This is at the very least a tie for the best game in the Hawk series.
The game is divided into three different paths you can take; Carrier ( You work to get sponsored and complete skate comps), Rigger ( You learn to build and skate your own custom skate lines and compete in contests), and Hardcore ( you skate for the sake of skating and fight to free Skate Parks from gangsters), as well as the Street challenges (were you take pictures, film skate videos and set local records). Each is unique and all three are completed to beat the game, you can move to another path by simply accepting a mission from another path. You unlock new abilities and tricks by completing more missions in a path.
The difficulty of the game is actually very well done; By making you chose what difficulty to complete each mission on you see what you need to work on and it shows you your progress in skill.
The few flaws have to do with the physics being to lenient and certain walls will become invisible if you run into them the right way, both are fairly common problems in games and most gamers will be able to get over them fairly easily.
The online would be much better but not enough skilled players play it.
Overall this is defiantly worth 20 dollars or whatever the price is now, just play it for long enough to get used to the new format and try the new stuff out and you will love it.