As the ninth Tony Hawk title, "Proving Ground," kick-flips onto consoles, developer Neversoft rolls out an ambitious annual update to the franchise. After nearly a decade's worth of games, miles of grinded rails, millions of backflips and broken virtual bones, Neversoft is ready to help you find your skating identity.

Playing as a trio of skating personas to achieve urban glory, you'll develop your skater similarly to how you've done it in past games: earning money, completing photo challenges and generally earning enough skate cred to make you a superstar. In "Proving Ground," however, tasks are broken down further into three types: those that reflect the ability set of the hardcore, career and "rigger" skater, and you'll have to decide which suits your style as you proceed.

Hardcore skaters skate for the purity of the sport, career skateboarders aim for fame and sponsorships, and riggers are innovators in "Proving Ground" -- laying down custom-made pipes and ramps to create their own improvised skating spaces.

Each skating style offers something different, and it's here that the game intertwines some story and gameplay. Your Boston-accented upstart will not only meet skaters who align themselves with the three lifestyles, (Bam Margera, Andrew Reynolds, Bob Burnquist, Jeff King and more), but they'll earn abilities specific to each persona by completing challenges. This is where "Proving Ground" gains a good foothold: offering up a variety of tasks that you can approach as you please as you develop the kind of skater that suits you.

Unfortunately, some challenges don't take advantage of the game's deep mechanics -- many have a quick shortcut or ask too much of the player early on. The rigger's challenges, probably the skater path with the most potential, are sadly the least rewarding, usually being a matter of dropping a few pipes or ramps into place to reach an area. These objectives seem either overly simple or just too daunting.

It's a little uneven in terms of difficulty, but overall the rigger's path doesn't represent the fresh take on "Proving Ground's" playful gameplay that it promises.

Still, we can appreciate that the rigger's path introduces a map editor that's always available during play. A quick tap of the "back" button and "Proving Ground" transitions into an omniscient view, letting you place ramps and other objects nearly anywhere in the environment. It's a welcome addition to have these level-editing tools finally available outside a pre-set warehouse.

Other skating class abilities are more gameplay-specific, like the hardcore skater's aggro kick, a fierce speed boost that must be repeated in rhythm with your leg's motion. The career skater gets a much-improved hit-the-trick feature from last year's "Project 8." It's still satisfying to rack up points in slow-mo with the analog sticks here.

These new mechanics work well because they're linked to skills that expand as your career does, not unlike an RPG. But if you tire of showing off your skating chops to the pros, "Proving Ground's" well-integrated arcade mode is an excellent diversion. Finding hidden arcade machines in each level lets the player enter a timed run with famous skaters from previous Tony Hawk games, earning points in familiar games or scouring stages for hidden "S-K-A-T-E" letters. It's a great way to attack the game's levels and a welcome self-homage to what made the series so good before: seamless, over-the-top action.

Presentation is an area the game makes bank on. Neversoft's modeling of the New England skate scene is neither too gritty nor too sparse, and the art direction makes the open-ended, autumnal world feel alive and available without resembling the urban settings we've seen again and again in extreme sports games. Player models and animations are all excellent, and there's good detail on every pedestrian and skater you'll see in the environment. Topping all this, too, is a deep track list to keep your ears occupied during play: nearly 60 songs from Nirvana, the Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, The Clash, Bloc Party and more.

"Proving Ground" brings polished features to the same improbable, fantasized skating experience we've seen eight times before. Breaking the career into a three-part path and letting the player choose what skating style suits them adds a freedom to the single-player, so even if some challenges are frustrating, there's enough content elsewhere to keep your four wheels busy. Still, it's the core design that excels over any gimmicks: an attractive, dense urban playground that doesn't get old to skate through.

3 stars out of four.