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MW3 Campaign let us down by featuring lazy gameplay and a story that ended so quickly with no closure. However, this game still has a solid narrative if not for its ending, and it comes with a bunch of easter eggs and exciting-to-know references to the other Call of Duty titles. Have you seen Makarov before capturing him in Verdansk? Or petting Riley, the dog from Call of Duty: Ghosts? Here are the top ten best easter eggs of the MW3 – Modern Warfare 3 Campaign.
10. Remembers Riley From CoD Ghosts?
Call of Duty: Ghosts was an underrated game released 10 years ago. Under the dominant shadows of the Modern Warfare and Black Ops series, Ghosts never got the chance to shine in its own time. However, it still featured a memorable character that quickly became a fan favorite.
Logan and Hesh Walker were the game’s main characters, but their dog Riley was the show’s star. Riley was seen as an easter egg in other Call of Duty games, just like we saw him in MW2 2022 as a small statue. However, in the MW3 campaign, you can literally see Riley in the final mission, the Trojan Horse. He’s just standing in the crowd, and you playing as Soap can just pet him in order to blend in and not get detected. Riley’s name will appear after you pet the dog.
9. Alternative Operation 627
In the original Modern Warfare storyline, Captain Price and Task Force 141 try to capture Vladimir Makarov in an operation called Kingfish. However, Price gets captured by the end with an enemy ambush, and you’ll then have to save him in Modern Warfare 2 in The Gulag mission. Now, this scenario has been averted in the new MW3 campaign story by Operation 627 as an easter egg.
In the first mission of the new Modern Warfare 3 campaign, we play Makarov’s Konni Group soldier, Nolan. The objective is to infiltrate The Gulag prison, and there we get to the prison cell 627. But instead of Price being in there, we rescue Makarov.
8. Price Could’ve Captured Makarov Way Sooner
This is one of the most enormous easter eggs of all time in the Call of Duty games series, and you might just miss it in the blink of an eye. In the mission Flashpoint, you play as Soap alongside Captain Price, and your objective is to take down and capture Vladimir Makarov in 2019.
Players get back to the old Verdansk map before its destruction, and we go inside the Stadium to stop Makarov. On your way there, however, if you pay close attention, you’ll find Makarov standing inside an ambulance! Price and Soap won’t see him at all, and the weird part is that Makarov himself also gets surprised that Task Force 141 members didn’t see him. Later in the mission, you capture the man hiding in the same ambulance.
7. Yuri, Yuri Volkov
If you played the original Modern Warfare 3 game back in 2011, then you’re familiar with Yuri. Back in the time, Yuri was Captain Price’s new TF 141 member. But he was also a soldier under Makarov’s command before joining Price and his team. The character sacrificed his life to save Price by the end of the old MW3 game, making him a special asset to the Modern Warfare series. Now, after three rebooted MW games, we finally got to see Yuri in the MW3 2023 campaign story, and this time, we also figured out his last name: Volkov.
6. Classic Ghost
The Flashpoint mission in the MW3 campaign is filled with many easter eggs and references. For example, we mentioned that you could see Makarov by the beginning of the mission, and now here’s a reference to the old MW2 game in this operation. By the end of the mission, Shepherd and Ghost come to pick up Price, Soap, and the captured Makarov. But if you pay close attention, Ghost is wearing the exact outfit that he did back in MW2 2009, where he died at the hands of none other than Shepherd.
In the Modern Warfare 3 alternative story, however, we see that Shepherd is again waiting to reach out to you. But thankfully, this time, he won’t shoot you or Ghost.
5. Verdansk Team’s Mascot
Another quick easter egg here in the Flashpoint mission is that you can find a dead mascot on the left-hand side when you’re inside the arena. Now, if you get close to it, Soap does a salute animation to respect the man. This is a random move that you might just discover by walking past the Verdansk’s mascot, but the salute could be to the Verdansk map itself in the Modern Warfare 3 campaign.
4. Makarov Might Just Kill You
One last Flashpoint mission easter egg here from the MW3 campaign is that Makarov can actually kill you if you let your guard down. By the end of the mission, you have to protect and push Makarov so that you can deliver him to Shepherd. He’s handcuffed, but as soon as you turn your back on him, he’ll just grab and kill you!
3. No Russian 2.0 From A New Perspective
No Russian is one of the most notable missions in the whole Modern Warfare storyline. And we got hyped with another version of it last year while watching the end-credit scenes of MW2 2022. Makarov tries to sabotage an airplane and frame Urzikestan for it, and you have to stop it. But before the mission begins, you can see MW2‘s end credit scene from a new angle.
In the cutscene from last year’s MW2 game, we see a man crafting a gun using tools and then receiving a message to start the mission. In the MW3 campaign, that man is sitting next to you, loading his gun, and then checking his phone for the No Russian Operation affirmative call. This happens in a second only, and many players have probably missed it.
2. Soap is A Rebooted Yuri in The End
The alternate story of the MW3 campaign has a sense of a similar ending to the old MW3 game. In the old game, Makarov attacks Price and tries to kill him, and then it’s Yuri who sacrifices himself by not letting this happen. Now, in the new Modern Warfare 3 story campaign, it is Soap who makes the sacrifice and doesn’t let Makarov kill his Captain. They both die in the same scenario, but it’s too bad we don’t get to hang Makarov to death for his actions in the new narrative.
1. Perseus Traces Are Still Haunting Call of Duty
Now comes the biggest easter egg of the MW3 campaign, and that’s the return of Perseus. After Black Ops Cold War‘s story, we now know that the new rebooted Modern Warfare shares the same universe as the BO series. But the important thing about it is that both games feature a similar threat that tries to make an East Vs. West war.
In the Black Ops Cold War, CIA agents Adler, Hudson, Woods, and Mason stop this from happening by brainwashing Bell and hunting Perseus. However, this time, Makarov is trying to do the same actions, and you can even find Perseus flags during one of the missions. In the mission Payload, you’ll find an old bunker in the game, where if you look around inside, you’ll find many Perseus flags.
This might be a little far-fetched, but the developers may be trying to tie in the story by having another Black Ops game set for the next year. Maybe in next year’s game, we finally get to see Price’s old times fighting the threats or even Perseus’ followers trying to rebuild the faction.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is currently available to play.
