I thought Alan Wake was the definition of banal. No interesting plot, no new game mechanics, a typical 'everyman' main character, hackneyed narration. A game very content being 'same old-y'. I felt the same about Dead Space too, but some of the zero-gravity moment were pretty neat.
Fallout 1, now there's a game worth playing. I prefer the second one though, even if it doesn't pack the emotional wallop of the original.
