To recap: the amazing Dead Island trailer that went viral in February absolutely does not accurately represent the zombie-smashing game itself.

In fact, the trailer's set in the hotel where your character's staying (accessible later in the game) and depicts the initial zombie outbreak. The game doesn't start rolling until a few hours later, when you wake up in a flimsy beach hut, surrounded by panicky survivors on the inside and hungry undead pounding against the walls outside.

DO NOT WATCH THIS.

I mention this to illustrate the total disconnect between trailer and game. Taken on its own, Dead Island looks fairly entertaining, but it's way too tempting to feel disappointed. Indeed, the reactions I've seen flip between smug self-righteousness and quiet regret. We all wanted a game that made us feel the way that trailer did, and Dead Island won't.

So here's how we get one that does.

Step 1: Less killing

Want to heighten the impact of something? Do it less often. Drop an f-bomb in a movie and nobody notices. Do it uncensored on prime-time network television and it'll make the front page of every news organization in the country.

Instead of Dead Island's non-stop carnage, change the tone to something like combat in a good stealth game: fun and rewarding, but not always the best or smartest option. Then beef up every encounter so each one feels life-threatening. Hand-to-hand can go badly, and firing a gun might attract every zombie in range. It should still be fun to take out obstacles, but keep it dangerous at best and highly risky if more undead are wandering nearby. Getting surrounded should be any player's worst nightmare.

Bottom line, make killing a zombie a matter of dire necessity, not the entire point of the game.

Step 2: Build relationships

Similarly, when the father buries an axe in a zombie's neck, it's not to earn experience points and level up. He's protecting his little girl. The relationships in the trailer are archetypal, even primal: Father, Mother, Daughter. We understand those dynamics instantly, with no explanations necessary.

Don't worry, hon. I'm totally slamming this place on Yelp when I get home.

The game must build similar connections between players and its characters. You've got to care about those people, like them, be invested in their well being. That adds context to everything you do. Also, the stakes go up. Raiding an abandoned grocery store for food gets a bit more intense if you've left your family in a nearby alley, hoping they're not discovered in your absence. Raise a ruckus inside, and they will be.

Emotional attachments like those can inform the missions in interesting ways. Maybe you'll take your son by the hand and lead him across a zombie-infested street, or fight off other survivors to put your friends on the last boat to safety.

And once we've made things personal, it's time to bring the hammer down.

Step 3: Make it hurt

Take away something meaningful. Make players do things they don't want to do. Give them hard choices with no right answer. In a good zombie story, we are the enemy. Reanimated corpses are an issue, sure, but the last human survivors almost inevitably turn on each other. Your own mistakes tend to come with high price tags, too.

Lizzie Borden: The Game

Say your trusty wingman through half the game suddenly chooses his survival over yours when food supplies dwindle. Maybe that last boat out of town isn't a sure thing, and you can only put your spouse or your child on it. Which one? Or neither? Keep adding impossible decisions to an impossible situation, gradually strip things away -- a home base, allies, equipment, resources -- and you'll start clinging to whatever's left with everything you've got. That's an incredible reaction for a video game to earn and a laudable goal to strive for.

Of course, such deterioration isn't on Dead Island's agenda. That's perfectly fine. It'll be a fun little romp through the zombie apocalypse, whereas the game we expected adds up to an emotional meat grinder. Both can be experiences worth having. The thing is, we've already got romps a'plenty. It would've been nice to see something different and unexpected...much like the Dead Island trailer itself.

And frankly, such a huge reaction to a three-minute spot proves the market for that game is strong. Hell, I'd buy it. Here's hoping that one day, somebody actually makes it.