Tony Hawk RIDE is supposed to be a reinvention of the skating game genre. But from most of the coverage that has come out so far, it looks like, well, another skating game. Sure, you're standing on a skateboard-shaped controller rather than holding a controller-shaped controller, but that's really where the differences seem to end. The screenshots look like skating game screens, the gameplay looks only too familiar to anyone who has seen a previous Hawk game, and the endorsements for the game sound like cut-and-paste from whatever the latest iteration of skate sim is.

Take for example the new trailer out today from Activision. It features a host of professional skateboarders talking about how much they expect people are going to love RIDE. And while it's all well and good that they're supporting their friend Tony, this all seems too familiar to me. You have the obligatory mention of skating as a metaphor for individuality, you have the token female skater doing her best to act like the extreme sports world cares about her (and after watching several dozen hours of this year's male-centered X Games coverage, it's clear that it doesn't), and you have Tony Hawk himself talking up how immersive his game is. It's all well and good, but it's really all been done before.

Check it out:

Honestly, I had to do a quick search when I finished watching this video to make sure it is in fact new. It makes me nervous that it has taken Activision less than half a year to run out of new things to say about a game that will have a sticker price of $120. Am I wrong, or is this just rehash of the same kind of thing that didn't get people excited in the first place?