Not much different than all the others. If you have one already, no need to spend the money.
The Academy is still a great thing to newbies to chess though. If you want to learn how to play chess, it's a superb mechanism. It's not terribly different from years past, other than being narrated by Josh Waitzken himself.
If not for the academy program, I'd give this a 3 or 4. There's little to be wowed by, and if you can get a copy of an earlier, cheaper version you wouldn't be doing yourself any great disservice.
The tutorial mode does feature a nice little sideboard addition that will offer hints, track opening moves used, point out different chess terminologies that are occurring at the time (pins, skewers, and so on) so that would be another plus for new-to-chess players.
As an aside, I recommend chess to anyone who games. It ratchets up your critical thinking and patience- both big time important values to have when you're any type of gamer.