Urien for a Good Time in Street Fighter V

Anyone who enjoyed playing Urien in the Street Fighter III titles has been eagerly anticipating his official introduction in Street Fighter V, and fortunately, they won’t have to wait much longer. Those playing it were able to sample his new playstyle in one short segment of the game’s “A Shadow Falls” story mode, which only made their wait harder. Of course, that’s not including those who hacked the PC version to enjoy playing him as much as they wanted, and perhaps managed to sneak him online. That’s a risky venture considering the punishment Capcom will dish out if they detect foul play.

I mentioned “sample his new playstyle” in the previous paragraph because that version was unfinished, according to Capcom. In fairness, they claimed the same regarding Juri, whose final version ended up nigh-identical. And the same could apply to Urien, judging by his trailer. Capcom actually sped up the character release schedule after releasing Balrog and Ibuki simultaneously in July, as an apology for the disheveled shape the game launched in. But after skipping August, we’re back on their original schedule with Urien coming by the end this month, the final release for the game’s first season of DLC.

Urien has retained nearly all of his normal attacks and special techniques from the SFIII titles, a stark contrast to some other characters who lost at least one move key to their repertoire. He can use a fireball (which can be charged), shoulder tackle, jumping knee press, and a lunging headbutt; outside the fireball, all of them require charging. He even has some of the same combos as he did in SFIII, though some could change if Capcom’s serious about that being an unfinished version.

His V-Skill is the Metallic Aura, where he’ll steel his body to the point where it can absorb one attack. It works somewhat similar to a Focus Attack from Street Fighter IV, though this is far more formidable, since he can combine that with a lengthy shoulder tackle. For his V-Trigger, the Aegis Reflector returns, his most useful Super Art from the SFIII titles. It’s an energy barrier he can either situate in front of or slightly behind him, depending on the direction the player is holding down while pressing the activation buttons. It can reflect projectiles, and juggle the opponent if it hits them while airborne.

This technique alone made Urien tough to learn in the SFIII games, as many of his best combos were attached to it, thanks to the timing required to keep opponents in a juggle. If that’s the case here, this would continue the trend of the DLC roster additions being the toughest characters to learn.

Urien has the Dominate Crush for his Critical Art, a technique where he’ll channel energy into his arm, and pound the ground to surround himself with it. It has little range, but is viable when the opponent is close or jumping in. It’s also great because it’s a nice callback to one of his old win stances.

Despite his move set being retained, there was some minor upset when Uiren was first shown for SFV. That came from people who also wanted his original outfit back, where he wore nothing but a cloth to cover his unmentionables. As you can see here, though, he keeps on the suit he originally tore off in his SFIII intro, which gives him a classier look. His Character Story outfit is a different variation of his suit that comes with a scarf. Fortunately for anyone who wants to taunt their opponent with that outfit, some of the aforementioned PC players data mined the game to find that outfit a while back. This outfit could release alongside him as his Premium Outfit.

Urien will be coming with the September Update, which will add a number of requested features. That includes an option to fight the CPU, possibly in Versus Mode. Also, options to obtain the remaining colors will be available so players don’t have to suffer through Survival Mode; they’ll be free for anyone who purchased the Season Pass, but anyone who didn’t will have to pay for them. They’ll also add the Daily Target challenges, gameplay conditions that people can fulfill every day for Fight Money — which really should have been here a while ago. The cliché “better late than never” exists for a reason.

Since Urien is this season’s last character, the big question is where Capcom goes with SFV from here. They plan on providing a date for the September Update at Tokyo Game Show later this week, but they could very well have a little extra surprise in store. We’ll find out in a few days.

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