Off the radar for two years, a trailer for Dead Island has surfaced, telling the tale of a holiday island torn apart by a zombie outbreak in the upcoming game for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.

Rather than the focus on firearms of Left 4 Dead 2 or the zombie modes of World at War and Black Ops, Dead Island instead gears itself toward melee combat, with players hunting for everyday objects suitable for repelling the infected hordes -- something in common with another recent zombie title, Dead Rising 2.

The game's being made by Techland, the crew behind the Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood western and Nail'd, an off-road arcade racer in the vein of MotorStorm or MX vs ATV.

Though in-game action takes place from a first-person perspective, like the Xbox 360 and PC brawler Zeno Clash, the trailer has more in common with Christopher Nolan's film Memento.

Using a combination of chronological and reverse chronological clips, it shows how Dead Island's diseased inhabitants affect holidaymakers at the resort.

The clip was put together by Scottish company Axis Animation whose previous work includes trailers for Singularity, Brink and Mass Effect 2, and even the MTV animated short Codehunters which went on to inspire the art style of Borderlands.