spot on the planet has conveniently located weapons (and ammo) caches. As such, survivors will need to scavenge for weapons, and the very few firearms laying around probably don't come fully loaded.

Since you're playing a tourist, you'll start with very few survival and zombie-killing abilities. As you progress through the story, however, you'll pick up more tactical and combat knowledge to better your odds. And despite the focus on story, Dead Island is being developed with co-op support. Publisher Deep Silver stated that up to four players may drop in (and out) at any time, though soloing the entire game is still a viable option.

No specifics on a launch date yet, but Deep Silver and Techland expect to finish for a 2011 release, on Xbox 360, PC, and PS3.