Introduction (GTA III)

"Sorry babe. I'm an ambitious girl, and you? You're just small time."

- Catalina

The Introduction is a short series of introductory cutscenes serving as a pre-emptive explanation of the events leading up to the start of the first mission in Grand Theft Auto III, Give Me Liberty. It is not classed as a mission, but the cutscenes play whenever a new game is started.

Bank heist
The Introduction opens with a shot of the Liberty City Bank, as a Banshee driven by Miguel zips by and stops in front of an adjoining alleyway to pick up a team of three bank robbers who have just robbed the bank: Catalina, Claude and an unnamed associate with Colombian Cartel attire. Claude falls behind while escaping, and finds that Catalina has killed the unnamed associate and has aimed the gun towards him. She tells him that she is an "ambitious girl" and no longer needs him, since she now has connections with Miguel, who is a Colombian Cartel leader, and shoots him. She and Miguel escape in the Banshee, leaving Claude for dead. Claude survives, however, and is arrested by the LCPD.

Custody and escape
Now in police custody, Claude is being transferred from the police headquarters on Staunton Island to Liberty Penitentiary to serve a 10-year sentence. Joining him in the police convoy are 8-Ball, following an arrest which left both his hands fully bandaged, and an Oriental man of unknown origin, arrested for possessing no legal documents.

While crossing the Callahan Bridge from Staunton to Portland, the convoy is ambushed by the Colombian Cartel, who abduct the Old Oriental Gentleman and flee, giving Claude and 8-Ball a chance to escape. However, the Cartel place a bomb on the bridge which detonates, destroying the bridge. Claude and 8-Ball survive but are now isolated on Portland Island.

Characters

 * Claude
 * Catalina
 * Miguel
 * 8-Ball
 * Old Oriental Gentleman
 * Unnamed Cartel member

Deaths

 * Unnamed Cartel Member - Shot offscreen by Catalina.

News Report
Liberty City is in shock today as the police and emergency services deal with the aftermath of a devastating attack on a police convoy this morning. As yet, no details have been released about the prisoners being transferred in the convoy, and no group has claimed responsibility. A convoy left police headquarters early this morning, for a routine transfer of felons, to the Liberty Penitentiary. The attack took place on the Callahan Bridge, leaving few witnesses, and the bridge itself, severely damaged. Some of the convicts are thought to have perished in the explosion that followed the initial attack. Revelations as to the professionalism of the attack struck police hours afterward when identification of the missing felons were further hampered by an attack by computer hackers on police headquarter databases. With the Porter Tunnel project falling behind schedule, this disaster leaves Portland isolated from the rest of the city.

Trivia

 * The bank scene takes place in a non-functional location and is used only for the introduction of GTA III.
 * The civilian vehicles featured during the bridge ambush scene have no drivers.
 * The Enforcer in the police convoy is different from the Enforcer encountered during gameplay. It most closely resembles the Enforcer from Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
 * Catalina does not speak with an accent in the cutscene.
 * On the PC version, for a split second, the edge of the game world can be seen near the end of the building during the scene where Catalina and Claude exit the bank, it will appear as a blue patch of sea and air. This is most likely due to the cutscene loading the graphics.
 * The Banshee that appears in this mission is a unique silver color. It cannot be found in regular gameplay and cannot be obtained at a Pay 'n' Spray.

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