Introduction (GTA III)

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

- Catalina

The introduction for Grand Theft Auto III is a series of introductory scenes played as a new game is started. Consisting of only non-interactive cutscenes, the player has only the option of skipping them and moving on to "Give Me Liberty", the first mission in the game.

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 left for dead. Claude survives, however, and is arrested by the Liberty City Police Department.

Custody and escape
Now in police custody, Claude is being transferred from the police headquarters in Staunton to Liberty Penitentiary to serve his 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 are unaware or uncaring of Claude's presence and abduct the Oriental Gentleman, leaving the door open for Claude and 8-Ball to escape police custody. However, the Cartel leaves a bomb that kills all the witnessing guards and destroys the bridge, isolating Portland from the rest of Liberty City.

Characters

 * Claude
 * Catalina
 * Miguel
 * 8-Ball
 * Old Oriental Gentleman

Trivia

 * The bank scene takes place in a non-functional location and is used only for the introduction of GTA III.
 * The civillian vehicles used during the bridge ambush scene have no drivers.
 * The Enforcer in the police convoy is different than the Enforcer encountered during gameplay. It most closely resembles the Enforcer from GTA LCS.
 * Catalina does not speak with an accent in the cutscene.