After I hit Prestige Master in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, I was pretty content with stopping there, at least in terms of leveling up. I’ve hopped back into the game here and there to sink some time into new Zombies experiences like Shattered Veil, and in the process I unlocked Dark Aether and Dark Matter camos for my favorite guns. However, with 100% completion on the Zombies Calling Cards to my name, as well as all the Trophies for the game (even though I swore I wouldn’t get them all due to CoD’s Platinum problem), I was content to stop grinding Black Ops 6 and sink my time into other games instead. However, Treyarch just put out a patch that has me rethinking everything.
One of the coolest things about Black Ops 6 and its return to the classic Prestige system is Treyarch’s rewards for hitting each Prestige. As players progressed through each Prestige, they could unlock genuinely cool weapon blueprints like a rifle based on the giant robots from Origins, or a zombified version of Weaver as an Operator skin. Unfortunately, the Prestige Master rewards are significantly less fun to chase. Sure, it’s nice to get access to all the Prestige icons from older games, but it hasn’t been enough to keep me hooked, and I lost interest in reaching the true max level when I saw how anticlimactic the big reward is.
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Essentially an early hint from Treyarch that Black Ops 7 would be a BO2 follow-up, level 1000 players receive access to Samuels, a minor character from Black Ops 2’s campaign. Though it’s an effective teaser for the next Call of Duty game, Samuels himself is hardly the most iconic character from Black Ops 2, with figures like Harper, David Mason, and Raul Menendez being infinitely more recognizable. What made matters worse is that Samuels lacked dialogue and personality, essentially just repeating the phrase “smooth… too smooth” until players got frustrated and switched to a different Operator. However, Treyarch has seemingly recognized that Samuels was little more than a status symbol, as its latest update for Black Ops 6 has activated tons of voice lines for the character. With Samuels now a fun character and not just a suit of near-future armor, I think I might have to make time for one more grind.
Black Ops 6’s Samuels Operator Now Has Some Top-Notch Voice Lines
As pointed out by Twitter user @ModenasHD, Samuels provides a “unique experience” when played. He shines bright in BO6 Zombies, with hilarious dialogue like:
- “They say 50 is the new 20” when hitting round 50. This is both a play on the usual age joke and a nod to round 50 in modern Zombies being about as easy to hit as round 20 in World at War.
- “That’s what you get for giving me the cold shoulder” is said when killing the undead with the Cryofreeze ammo mod.
- “Grass… must touch grass” plays at round 100. Not only does this take several hours of gameplay to achieve, but considering that Samuels takes days of actual playtime to get, this line is even funnier.
- “Gimme a Ray Gun!” when hitting the Mystery Box. Considering that this is something myself and many other players have thought or said out loud over the years, this brief bit of dialogue makes Samuels quite relatable.
While those trying to take in the Dark Aether story will still want to choose a member of the Terminus crew for initial playthroughs and Easter egg runs, casual Zombies play sessions as Samuels are now something worth pursuing, which is more than enough to make me want to unlock him.
Black Ops 6’s Samuels Fix Couldn’t Be Better Timed
With Black Ops 7 just around the corner, and hype officially building for the new game, it’s great that Treyarch has gotten around to fixing the level 1000 reward for Black Ops 6. There’s a decent chance Samuels makes a comeback in David Mason’s next outing as Call of Duty’s lead, being a viable supporting character for his latest battle with Raul Menendez. Now that he’s got some personality in Black Ops 6, fans have a chance to get to know him a bit and grow attached, which could prove especially beneficial if he’s playable in Black Ops 7’s co-op campaign. And for players like me who haven’t felt a need to go further in the current Call of Duty game, level 1000 just became a little bit more enticing.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
9/10
- Released
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October 25, 2024
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Engine
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IW 9.0