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Plot Guide

by HappyWomble

              _____ _              ____                      _
             |_   _| |__   ___    / ___|_ __  __ _ _ __   __| |
               | | |  _ \ / _ \  | |  _| '__|/ _` | '_ \ / _` |
               | | | | | |  __/  | |_| | |  | (_| | | | | (_| |
               |_| |_| |_|\___|   \____|_|   \__,_|_| |_|\__,_|      
        _____ _               _         _         _            _ _ _
       |_   _| |__   ___   __| |_      / \  _   _| |_  ___    | | | | 
         | | | '_ \ / _ \ / _|  _|    / _ \| | | |  _|/ _ \   | | | | 
         | | | | | |  __/| |_| |_    / ___ \ |_| | |_| (_) |  | | | | 
         |_| |_| |_|\___||  _|\__/  /_/   \_\__,_|\__/\___/   |_|_|_|
               ____  _   |_|   _       ____            _   
              |  _ \| |   ___ | |_    / ___|_ _  _  __| | ___  
              |  __/| |  / _ \|  _|  | |  _| | |(_)/ _` |/ _ \    
              | |   | |_| (_) | |_   | |_| | | || | (_| |  __/   
              |_|    \__\\___/ \__/   \____|___||_|\__,_|\___|
                          
                           �2004 - 2007 Rob White   
                           a.k.a HappyWomble           
                           [email protected] 
                           21/11/07 - V500

CONTENTS
========
 
1. The Intro.... 
   -------------

1a. Introduction 
1b. TED (The Essential Disclaimer)
1c. Legal Information
1d. Version History And Development Notes
1e. Contact Details 
1f. Contributors

2. Grand Theft Auto III 
   --------------------

2a. Basic Information On GTAIII
2b. The Characters Of GTAIII
2c. Give Me Liberty: A Plot Synopsis Of GTAIII
    I: Portland     
    II: Staunton Island
    III: Shoreside Vale
2d. The Conclusion Of GTAIII
2e. Conclusions About The Conclusion
2f. Random Musings
    (a) Characters
    (b) Continuity
    (c) Cutscenes
    (d) Miscellaneous
    (e) Unanswered Questions
    (f) Cameos
    (g) Film References 
    (h) Other References
    (i) Mistakes
2g. Mission Order   
2h. The Cast Of GTAIII   
2i. So What Exactly Did Go The Way Of The Dodo?
    (a) Curtly And Darkel
    (b) The Full-Winged Dodo 
    (c) Weapon Damage
    (d) Blue And White Police Cars 
    (e) Claude's Shoes
    (f) Liberty City Layout
    (g) Mission Arrows
    (h) Vehicle Variations
    (i) The Head-Up Display
    (j) Police Helicopter
    (k) The Pricedown Font
    (l) Claude
    (m) "Full Gore" Mode
    (n) Crosshairs
    (o) 8-Ball
    (p) Player Name
    (q) Lighting Effects
    (r) Perfect Quadruple Insane Stunt
    (s) Mission Text
    (t) XBox And PC Differences

3. Assorted GTA Related Links

4. ....And The Outro

5. About The Author

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

                              1. The Intro....
                              ================

1a. Introduction
----------------

Hello and welcome to yet another new and improved version of the Grand Theft
Auto III plot guide. This guide is intended for use by both veterans and
newbies of one of the most popular games ever created.

In the guide I'll attempt to explain the story of the games and also provide
information on some of the more quirky ideas involving the characters and
other gameplay features.

        ************************************************************
        *Obviously this guide is going to contain a ton of spoilers*
        ************************************************************ 

Regardless of whether you've already finished the game or have just started
playing, it will provide an insight in to the more overlooked aspects like
the motivations of the gangs and other key people. I would advise you to at
least complete all sixty-five story missions first, as the plot will be so
much easier to understand. Included in the guide is the mission order I used
for the plot synopsis. Despite some criticism that the actual main body of
the plot guide wasn't divided up in to seperate missions, I've decided to
stick with the film-style narrative as it's far more dynamic. GTAIII and
it's successors play out more like films anyway (Especially with the
voice-over talent of quite a few Hollywood actors), so I'm keeping it the
way it is.

The 3D series of Grand Theft Auto now has five main games plus one in
production. I do not consider Grand Theft Auto: Advance to be canon, but I
guess if I do actually get hold of another copy I might do a plot guide just
for completeness sake. By the way, when I say "3D series", I mean the games
that followed GTAIII. GTAIV, which is set for release in early 2008, will
drag the series kicking and screaming on to the next generation of console
and utilise Rockstar's Advanced Graphics Engine (R.A.G.E.).

Before we begin, I just *love* using acronyms....

GTAIII - Grand Theft Auto III

GTA:VC - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

GTA:SA - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

GTA:LCS - Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

GTA:VCS - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Unreleased)

GTA:IV - Grand Theft Auto IV (Unreleased)

GTA:A - Grand Theft Auto: Advance

a.g.g-t-a - The alt.games.grand-theft-auto newsgroup

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1b. TED (The Essential Disclaimer)
----------------------------------

No, you don't have friends who work for Rockstar and tell you secrets after
a few pints down the pub. You aren't a play tester who knows about what
content was changed and/or removed from Rockstar's products. And you
certainly don't have access to development versions of past and future
games.

This document contains major spoilers about the storyline, gameplay and
events of GTA:VC and other games in the series. You read this at your own
risk. If the guide ruins your enjoyment of the game, that's your problem.

I am also annoyed with people who send questions that are already answered
in my guides. For God's sake, make sure your subject matter hasn't already
been covered! 

I will accept criticism, I make no claims to being perfect, but I simply
cannot abide people wasting my time. This is particularly irritating when
any mistakes have been corrected and added to the development history.
                                               
If you are going to email me, please try and use a little courtesy and use
proper English. I abhor all this "text-speak". Yes, I know acronyms are
convenient and they do save time, but using Internet slang just isn't on. It
makes it twice as hard to read and pisses me off. Messages like this are
deleted before I even get to the end, so pay heed.

This guide contains some mild profanity, but nothing like what you'd
actually hear in the game. The game itself is rated 18 for a reason, but I
refuse to use this as a reason to litter the 'F' word throughout. What we're
looking at here is the story, plain and simple.

I am not interested in theories, my plot guides are based entirely on fact.
I admit I have some ideas about certain aspects of the story and
occasionally I personally do add some of my own ideas and observations. What
I don't need are people expanding these ideas. Admittedly, a certain amount
of creative license has been employed to engineer parts of the guide but
this is only at a last resort.

Thank you for taking the time to read this disclaimer. It wasn't just added
as filler material; there are actually people out there who persist in not
taking this section seriously. These people, in the author's humble opinion,
should be used as fuel. 

And now a few "without whom's":

I owe a lot to Andy 'Bumba' Barnes for letting me have his old TV. This one
actually has somewhere to plug an RGB composite *and* a SCART lead, which
made taping things on to VHS much, much easier. Cheers mate.

Lisa, my sister-in-law, for the new VHS player. Things could have been
awkward having the Playstation2 downstairs on the big TV, as I've never been
much good at looking through walls, and my computer is upstairs.

Big shout out to Matthew Hunt, Daniel Nightingale and James, David and
Lauren Joyce for being an all-round good eggs, and for keeping me sane over
the years. 

Everyone the Wibbas Down Inn and the Horse And Groom pubs, Wimbledon, for
their constantly cheerful demeanour and for serving Newcastle Brown Ale at a
reasonable price.

And finally, a big big THANK YOU to all the VIPs on the Virgin Radio website
for their friendly, humorous and often touching personalities. There are
too many to mention here, but you know who you are. I'll keep the blogs
coming if you keep on reading them!

Finally, many thanks to Robert Allen Rusk for allowing me to use excerpts
from his Hidden Text FAQ (Which can be found on Gamefaqs where you got
this). Cheers mate.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1c. Legal Information
---------------------

This guide is 100% copyrighted to me, Rob White. It must be distributed
without charge, and may only appear on www.gamefaqs.com. This is the ONLY
website I am submitting this too. If somebody puts this on any other website
without my express permission, I'll see you in court. Copyright violation
isn't just annoying, it's against the law.

Future versions of all of my guides will only be submitted to GameFAQs, and
fortunately the powers that be are dead against direct links to their
guides, FAQs and other material from other websites.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1d. Version History And Development Notes
-----------------------------------------

V1.00alpha - Updates to follow after this is posted to a.g.g-t-a. Due to
             huge amount of feedback I got, I decided to upload it to
             GameFAQs rather than piss everyone off posting a long document
             three times.
 
V1.01beta - The cast section and more random musings added, this version was
            never distributed. 

V1.00 - The first proper version. All GTAIII sections complete plus a
        slightly different layout.

V1.01 - Way back in 2004. V1.00, for whatever reason, never appeared on
        Gamefaqs so this one is the *real* V1.00. A few mistakes corrected,
        but nothing major.

V1.02 - Information about the character Darkel updated, plus an updated
        random using on what happens to Donald Love (Or rather what
        doesn't). Brand new section (2h. So What Exactly Did Go The Way Of
        The Dodo?) added. I kind of though it would make it easier to read
        by listing them separately. This one was never distributed.

V2.00 - New version number due to all the new information and feedback
        that's been added, removed and otherwise processed.

V3.00 - A massive update this time exactly a month on. Lots of new stuff
        added and the plot synopsis has had a major re-write.

V4.00 - A less confusing layout, especially with the random musings. There
        were just too many of them in the last version for them to be
        considered random, so now they all belong in their relevant
        sub-sections.

V4.02 - Wha? No V4.01? I stupidly deleted it off the disk before I had a
        chance to upload it to Gamefaqs but it was a good chance to go back
        through it anyway. I'm fairly content, this could be the final
        version.

V5.00 - This (Hopefully) will be the final version. I'm hoping to make one
        big document after writing the GTA:SA and GTA:VCS plot guides but
        it'll probably be a while...

16/03/04 - Started work after finishing a refresher play-through of GTAIII.
           Almost have a heart attack when I realise this is going to be
           the game plot synopsis *from hell*

17/03/04 - GTAIII plot synopsis is well on it's way, finished up to the
           start of Staunton Island where you start working for Asuka Kasen.  

18/03/04 - GTAIII characters added, GTAIII plot synopsis finished up to
           where you start Shoreside Vale.

19/03/04 - Random musings added, GTAIII plot synopsis finished, proof read
           and spellchecked.

20/03/04 - A few minor corrections after re-watching the cutscenes I handily
           recorded onto VHS, more random musings.

21/03/04 - Added the links section before the great upload to a.g.g-t-a and
           started a replay of GTA:VC.

22/03/04 - Loads of email feedback (Which is nice), added the cast section
           plus more random musings. In compliance with GameFAQs terms and
           conditions, I've added more warnings about spoilers in TED. 
           Well, *of course* you're going to get *plot spoilers* in a *plot
           guide*, if Snazzy99 is reading this, please stop the emails.

24/03/04 - Section 2f. Mission Order added, brushed up the plot synopsis and
           random musings for mistakes and section 1f. Contributors added.
           Also added what system this guide was made on, some mystery man
           wanted to know why I only had the PS2 version. 

01/04/04 - After taking a break in a vague effort to find employment, I come
           back to the keys with a slightly altered layout. I had no idea
           that GameFAQs had changed their submissions system, so V1.00
           alpha was uploaded a *lot* later then I first thought.

19/04/04 - The first proper V1.00 has been uploaded, but not appeared, on
           Gamefaqs. Hmmm....

19/06/04 - A Whole two months on and V1.01 is ready to rock and roll.
           There's been a whole lot of news regarding GTA: San Andreas. A
           lot of this has been confirmed by Rockstar, but there's still
           some slight speculation. personally I think the box art that's
           appeared has been faked but there you go.

21/11/05 - A much larger update to appear soon when I get back in to the
           fray and finish my GTA:Vice City and San Andreas plot guides. I
           wouldn't expect them too soon, probably nearer Christmas.
           Rockstar North, www.thegtaplace.com and a couple of other fan
           sites have some very good information on which I managed to miss
           last time, but I need to sort out what's relevant to this guide
           and what I can omit.

23/11/05 - Just a basic update for the time being. A new section listing
           most, if not all, of the new info now exists (2h).

23/12/05 - Large update. I've finally got a load of free time because of
           Christmas and don't go back to work until the new year, so I've
           had plenty of time to read the forums properly and gather extra
           information that's relevant to the plot.

08/07/06 - I decided to re-write and alter certain parts so that all of
           these plot guides will have the same text format when I fully
           release them

18/07/06 - Many more things amended.

15/08/06 - Very large update this time. Added a new section (2e. Conclusions
           About The Conclusion) and updated quite a few other bits and
           bobs.

28/08/06 - 'Hidden Text' section added. Kudos to RARusk for allowing
           excerpts from his guide to be used.

19/11/07 - V5.00 has been gathering dust on my hard-drive for ages but I've
           finally found time to amend a few things. GTA:VC guide is nearing
           completion, and then it's on to GTA:VCS and GTA:SA. The biggest
           addition to this version is an edited and expanded section
           detailing what was left out of GTAIII.

21/11/07 - A whole wealth of things added, mainly to the section regarding
           what was omitted or changed during GTAIII's development.

This guide was made entirely on a British-made Acorn A3020 computer running
RISC OS 3.11 and uploaded to the net on a StrongARM'd RISC PC700 machine.
Long Live British Computers.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1e. Contact Details
-------------------

I can be contacted by email at [email protected]

In accordance with TED, please do not send me unsolicited emails. Anything
that isn't GTA related (ie: In specific reference to the plot or the guide)
will be deleted. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1f. Contributors
----------------

Despite getting a load of feedback, it's these guys who sent me the same
mistakes and criticisms first. Cheers guys.

Chris a.k.a jduprez
-------------------

Some great nitpicking about Donald Love and Avery Carrington's motivations
and Phil Cassidy's arm-loss continuity error. Also sent some very logical
plot points on GTA:VC.

alpamsfq 
--------

Yet more information on Donald Love, he rightly points out that Donald Love
appears in GTA:VC and is taking notes from Avery Carrington about how to run
a good business.

Darrel Hoffman
--------------

*Even* more info on Donald love, this time the logical notion that Ray
Machowski and Love's missions tie in with a lot more than relevance than I
thought. Also the first contributor to raise the question about what is in
the mysterious packages you rescue for Love.

Cheeky Monkey Chick
-------------------

She pointed out that it's possible to get on top of the Love Media building
(Which I already knew, thanks to the 'Hard To Reach Places' FAQ) and see the
empty box from 'Love's Disappearance'. Cool nickname by the way :o)

BeErMaGiC
---------

A few very good questions raised about Catalina's involvement with the
Cartel, I already vaguely pointed some info out on random musings. Also
brought up the subject on who was driving the Banshee in the opening movie,
this is now included as a random musing.

Mrs. Vercetti
-------------

Proof-read this entire document and pointed out some overlooked errors in
the plot synopsis. Cheers babe <***hugs***> 

Naomi82
-------

Finally persuaded me to re-write the plot synopsis to include Claude's name.
Also mentioned the Mr. Whoopee music for the ice-cream truck is the same as
GTA2's (And taken from DMA Design's N64 game 'Body Harvest').

Robert Allen Rusk
-----------------

Gave permission to use excerpts from his GTAIII guide, specifically the
"lost text" that was left on the game disk but not used in the game. Also
inspired me to give the GTA:LCS disk more scrutiny, any findings will be
added to my GTA:LCS guide.

Thanks also to all the GTA fans on the forums and message boards. You're
questions, answers, chit chat and support are much appreciated.

WeirdAlFan27 
------------

Much thanks for the rather helpful mvideo that shows what was changed in
GTAIII during development (A video link is included toward the end of the
guide).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

                           2. Grand Theft Auto III 
                           =======================

2a. Basic Information On GTAIII
-------------------------------

Grand Theft Auto III was first released on the 22nd October 2001 and quickly
became one of the biggest selling and most popular games on Sony's flagship  
Playstation2 console. 

DMA Design's website carried a mock-up 'preview image' of what they called  
'GTA3D' for months after GTA2's release on the PC and Playstation and set
off all sorts of rumours on the internet, especially on the a.g.g-t-a
newsgroup. The 'preview image' was a crudely drawn cartoon obviously
inspired by the first two GTA games, I doubt anybody expected just what DMA
Design (Now Rockstar North) had up their sleeves.

GTAIII casts you in the role of Claude, a criminal intent on causing as   
much havoc as he can to proceed up the crime foodchain. As the Official 
Playstation2 magazine called it "Grand Theft Auto III in stunning 3D", and
they weren't wrong. GTAIII is *still* a stunning game. It takes full    
advantage of the PS2's capabilities as well as retaining a few of the
classic GTA gameplay features we all know and loved.

GTAIII has been the obvious inspiration for too many games to mention, but
some of these include: Mafia and True Crime: Streets Of LA, Scarface, Saints
Row and Just Cause.

An immersive city environment, a whole array of awesome weapons, a varied
selection of different vehicles, a sordid population of gangs, mobsters,    
innocent pedestrians, sleazy hookers, irate taxi drivers, working emergency 
services and an open-ended mission structure all feature in this game.
Obviously I've missed a few features, but GTAIII is made in such a way that 
even if you're not doing the missions, you'll never be bored for long.

Again in fitting with the GTA series you start off small time, but as you    
progress through the game the rewards and difficulty slowly increase. This
one-man crime wave is not only great fun to play, but also has a       
surprisingly elaborate story.

The three dimensional games are now up to five, in release order: GTAIII,
GTA: Vice City, GTA: San Andreas, GTA: Liberty City Stories and GTA: Vice
City Stories.

GTAIV is in production and there's no doubt that it could be one of the most
anticipated sequels in videogaming history.

But we should remember that GTAIII, what this document is all about, was the
first breakthrough game.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2b. The Characters Of GTAIII
----------------------------

This is a full list of the characters that appear in the GTAIII world. I've
only included characters who appear during actual gameplay and the cutscenes
and am fully aware that there are some missing. The missing characters don't
really have much relevance to the plot anyway.

After a thorough 100% walkthrough of the game I can't see anybody else I've
missed, but if you think I have missed anyone important please do get in
touch.

In order of appearance we have:

Catalina
--------

The main character's girlfriend who turns out to be a backstabber and later
on is found working for the Columbian Cartel. Even for Liberty City, a woman
not to be trusted. It turns out there's some history between her and Claude
dating back to 1992 (GTA:SA era).

Claude
------

Your controllable character throughout the game, nothing is really known
about him. He seems to be unusually proficient at handling heavy weaponry
and despite not uttering a single word gains respect from everybody he works
for. 

8-Ball
------

The guy you escape with right at the start, he is an expert in bombs and
explosives and runs his own own chain of bomb shops throughout the GTA
world; Liberty City, Vice City and the state of San Andreas.

Luigi Goterelli
---------------

Owner of the 'Sex Club Seven' strip club in the Red Light District,
connected Mafia man and 8-Ball's associate.

Misty
-----

One of Luigi Goterelli's strip club girls. Also one of Joey Leone's
favourite "companions".

Mickey Hamfists
---------------

One of Luigi's bodyguards. We only meet him once or twice, has a slightly
larger role in GTA:LCS.

Marty Chonks
------------

Owner of the Bitch'n Dog Food factory. He has a few money and relationship
problems, but doesn't live long enough to settle all of them.

Carl
----

The guy that Marty Chonks' wife was having an affair with, he ends up
killing Marty and taking over the Bitch'n Dog Food factory. That's the last
we see or hear of him.
       
Joey Leone
----------

Son of Mafia boss Salvatore Leone, he owns his own car garage and recommends
Claude to other prospective employers. Has a soft spot for Misty.

Toni Cipriani
-------------

One of Liberty City's chief mafioso. His mother owns Momma's restaurant in
St. Marks and has a strange control over him. Also featured in the sequel
GTA:LCS as a controllable character, which gives much more depth to his part
in the plot.

El Burro
--------

Hailing from Mexico, he's the leader of the Diablos. We don't actually get
to see him - he issues his mission orders from a payphone in Hepburn
Heights, Portland. GTA veterans will remember "The Donkey" from the original
GTA's second San Andreas level 'Tequila Slammer'.

Ma Cipriani
-----------

Toni's mother who has traditional "family" values. Runs 'Momma's
Restaurante' in St. Marks.

Salvatore Leone
---------------

Liberty City Mafia Don and father of Joey, he's growing increasingly
concerned about the state of his business and the uprising of the Triad
gang. As we see in GTA:LCS, he's had control of most of Liberty City's crime
for quite a while.

Maria La Torre
--------------

Maria is Don Salvatore's girlfriend. In the GTA timeline, we first meet her
in Las Venturas, SA in 1992 working as a waitress for Caligula's Casino.
Things have obviously progressed since then, and she's become quite
streetwise. Towards the end, she's kidnapped by Catalina, but suffers an
even worse fate after she's rescued.

Chico
-----

Not too much is known about this character. He seems to be a drug dealer and
informs Maria about the party in Atlantic Quays, but other than that we only
see him once (In Salvatore's first mission 'Chaperone').

Miguel
------

Catalina's associate and Columbian Cartel member, he meets a grizzly demise
at the hands of Asuka. Could possibly be someone a bit more important,
although it's never said in the game.

Asuka Kasen
-----------

A member of the Japanese gang the Yakuza, her brother Kenji owns the casino
in Staunton Island. She likes to make people suffer in her quest for
vengeance.

Kenji Kasen
-----------

Casino owner and Yakuza operative, he requires more conviction about
Claude's abilities. Claude ends up killing him for Donald Love, but it has
to look like the Cartel did it.... 

Ray Machowski
-------------

A crooked cop who requires some "non-union" help to deal with some people
who aren't playing ball, including Internal Affairs. A known associate of
Donald Love, their missions tie in with a lot more relevance than you'd
think.

Donald Love
-----------

A businessman who owns the Love Media empire, he mysteriously disappears
about two-thirds through the game. We first meet Donald in 1986 in Vice City
where he's an up and coming junior businessman working for property
developer Avery Carrington. Good thing he kept his notes, his business
acumen hasn't changed much over the years. In 1998 he leaves Liberty City
but has returned at an unspecified time.

Oriental Gentleman
------------------

He doesn't have a name, but is a very important associate of Donald Love. In
the game's opening movie, we see him being liberated by the Columbian cartel
from the police convoy which also has Claude and 8-Ball travelling with it.
After Love's last mission he disappears just as mysteriously.

King Courtney
-------------

Leader of the Yardies, we don't get to see him, but he hands out his mission
instructions from a payphone in Liberty Campus, Staunton Island.
 
D-Ice
-----

Leader of the Red Jacks, he's had enough of the Purple Nines encroaching on
his turf in Wichita Gardens and needs your help to eliminate them. 

D-Ice's Brother
---------------

Only appears once in the whole game to assist you with the gangfight in
'Rumble'.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2c. Give Me Liberty: A Plot Synopsis Of GTAIII
----------------------------------------------

This is the main meat of this guide, and offers a detailed look in to the
plot of GTAIII.
               

                               -------------
                              | I: Portland |
                               -------------


Welcome to Liberty City, USA....

....the worst place in America.

It's night-time in Liberty City, and a sports car skids to a halt in front
of the Liberty City bank. A door at the back bursts open and three armed
robbers, (Claude, Catalina and an unnamed man) emerge in to an alleyway to
make their getaway from a successful raid.

On turning a corner in the alleyway, Catalina turns on you. She's shot the
unnamed robber and turns her gun on Claude. After a brief explanation
she fires, leaves both her accomplices to die and flees with the loot.

We next see Claude being transported in an armoured van with two other
prisoners in a police convoy across the Callahan Bridge. As it turns out,
Claude survived Catalina's betrayal, was arrested and convicted by a
unanimous decision.

Suddenly a jeep pulls in front, stopping the convoy. Some Colombian Cartel
members have decided to liberate one of the other prisoners, an oriental
gentleman. They scarper, leaving Portland isolated from the rest of Liberty
City due to the explosives use. 

Claude and another prisoner, 8-Ball, make their escape too in a nearby car
after knocking out two police guards. Claude drives as 8-Ball's hands are
messed up and they travel in to Portland to a friend of his who can help
Claude lay low for a while. 

After heading to a hideout for a change of clothes, Claude pulls up outside
the Sex Club Seven nightclub in the Red Light District. It turns out that
8-Ball's friend, Luigi Goterelli, is a Mafia-connected man and just might
have some work going. Claude is introduced to Luigi while 8-Ball heads
upstairs to do "some business". Luigi runs a stripclub, and he asks Claude
to go and collect one of his girls from a clinic. 

Claude heads to the hospital to pick up said girl, Misty, and takes her back
to the club. He has got some more work and left a note with one of his men
called Micky. The note says that somebody's been supplying his girls with a
drug called Spank and he's not too happy about it. He instructs Claude to go
to Portland Harbour, take the dealer out, steal his vehicle, respray it and
take it back to the club as compensation for the insult.

Luigi seems pleased that Claude follows orders so well, and instructs him to
go and collect Misty and take her to Joey Leone's car workshop in Trenton.
Joey Leone is a mechanic who's father Salvatore is the Mafia Don of Liberty
City. After dropping Misty off Joey says that if Claude needs any work, he
might have some in the near future. Pleased, he heads back to Luigi's.

When Claude meets up with Luigi again he's pissed off. A member of a mexican
gang called the Diablos has been pimping his girls on Luigi's turf. After
heading to the Ammu-Nation gun shop to pick up some weaponry, Claude goes
in to Diablo territory to teach him a lesson.

When Claude returns to the club, Luigi has yet more work. The police are
having a ball, and require some female attention. Luigi sees that he can
capitalize on this, and instructs Claude to collect his girls from all over
Portland and deliver them to the ball's venue 'The Old School Hall' in
Chinatown. After illegally obtaining a vehicle large enough from a local bus
depot, Claude goes around town collecting more of Luigi's girls to take the
ball and make lots of money.

It's now the morning, and Luigi no longer has any work for you. On the hunt
for more work, Claude remembers a ringing payphone he heard whilst dropping
off Misty at Joey Leone's garage. He heads there to answer it and discovers
that a local businessman, Marty Chonks, has some work for you. Marty owns
and operates the Bitch'n Dog Food factory, and is having a few money
problems.

He asks Claude to go and collect his bank manager and bring him back to the
factory. The bank manager has been increasing Marty's loan repayments, but
will find it difficult to do that in the future. Marty kills the bank
manager, and Claude drives to the car crusher in Harwood to dispose of the
body before returning to the payphone.  

Marty's problems continue. He hired some thieves to break in to his apartment
so he could claim the insurance, but now they want more.
Claude goes to the Red Light District to collect them, and takes the thieves
back to the factory. Claude begins to realise that Marty seems to find it
easier to kill his problems rather than deal with them. 

His wife is apparently bleeding him dry too. His remedy is to kill her, but
only after Claude has collected her from a beauty parlour. To make sure
there's no evidence of her body, Marty instructs Claude to make sure she
takes a long drive off a short pier. Furthermore,�his wife was having an
affair with a guy Marty owed money to. Yet again Claude's task is to collect
him and bring him to the factory to be taken care of. Things don't go
according to plan though as the guy, Carl, kills Marty with a shotgun.    

With no work available from a deceased employer, Claude runs a little way
down the road to see Joey Leone. Joey informs Claude that the Forelli
brothers Mike (Nicknamed 'Lips') and Sonny have owed him some money for a
bit too long a time. In return for this mark of disrespect, Claudes next
task is to fit 'Lips' Forelli's car with a bomb at 8-Ball's place and return
it to where Mike's having lunch at Marco's Bistro in the St. Marks area.
Everything goes well, Mike 'Lips' is blown to pieces, and Claude returns to
Joey for more work.

A noodle stand-owning drug dealer 'Chunky' Lee Chong has been pushing Spank
from his stall in Chinatown for the Columbians. Understandably, the mob
aren't too happy about it. Claude travels in to Chinatown to take him out
with a well-aimed grenade before returning to Joey for his next assignment.

Joey has a payroll job planned that requires somebody good. Claude quickly
finds the Securicar and, by ramming it, forces the security guards to do a
runner. He steal the van and takes it to a garage in Portland Docks where
some of Joey's men take care of it. They give Claude his cut and he
subsequently goes back to Joey for another job.

Joey has company when you get back to the garage in the form of Toni
Cipriani, one of Liberty City's higher-up mobsters. Word is slowly getting
around about how efficient and effective Claude is at doing the dirty work,
and he asks to be driven back to his Momma's restaurant in St. Marks. On the
way Claude stops off at a chinese laundry in Chinatown so Toni can square
some business. It turns out to be a Triad ambush, so Claude quickly burn
rubber back to Toni's place. After dropping him off, he then returns to Joey
for more work.

Joey's got an important job for Claude now. He heads down to a diner near
the Callahan Bridge where a car is waiting with a body in the trunk. Just as
he starts to drive the tainted vehicle a couple of cars give chase. The
recently deceased in the trunk was a friend of the Forelli brothers, and
they're not too happy about his demise. The cars chase Claude as he drives
the car to the crusher in Harwood, but are easily lost in the side-streets.
With nothing else to do after disposal of the car and it's unfortunate
cargo, Claude heads back to Joey for more work.

Some friends of his are planning a bank robbery and need a good driver.
Obviously Joey has recommended Claude, and he goes over to a safehouse in
St. Marks to pick them up and take them to the bank. He pulls up at the bank
and the guys are straight in and straight out. Claude then takes them back
to the safehouse and starts looking for a new employer.

Claude then receives a handy pager message for him to answer a ringing
payphone in a courtyard in Hepburn Heights. Upon answering it El Burro, the
leader of the Diablos gang gives him instructions to get to a street race
starting soon near the Callahan Bridge. Quite why he wants Claude involved
is anyone's guess, but none the less he wins it with little difficulty and
heads back to the payphone in Hepburn Heights.

El Burro does have some proper work for a budding criminal like Claude. He
wants him to take out some men who want a cut from his exotic entertainment
business, otherwise *he'll* get the cut, if you know what I mean. The men
have a fondness, bizarrely, for ice cream. Claude steals an ice cream truck
that's doing the rounds after collecting some explosives to dispose of them.
In Atlantic Quays, he activates the bomb and the jingly 'Mr. Whoopee' ice
cream music before doing a runner. The men feel a slight ringing in their
ears, but fortunately are now nowhere near them. Triumphant, Claude heads
back to the phone to receive more orders from El Burro.
                     
El Burro is very pissed off about the Triads who stole and torched his car
the night before, and he wants vengeance. Claude collects a flamethrower in
Chinatown and sets about burning all the Triads you can see on the streets.
Satisfied with this display of gratuitous violence, he goes back to the
payphone for more work from El Burro. 

El Burro doesn't seem to have much luck, and explains that an opportunist
thief has stolen a van containing his latest publication 'Donkey Does
Dallas' volumes 1, 2 and 3. He asks Claude to go and collect the copies
which have fallen onto the street from the van's open rear doors. Claude
does as he's instructed and collects the trail of magazines. It leads all
the way around Portland to the docks where the thief ended up. After killing
him Claude then delivers the magazines to an XXX magazine shop in the Red
Light District.

Claude can no longer contact El Burro for work. Again he needs a new
employer and knows just where to find one. He heads to Momma's restaurant to
speak with Toni Cipriani. He's still having problems with those pesky Triads
and their laundry service. Claude tracks down the vans and destroys them
with ease before returning to Toni.

Toni isn't at Momma's restaurant when Claude returns, but he left a note
with instructions. After reading the note Claude travels in to Chinatown to
collect a briefcase of money that the chinese launderette have finally
decided to give up. When he gets there and collects it however, he discovers
it's another ambush. Killing all of the advancing Triads, Claude manages to
escape and heads back to Momma's restaurant to drop off the briefcase. 

Toni isn't there again but left another note for his new errand boy. Don
Salvatore Leone has called a meeting, probably due to the rising problems
the mob have been experiencing with the Triads. Claudes task is to go and
collect some key people and insure they get to the meeting safely. First up,
he goes to Joey's garage to collect him and a limousine, then the Sex Club
Seven for Luigi and finally Momma's restaurant to collect Toni himself. With
all passengers aboard, Claude drives to Salvatore's house on top of the
cliff in St. Marks. On the way Claude and the Mafia men are harassed by some
Triads who block of the road and open fire, but Claude manages to drive the
limousine and it's important passengers to the house unharmed and delivers
them safely.

Claude meets Salvatore briefly but he requests that he looks after his girl
Maria for the evening whilst him and the boys talk business. Claude then
chauffeurs Maria to a party in Atlantic Quays, stopping on the way to
collect some "party treats" from a dealer named Chico. The party is raided
shortly after their arrival by the police, but yet again Claude is adept at
handling vehicles and manages to drive Maria back in the limousine to
Salvatore's house.

The meeting has finished by the time Claude drops Maria off, and he returns
to the restaurant to see Toni. He's not there, but once again a note left a
note with Momma Cipriani that informs him of Toni's instructions. The Mafia
are now at war with the Triads. Claude's first task in this war is to take
out a few of the Triads' men, which he do to maximum effect.

Claude returns back to Toni for another task. The Mafia are through toying
with the Triads and Toni instructs Claude to steal a dust cart that's loaded
with explosives and infiltrate their fish factory. When he gets there the
gates open, and he parks the dust cart round the back before setting the
detonator. As the fish factory explodes Claude takes out a few of the Triad
guards before going to see Salvatore for further employment.

Salvatore's organisation has discovered that it's the Columbians who are
making Spank in Liberty City, but they're not sure where. They've also
discovered that a barman who works at Sex Club Seven, Luigi's club, called
Curly Bob has been informing their enemies of the Mafia's contingency plan. 

Claude steals a taxi and heads down to Luigi's club to give him a ride home
after work. After collecting Curly, Bob Claude takes him to the docks
instead, where he's going to give the Columbians more information. Claude
then discovers that Catalina, his ex-girlfriend and former crime partner, is
extorting information from him using Spank as a bribe.

Curly Bob tells Catalina and a Cartel man, Miguel, just how unhinged
Salvatore is becoming. Before he can tell them any more however, Claude
shoots him and returns to Salvatore's house with the news that you know
where Spank is being manufactured.

Salvatore now wants Claude, with 8-Balls assistance and explosives
expertise, to blow up the boat and make sure the Spank problem ceases. He
drives down to pick up 8-Ball from his autoyard in Harwood before heading to
Portland Harbour. Claude sets up a good sniping position on a roof opposite
the enormous cargo ship whilst 8-Ball prepares to plant the explosives.   

After the first shot from Claude's sniper rifle, 8-Ball starts to make his
way up the ship. Claude continues to snipe all the Columbian guards posing a
threat to 8-Ball, and said colleague sets the charges and escapes as a huge
explosion rips through the ship. The ship ultimately sinks, destroying the
Columbians Spank factory.

Claude travels back up to Salvatore's "Gentleman's Club" for more work. He's
got another job, and Claude is asked to go and collect a bloody car in the
Red Light District and take it to the car crusher in Harwood. Claude leaves
and starts to travel to the car that needs to be dealt with, but on the way
receives a pager message from Maria asking him to meet her urgently at a
secluded spot at Callahan Point.

Claude leaves the gore-spattered car and goes to meet Maria instead. She
explains that Salvatore, in his paranoid state, thought that you were going
behind his back and that he was offering you to the Columbian Cartel in
order to make some kind of deal.

She also told the Don that Claude and her were an item, which now means that
he's definitely a marked man with the mob. Claude is introduced to an old
friend of Maria's, Asuka Kasen, who explains it's probably for the best if
you escape from Portland and head to Staunton Island.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


                           ---------------------
                          | II: Staunton Island |
                           ---------------------


Claude and both ladies then travel to Staunton Island, Liberty City's
commercial district, and arrive at Asuka's condo. Asuka tells Claude not to
worry about employment as she is a member of the Yakuza, a Japanese criminal
organisation.

Claude follows Asuka's directions and sets himself up with a new hideout. On
the way, he hears over the radio that the round the clock repairs on the
Callahan Bridge have finally finished and Portland can now be reached from
Staunton Island. At the same time, the first half of the Porter Tunnel
connecting all three districts has now been finished, and Portland is now
accessible this way too.

However, both the Mafia and Triads in Portland hate Claude's guts now, so he
accepts Asuka's recent employment offer.

Asuka somehow knows that Claude worked for the Leone family in Portland, and
in order to prove your loyalty to his new found boss, she requires him to
kill Salvatore Leone.

He sneaks cautiously back in to Portland with the knowledge that Salvatore
will be leaving Luigi's club in the Red Light District and heading back to
his "Gentleman's Club" in the near future. Equipped as always with a sniper
rifle, he kills him with one skilful shot and does a runner before anybody
clocks him.

Asuka is pleased to hear about Salvatore's demise, and offers Claude more
work. He also gets to meet Kenji, Asuka's brother, who owns a casino in the
Torrington area of Staunton Island. With the offer of further employment
later on, Kenji leaves.

Asuka's next task for Claude is to deal with the Mafia men who, keen to find
him, are staking out some of the Yakuza's assets. Armed with some grenades
and a sniper rifle, Claude goes to the park in Belleview to find his first
victim. After a couple of accurate shots, he then heads to Kenji's casino in
search of the next victims. On arrival at the casino he spots several men
waiting in the building opposite. Readying his sniper rifle, he takes all of
them out one by one.

Claude returns to Asuka's condo for a new task. She wants him to kill a
reporter who has been paying her a bit too much attention of late. Claude
runs down to the nearby jetty and steals a police boat and gives chase. The
reporter leads him on a chase all the way around Portland and back to where
they started before jumping in a car and trying to make his escape. Claude
is too fast for him though, and makes his car explode while firing his
machine-gun out of his car window. A little tired but happy, he goes back to
Asuka.

Asuka thinks it's time Claude met one of the cops who are in the Yakuza's
pocket. She asks him to drop off some money to him for a previous favour, so
after answering a few phone calls in various locations to make sure he's not
being followed, Claude finally meets up with Ray Machowski in a public
toilet located in Belleville park.

Ray has some questionable morals when it comes to his police work and
readily accepts the money from the Yakuza. He's under investigation from
Internal Affairs, which explains the secrecy of the contact point. He also
has some work for Claude if he's interested, which the man himself decides
to accept.

Ray asks Claude to dispose of another crooked cop, McAffrey, who thinks he
can gain something by ratting Ray to Internal Affairs. Unfortunately for
Claude, he's under armed guard in Newport. Claude arrives where he's being
protected and with little difficulty throws a molotov cocktail through an
open window round the back to flush him out. McAffrey tries to make his
escape in a car, but Claude takes him and his armed protectors out before
returning to see Ray.

Ray has a friend called Phil Cassidy who needs a bit of protecting from the
Columbians. Claude hasn't been a fan of the Columbians recently and heads
down to his army surplus store in Rockford to help him out. The benefit of
this is that Phil will supply him with some cut-price weaponry in return for
the favour. Claude survives the Columbian onslaught, and better still, so
does Phil.  

With some great new weaponry, Claude leaves Phil to deal with the cops and
goes back to see Asuka to carry on with his ascent up the criminal ladder.

Asuka and Maria have gone shopping when Claude gets back, but Asuka has left
a note. One of the Yakuza's drivers has been revealed as being an undercover
cop and it's best if he's removed from the equation. Tanner, the cop in
question, is coming out of Kenji's casino when Claude tracks him down.
After tailing Tanner in a car, Claude stops a bit further up the road and
takes his car out with a rocket.

With Kenji's casino so close, Claude pops in there for more work.

A valued member of Kenji's team is in custody at the Liberty City police
headquarters, and it's his request that Claude busts him out. He heads down
there and steals a police car before paying a visit to 8-Ball's bomb shop
and returning to the police station.

Using the explosive-laden car to infiltrate the parking lot at the back,
Claude successfully blows a hole in the wall and uses another police car to
make his escape with Kenji's associate. With the police breathing down their
necks, Claude manages to get him to the dojo at Bedford Point before heading
back to the casino for another job.

Kenji feels shameful as a man once did him a favour and never got repayed.
After a brief lesson in etiquette, he sends Claude out to find three cars
for the gentleman's car collection. After delivering all three cars in
perfect condition, Claude goes and sees Kenji again.

After another short philosophy lesson, Kenji informs Claude that the
Columbians have ignored repeated requests for them to leave the Yakuza's
interests alone and have soured it further by doing a deal with a gang from
Jamaica, the Yardies.

Claude leaves the casino with one of Kenji's men and steals a Yardie gang
car before going to the hospital carpark where the deal is taking place.
Claude and his colleague take out the Columbians and steal a briefcase. You
then return to Kenji to drop off the briefcase and acquire more work.

The Yakuza protect many businesses and now is the time for them to pay up.
Claude leaves the casino to go and collect them from numerous places. The
first briefcase full of cash is obtained without any problems. The second
briefcase is guarded by a man wielding an Uzi, but Claude shoots him easily
and nabs the case. The third collection has been stolen by a gang, so Claude
heads in to Portland to get it back.

When he arrives at the courtyard in Hepburn Heights he sees a few gang
members waiting. Using his always-to-hand sniper rifle he takes them all
out, retrieves the case and takes it back to Kenji at the casino. 

When Claude gets back to the casino in Staunton Island, Kenji is furious
with him. It turns out that the Jamaican Yardies have not be dissuaded from
staying away from Yakuza turf, and Claude's job now is to track down eight
Yardie Spank dealers and kill them.

It takes a bit of time, but he successfully kill enough Yardies. Kenji no
longer has any more work Claude, so he goes back to Ray Machowski in the
park to see if he's got anything he needs doing.

As luck would have it, he does. Claude is told to track down a truck driving
across town and repeatedly ram it so he can collect some evidence that
incriminates a friend of Rays, Donald Love.

Claude follows the truck, rams it repeatedly and collects all six pieces of
evidence. Despite the attentions of the police, he sets fire to his car,
which takes the evidence up in smoke with it. 

When Claude returns to Ray, he thinks his partner is a rat. Like most other
people in Liberty City, he thinks the easiest thing to do is to kill him.
His partner goes fishing most nights near the beach in Portland. Claude nips
over to Portland and steals a police boat, then heads to the beach to find
and kill Ray's partner.

He spots Claude, however, and takes off with him in hot pursuit. After
taking some damage from Claude's police boat's mounted machine-gun, the rat
starts dropping explosive barrels from the back of his boat in a vain
attempt to shake Claude off.

He fails and crashes onto Portland beach before his boat explodes, taking
him with it. Claude observes the explosion and returns to the park to meet
Ray.

Ray is pissed off. A witness who can testify against him is still alive and
is being transported in an ambulance from the hospital in Rockford to a
place where he can give a federal deposition. Ray tells Claude to take him
out at any cost.

Claude quickly finds the ambulance that's transporting him and rams it,
making the plaster-clad man fall out. Getting a good run up Claude screams
towards him in a car, running him over. Not even the plaster can protect him
and Claude doesn't even need to make sure he's dead before going back to
Ray.

Ray isn't there when Claude gets back however, so he decides to go and see
Ray's rich friend Donald Love. Donald Love is a successful businessman who
owns the Love Media empire and needs a bit of help with his legitimate
dealings.

After giving Claude an etiquette lesson Kenji would be proud of, he sends
him on his way to complete his first task.

An oriental friend of his is being held hostage by some Columbians in the
Aspatria area of Staunton Island. After stealing a Columbian Cartel gang car
needed to get through the gates of the secure area where he's being held,
Claude drives down there to rescue him. He dispatches a whole gang of
Columbians who are hiding in garages before escorting the oriental gentleman
back to Donald.

Donald's latest enterprise is property, and he figures the easiest way to
drive down prices before purchasing is a gang war. To initiate a gang war,
first one of the gangs has to be pissed off so they act, then retribution
from their enemies will get it properly started.

Claude drives down to Newport where a Yakuza meeting is taking place on the
top floor of a multi-storey carpark. His target is none other than Kenji
Kasen, but to successfully get the Yakuza to attack the Columbians,
Claude needs to make it look like the Columbians have attacked them first.
Driving a Columbian Cartel Cruiser, he goes up to the top floor and despite
heavy fire does a good job of killing Kenji before returning to Donald.

Donald now wants Claude to retrieve some packages which are being dropped
from a light aircraft in to the water near the Callahan Bridge. He goes
down to the jetty near Asuka's place and steals a boat, then he makes his
way to the drop-off point. After collecting all six packages Claude realises
he's being followed by a police helicopter. The packages must contain some
very important goods, so Claude quickly speeds back to the jetty and steals
a car before driving back to Donald and delivering the packages intact.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


                           ---------------------
                          | III: Shoreside Vale |
                           ---------------------


At this time the lift bridge connecting Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale
has been repaired and Claude now has access to new employers and better paid
jobs. There are still a few tasks to complete in Staunton Island first
though, so he returns to Belleville park to see Ray and give the police time
to cool off after his last escapade.

Ray informs Claude that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) don't like the
fact that his police officers are messing around with the Columbians
manufacturing Spank. This has made Ray a marked man, and he has decided his
next career move is to leave town.

Claude escorts Ray to Francis International Airport in Shoreside Vale.
Surprisingly, they make it in one piece despite the heavy fire they come
under from the CIA whilst going across the Staunton Island lift bridge.

After dropping Ray off, Claude goes to check out a garage in which he's left
some weaponry and a heavy duty Patriot jeep before going to see Donald
again.

The packages Claude collected for him recently turned out to be decoys.
Donald tells him that the real objective was actually hidden on the plane
and that the port authority have seized it and were stripping it down before
his expensive intervention. Luckily, he's paid off the officials, so all
Claude has to do is go and collect the real packages from Francis
International Airport.

Upon arrival, he spots some Columbian guards. After carefully sniping them
with his sniper rifle, Claude approaches the plane and discovers that the
packages are gone. A nearby van, however, gives him a clue as to where they
could be - the Panlantic contruction site in Fort Staunton, Staunton Island. 

Claude makes his way there and finds an enclosed compound swarming with
Columbian Cartel guards. He fights his way in and uses an elevator to get to
the highest floor and then gets a shock.

Catalina and Miguel are the people responsible for taking the packages. Just
as they're about to leave, Asuka arrives and Catalina, in the confusion,
makes her escape. Miguel is left behind, and Asuka has vengeance planned for
the apparent Columbian assassination of her brother Kenji.

Leaving them to it, Claude goes back to the Love Media building to drop the
packages in to Donald.

Donald's oriental friend is just about to leave for Shoreside Vale when
Claude gets there. Whatever was in the packages requires authentication and
it's now his task to make sure the armoured car conveying them makes it
there safely.

Tailing in a car, Claude follows the van through the Porter Tunnel and in to
Shoreside Vale, making sure to kill anybody that could stop the van on it's
journey. It arrives at it's Pike Creek destination battered but otherwise
intact and Claude goes back to Staunton Island to resume working for Donald.

It turns out after all the trouble it took to make sure the armoured van and
it's important cargo got there safely, it has now been surrounded by a
police SWAT team and needs rescuing. Claude quickly jumps in a car and
speeds over to Pike Creek to drive a similar van and act as a decoy.

The genuine armoured van containing Love's oriental friend and the packages
makes it's great escape and after surviving some punishing attention from
the police, Claude loses them and goes back to Donald Love in Staunton
Island.

When he arrives at the Love Media building he goes up to Love's private
garden to see him, but alas he has mysteriously disappeared.

Claude decides to go and see Asuka at her new contact point at the Panlantic
contruction site to see if she has any more work going. Asuka is still there
and taking great delight in torturing Miguel, the unfortunate Columbian
Cartel member she captured earlier on.

Asuka informs Claude that Catalina and the Columbians are scared of his
quest for revenge and have dispatched three death squads to kill him. It
could be bad if they crop up while Claude continues on with his criminal
activities, so Asuka wants him to lure all three death squads in to a trap
she's set up to take care of them.

One by one Claude finds the Columbian death squads and leads them to a yard
in Pike Creek where they are dealt with by some armed-to-the-teeth Yakuza
men. As the last Columbians lay dying, Claude goes back to Asuka in Staunton
Island.

Asuka has obviously been practising her torture techniques, and Miguel has
let information about the Columbian Cartel's plans for Spank slip out. It
turns out that the Yakuza have underestimated the Cartel's plans for the
distribution of Spank, and it goes a lot further than the Yardies just
dealing it on the streets.

Their front is a chain of Kappa Coffee stalls dotted around the city, and
Claude's next task is to find them and smash them.
 
It takes a little time driving around Portland, Staunton Island and
Shoreside Vale but Claude eventually finds all the stalls and turns them in
to kindling before heading back to the Panlantic contruction site to see
Asuka.

Maria has decided to join the party and is assisting Asuka in gaining
information from Miguel who by now must be really feeling like shit.
He's told them that a plane containing a shipment of Spank is coming in to
Francis International Airport in two hours time.

Obtaining this shipment could be vital in stopping the Columbians, so Claude
sets out to steal a boat and make his way over to the water beside the
airport. He's right on time, and in a couple of minutes spies a light
aircraft coming in to land. Steadying his aim, he fires a rocket at the
plane which crashes down onto the runway, scattering it's cargo.

Claude quickly collects the fallen cargo and jumps back in the boat to take
it back to Asuka. The police hound him on his way back, but he gets back in
one piece.

Upon arrival back at the construction site, Claude notices that Miguel and
Maria are gone, and Asuka has been killed. There is a note however. Catalina
and the Cartel have been back to the contruction site and kidnapped Maria.
The ransom stands at $500,000, but unfortunately Claude does not have that
amount of money yet and decides to carry on working until he can afford it.

He discovers a payphone near Liberty Campus which puts him in touch with
King Courtney, the leader of the Jamaican Yardie gang. He could do with a
good driver, but first Claude must prove that he's more worthy than three
other hopefuls. Stealing a fast car on the way, he pops down the road to
some waste ground near the stadium where the other cars are waiting.

The challenge is to drive around the city collecting checkpoints. The driver
who collects the most checkpoints wins the position to work for the Yardies.
By driving faster and handling the car better, Claude beats the other
drivers and goes back to the payphone to speak with King Courtney.

Now that Claude has proven that he can drive well, King Courtney now wants
him to prove how efficient he is at doing a dirtier kind of work. Two of his
men turn up and Claude drives them over to Portland, then cruises down to
Hepburn Heights. The plan is for Claude to kill some Diablo gang members who
have insulted one of the Yardie women, and he has to do this using a
drive-by style.

Claude successfully dispatches a few Diablo's under the watchful eye of the
Yardie men and then goes back to Staunton Island to speak with King Courtney
and get some proper work done.

King Courtney has decided to up the ante a little with the other gangs and
requires some gang cars to start a war. Claude heads over to Portland,
cautiously steals a Mafia gang car and delivers it to a garage in Staunton
Island. He then returns to Portland and steals a Diablo gang car,
and delivers that to the same garage. Finally, Claude goes down to the
Yakuza territory in Torrington and steals a Yakuza gang car, delivers it and
then returns to the payphone in Liberty Campus.

King Courtney now wants Claude to collect an old stash that's urgently
required. He drives over to Bedford Point and finds the car with the stash
parked in a courtyard. On inspection of the vehicle, Claude finds no stash,
but a note instead.

It's from Catalina. Not happy with killing Asuka she wants Claude dead too.
He spots a man running towards him and starts to drive off. Suddenly, before
the man actually gets to your car he blows up. Catalina has sent some Spank
addicted suicide bombers to kill you.

Claude avoids them as best he can and blows up several vans that are
blocking the exits of the courtyard. Smashing his way through he escapes.
Claude can't be certain that King Courtney set him up, but decides it's best
that he leaves Staunton Island and heads for Shoreside Vale to find more
work.

On his way in to Shoreside Vale, Claude receives a pager message from a man
called D-Ice. D-Ice is the leader of the Red Jacks gang who are currently
fighting a turf war with another gang called the Purple Nines for control of
Wichita Gardens.

Claude finds the payphone and gets his first set of instructions from D-Ice.
He wants Claude to show the Purple Nines exactly how a perfect drive-by
murder should look, so Claude, being the best man for the job grabs his Uzi
and steals a car before attempting his assault.

Being careful not to accidentally kill any Red Jacks, Claude wipes out a few
Purple Nines and drives back down the road for more instructions from D-Ice.

He now informs Claude that the Purple Nines have appropriated some armoured
cars and are now using these to run Spank. His plan is to use remote
controlled cars rigged with explosives to destroy them. Claude successfully
takes out all three vans in this fashion and returns to the payphone for
more work.

D-Ice is pissed off when Claude next talks to him. Somebody's fitted his car
with some unwanted explosives, and he feels that if he loses his prize
sportscar his reputation will go down the drain.

Claude collects D-Ice's nearby car and drives it to St. Marks in Portland
where the explosives are removed. He then drives it all the way back to
Shoreside Vale and parks it where he found it before going back to speak to
D-Ice.

He's just heard that a US Federal Reserve flight has just crashed at Francis
International airport, and the runway and surrounding areas are covered in
valuable platinum. 

Claude steals a van that is rugged enough to transport a lot of this heavy
material and goes to Pike Creek to collect it. After collecting a full
van-load Claude delivers it to a nearby garage, avoiding the police who have
been alerted to his criminal scavenger hunt. Claude then returns to Wichita
Gardens to answer the payphone.

When he speaks to D-Ice again he's keen to get rid of the Purple Nines once
and for all, and has organised a fight between the two warring South Side
Hoods.

Claude drives a little way down the road to collect a baseball bat and
D-Ice's brother before heading to the picnic area a short distance away
where the fight is going to take place.

Claude and D-Ice's brother storm in and kick seven shades of shit out of the
Purple Nines in what turns out to be a very short fight. With the Red Jacks
now in control of Wichita Gardens, D-Ice's brother leaves to tell D-Ice the
good news.

Claude now has the $500,000 to pay Maria's ransom, and starts to make his
way to the Cartel mansion in Cedar Grove for the exchange.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2d. The Conclusion Of GTAIII
----------------------------

On his arrival at the Cartel mansion Claude is ushered through the gates and
searched for weapons by the Columbian guards.

Catalina comes out to collect the money and inquires whether he came to
rescue Maria or to get her back for her betrayal after the bank job. She
also rightly states that Claude was wrong to trust her again, and a guard
moves forward with a gun to kill him.

Thinking quickly, Claude knocks him down and manages to get out of the
mansion gates before jumping in a car and pursuing Catalina who is now
airborne in a helicopter.

The helicopter leads Claude to the base of the Cochrane Dam, and he realises
that it's going to be no easy task getting in to the compound judging by the
amount of guards.

Unfortunately, Claude's arsenal of weapons was confiscated  by the Columbian
guards who frisked him back at the mansion. After heading back to a
safehouse to re-arm himself, he returns to the entrance to the dam and
readies himself for his onslaught.

He kill some Columbians guarding the main gate by blowing up their cars, and
proceeds up a dirt track to where Maria is being held captive.

Using his trusty sniper rifle, Claude shoots and kills every Columbian he
can see before proceeding. Some Columbians in trucks try to make a break for
it, but their escape is impeded by Claude's rocket launcher and perfect
accuracy.

Avoiding fire from the helicopter, Claude finds Maria on a rooftop and
quickly dispatches the three Columbians guarding her.

Before he makes his escape, Claude decides to kill Catalina who is still
circling from the air. He sees the helicopter approaching and takes aim
with his rocket launcher. All Claude needs is one rocket and his deadly
precision pays off. The helicopter spins out of control, exploding before it
even hits the ground.

Claude's sense of revenge is more than satisfied with Catalina's spectacular
death. The Columbian Cartel and most of his other enemies are all dead, and
the last we see of Claude and Maria is them walking on one of the piers at
the top of the Cochrane dam. The credits roll.

                                  

                                   THE END


 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2e. Conclusions About The Conclusion
------------------------------------

 1. Salvatore Leone is dead, which means that Liberty City is now looking
    for a new crime boss. If anyone is going to replace him I bet you a quid
    it's Toni Cipriani.

 2. The last of the Kasens are now all dead. Unless Yuka, Asuka and Kenji's
    niece, appears in a later game the Yakuza are currently without a
    waka-gashira (Leader). This also begs the question as to who is now
    running the casino. It's very unlikely that Yuka will appear in another
    game. GTA:A wasn't all that well received and a sequel would have surely
    been planned/released by now.  

 3. Claude was last seen in Liberty City. His whereabouts are currently
    unknown.

 4. Catalina is very, VERY dead.

 5. Miguel may or may not be alive. In the cutscene for "Ransom" we see that
    Asuka is dead and Maria and Miguel are both missing. I'm betting he was
    aboard Catalina's helicopter during "The Exchange", but what if he
    wasn't?

 6. Donald Love has fled Liberty City again. If his agenda is the same as
    GTA:LCS we should expect to see him again on the timeline in three
    years. 

 7. Love's oriental gentleman friend is also missing. presumably he's with
    Love.

 8. Luigi Goterelli is apparently still running the Sex Club Seven, so he's
    obviously still on the Mafia payroll. 

 9. Joey Leone *could* be in line to take over the family business, if he
    was that way inclined. No mention is even made of him in GTA:LCS (His
    garage building in Trenton is there though) and after his last mission
    in GTAIII that's the last we see of him.

10. Ray Machowski has also fled the city. His whereabouts are unknown.

11. Phil Cassidy is apparently still in Liberty City. He must need some new
    contacts to sell weapons to now. I'd really like to see what year he
    arrived in Liberty City.

12. The Forelli and Sindacco families now don't have any influence in
    Liberty City. It's unknown whether they still have any business after
    the events of GTA:SA and GTA:LCS.

13. 8-Ball is presumably still in Liberty City.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2f. Random Musings 
------------------

New in this and subsequent versions, the musings now have their own relevant
sub-sections. Amended musings will have a bracketed <updated> prefix.

(a) Characters
    ----------

 1. Who was driving the getaway car in the opening movie? We see Catalina,
    Claude and another accomplice coming out of the back of the bank, but
    this is only after we see a Banshee do a neat 180� in front of the bank.
    It's difficult to see who it is but my money is on Miguel. Unfortunately
    the movie cuts to the convoy scene so it's unknown if Catalina kills the
    driver too, so this does add creedence to my theory.

 2. <updated> What on Earth made Maria tell the Mafia that herself and
    Claude were romantically involved? Salvatore is obviously very paranoid    
    what with the problems the mob are having with the other gangs, but it's
    doubtful he would have killed someone who's done him some big favours by
    killing his enemies. In GTA:SA, we see that Salvatore and Maria met at
    Caligula's Casino where she works as a waitress. We also in GTA:LCS that
    their relationship is far from functional.
 
 3. Claude rescues Maria when she's kidnapped, but why would he bother if
    she's dropped him in it, made him so unpopular with the mob and
    effectively ended his term of employment with them? I think Maria's
    intentions should have been more clear. She doesn't actually do a lot in
    the game, aside from being helplessly kidnapped and in the process gets
    Asuka killed. I've got a theory that Claude really isn't as stupid as he
    looks and kind of clocks that Maria has messed up a few things for him
    and decides to off her as a result.

 4. How did Catalina know to kidnap Maria? Unless the Mafia really had made
    a deal to hand Claude over to the Columbians there's no way for her to
    have known that Maria was now hiding in Staunton Island with you. The
    Panlantic Building was a Cartel hideout, so it's a possibility that
    Catalina accidentally discovered Asuka and Maria there when she went
    back to check on Miguel (Who as we see in the cutscene is being
    tortured). In which case, why didn't she kidnap Asuka instead or as
    well? She's with the powerful Yakuza and would have been a better
    hostage. If the Mafia/Cartel deal was for real, it's a possibility that
    Catalina and Maria would have met but that's stretching a point. 

 5. Donald Love mysteriously disappears after the mission "Decoy" (During
    the cutscene for "Love's Disappearance actually), but where does he go?
    (See section 2h for related information).   

 6. Sticking with Donald Love, it seems his oriental gentleman friend is the
    same man that's freed by the Columbians in the opening movie. It does
    tie in with the plot, as in the cutscene with Love he states that the
    oriental gentleman has been kidnapped, but doesn't explain *WHY* he's so
    important.

 7. What were El Burro, King Courtney and D-Ice doing hiring a man they'd
    never met face to face? El Burro does actually say in one of his
    missions that Claude is '...gaining quite a reputation', but I find it
    hard to believe that any self-respecting gang would hire a man to do
    their important dirty work just from what they've heard, especially from
    their enemies. In any case, how did these three gang leaders get
    Claude's pager number?

 8. If Catalina now works for the Columbian Cartel, why didn't they kill
    Claude in the convoy attack at the start when they had the opportunity?
    If it was Miguel driving the car in the opening movie (See random musing
    no.2) it means that Catalina already has Cartel contacts, and they'd
    surely know who Claude is. Catalina seems to be quite feared and
    respected by members of the Cartel. Check out the cutscenes in 'Cutting
    The Grass', 'Grand Theft Aero' and 'The Exchange'. Catalina's running
    the show as far as the other Cartel members are concerned, although this
    could be due to Miguel's untimely demise (Catalina could have been their
    number two). I find it hard to believe that somebody so revered would
    not inform the other Cartel members about how dangerous Claude could be.
    In the game manual, Miguel is listed in the "Local Figureheads (The
    People Who Run This Town)" section. It's a possibility that Catalina is
    smart and attached herself to one of the leaders of the Cartel so she
    can take Claude out herself, although as we see in 'The Exchange'
    mission she fails miserably. 

 9. Sticking with Catalina, was she a member of the Columbian Cartel to
    start with? Claude must be pretty dumb not to notice, as him and
    Catalina were in a relationship before the Liberty City bank job. As we
    see in GTA:SA, Catalina leaves Carl Johnson (CJ) to go to Liberty City
    with Claude after the 'Badlands' race mission. There are even mobile
    phone calls after you complete the game where it sounds like Claude and
    Catalina are shagging.

10. It's suggested that Maria and Asuka were a little bit more than "old
    friends". Check out the cutscenes for "Sayonara Salvatore", "Paparazzi
    Purge" and "Payday For Ray". They also seem to take great delight in
    torturing Miguel together too.

11. I almost missed this, but it's implied that Claude kills Maria during
    the closing credits. I don't know about you but I would certainly want
    to get rid of her for all the trouble she's caused.

12. In the mission "Kingdom Come" for King Courtney, did he intentionally
    send you to die? It seems an awful coincidence that some Spanked-up
    suicide bombers sent by the Cartel show up just as you go to collect "An
    old stash".

13. In case you missed it, Asuka thinks that the Columbian Cartel killed her
    brother Kenji (Despite it being Claude) due to the fact that a Cartel
    Cruiser was seen. See "Waka-Gashira Wipeout!" for Kenji's assassination
    and "Grand Theft Aero" for when Asuka points the finger.

14. <Corrected, Thanks to Darrel Hoffman> In V1.00 alpha of this guide, I
    stated that Claude is not recommended to Donald Love by anyone. Well, I
    was wrong; In the cutscene for "Evidence Dash" Ray Machowski tells
    Claude '...a real important man in town, a soft touch, with shall we say
    exotic tastes and the money to indulge them'. The only person he could
    possibly mean is Donald Love. Ray must've told him about Claude at some
    point after this mission. I checked this and you can start working for
    Donald after the "Evidence Dash" mission. Ray and Donald's missions
    appear to tie in with the plot a lot more than I thought.

15. When Claude first meets Phil Cassidy in the mission "Arms Shortage",
    he's been roughed up by some Columbian Cartel members. He comments 'I
    can't believe those yellow-bellied bastards left me without proper cover
    again!', but who exactly is he referring to? Claude is there to protect
    him because Ray sent him, so is there another gang that looks after him
    too? It would make sense; Phil's army surplus shop is the only place
    Claude can get a rocket launcher from (Other than 100 hidden packages).

16. In Salvatore's final mission "Last Requests" he asks Claude to go down
    to the Red Light District to pick up a car which has it's interior
    covered in blood. However, as the mission turns out, Claude gets a pager
    message (And subsequent cutscene explanation) from Maria explaining that
    he's doing some sort of deal with the Colombian Cartel in exchange for
    Claude. The mission script is a bit sloppy here, as Maria informs Claude
    that he is a '...marked man on Mafia turf...'. The car that Claude goes
    to pick up has a bomb attached to it, so I'm just wondering if the
    Cartel decided to blow Claude up in exchange for him sinking their SPANK
    boat. If not, it's a genuine mistake. You don't do a deal with someone
    only to blow the target in question up, so I'm just wondering if this
    mission was edited, and the following is why. No Cartel member in the
    game is ever said to be an expert in explosives, although it does kind
    of explain where the SPANK-ed up suicide bombers come from in "Kingdom
    Come". This is pure theory, but maybe 8-Ball was actually in cahoots
    with the Cartel. We never hear anything more of 8-Ball after the mission
    "Bomb Da Base", so he could have either gone with the Cartel or stayed
    with the Mafia, but this just got me thinking: Maybe we don't hear from
    8-Ball because *he* was truly responsible for sinking the huge SPANK
    boat (After all, he set the explosives) and perhaps the Cartel made an
    example of him. I'd like to see if he crops up later in the series.

(b) Continuity
    ----------

 1. As some people have correctly commented, Phil Cassidy is the same
    character that appears in GTA:VC. There's a slight continuity error here
    as Phil claims he lost his arm fighting in Nicaragua, though veteran
    fans of the GTA series will have seen that he lost it in 1986 by
    drunkenly holding on to some explosives for too long. Maybe all that
    boomshine has effected his memory, who knows. It's also strange as in
    the mission "Arms Shortage" Ray Machowski states that Phil is an old   
    army buddy with whom he '...saw action with in Nicaragua...'.
    jduprez from a.g.g-t-a writes: 'That does not necessarily sound like a
    continuity error. If you were a respected weapons dealer, would you
    rather confess your stupidity or invent a glorious veteran past?'. I
    have to say it's a good point. In one of GTA:VC's missions for Phil
    ("Boomshine Saigon") you get to witness Phil blowing his arm off and
    Tommy Vercetti driving him somewhere to get medical attention. 

 2. Just after the opening movie, Claude has to drive because 8-Ball's hands
    are 'all messed up'. On the Liberty Tree website, we find out that a
    police officer "accidentally" dropped some hot fat on them. The Liberty
    Tree website does have a lot more relevance to GTAIII than people think.
    It doesn't explain how 8-Ball is able to still able to build bombs
    though. The second act of Salvatore's mission "Bomb Da Base" comes to
    mind, that must have had one hell of a large amount of explosives to
    sink a huge cargo ship. In every cutscene that 8-Ball appears in, his
    hands are always bandaged. According to a guide I came across the events
    of GTA: Advance, a top-down view GTA set in Liberty City on the Gameboy
    Advance, ties in well with GTAIII, and this is the first game in the
    series continuity where we meet 8-Ball. 

 3. In previous versions of this document I commented about the lack of
    bikes around Liberty City, and how they were not implemented until
    GTA:VC. Thanks to GTA:LCS we finally get to know the reason. Three years
    before the events of GTAIII (The GTA:LCS era) bikes and motorcycles were
    banned. Check out the official Rockstar GTA:LCS website (Which reads
    like an edition of the Liberty Tree newspaper) for more information. Go
    to the "Letters" section (See section 3. Assorted GTA Related Links for
    more information).
 
 4. I know that there's no continuity between GTA1, GTA2, GTA:London 1969
    and then the 3d games (GTAIII, VC and SA) but I thought I'd just point
    out that if there was, El Burro would have been killed twice. In the
    Vice City level of GTA1 "Bent Cop Blues" there's a secret extra mission
    where you have to kill Burro.

 5. I don't know why I didn't spot this sooner. OK, as we all know, and
    following the GTA timeline as best we can, Claude and Catalina left San
    Andreas in 1992 to go to Liberty City. Note what Claude is wearing in
    the cutscenes from SA; A black leather jacket and green trousers. From
    the start of GTAIII (Set in 2001) Claude is wearing orange Liberty
    Penitentiary attire before driving 8-Ball to the hideout in the Red
    Light District for a change of clothes. Claude is still wearing the same
    clothes from 1992! I think somebody at Rockstar dropped the ball on this
    one. Either that or they didn't think a pedantic little shit like me
    would notice. People on the Internet forums have also stated how similar
    Claude and 8-Ball's and James Earl Cash's (From Manhunt) prison uniforms
    look, although I'm quite sure that most American states (Even fictitious   
    ones) have similar apparel.

 6. Catalina is also wearing her same SA apparel, but that tight-fitting
    black leather thing is a staple of heroines and anti-heroines in plenty
    of videogames. In the X-Box double pack version of GTAIII she looks much
    different compared to the PS2.

(c) Cutscenes
    ---------

 1. In the cutscene at the very start of the game, the voiceover we hear
    that sounds like a news report is playing as we see the convoy going
    across the Callahan Bridge. In this we hear that '...identification of
    the missing felons were further hampered by an attack by computer
    hackers on police headquarter databases'. Who exactly was it that hacked
    in to the police system? This could be unrelated, but it is a bit of a
    coincidence plot-wise. As you can probably tell I was paying the
    cutscenes a great deal of attention when I wrote this, and no characters
    in the game are described as being super computer hackers. <Mind you,
    there is an internet cafe in Staunton Island. There's two machines on
    that have images of the original GTA and GTA2 on their monitors>.

 2. If you're wondering what happens to the other guy who robs the bank with
    you in the opening movie, he's killed by Catalina before Claude turns
    the corner. Listen out for the telltale gunshot, and you'll also see
    blood on the wall just as the camera pans to turn the corner.

 3. In the cutscene for "Two Faced Tanner" Rockstar have a pop at
    Reflections, the Newcastle based team behind the Driver games. In the
    cutscene, Asuka's narration mentions that Tanner, the driver Claude has
    to kill, is 'useless out of a car'. In the game Driver 2, for such an
    eagerly anticipated sequel the graphics when Tanner was on foot were
    appalling due to the missing frames of animation. This has become quite
    a feud between Rockstar and Reflections. Reflections struck back in
    Driver 3 where there are ten people in each of the three cities to kill
    as a bonus called 'Timmy Vermicelli'. They're dressed just like Tommy
    Vercetti's "street" clothes in GTA:VC. Finally in GTA:SA, whilst
    burgling Madd Dogg's crib in the mission "Madd Dogg's Rhymes" you hear
    one of his henchman playing a videogame and muttering things like 'How
    could refractions mess up so bad...?'
   
    In later GTA games, Rockstar get back at quite a few people who have had
    a poke at them. The best one is in GTA:SA with the 'True Grime: Street
    Cleaners' which is a parody of True Crime by Activision (Another game
    with appalling graphics and bad controls).

(d) Miscellaneous
    -------------

 1. The getaway car in the opening movies is a Banshee, which only seats the
    driver and one passenger. If this was a well orchestrated robbery (And
    you obviously would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for Catalina's
    treachery) surely Claude would have twigged that something was wrong
    with having a two-seater car for a four-person getaway.

 2. Where exactly was the convoy going when the Columbian Cartel intervened
    to rescue their associate? The only way out of Liberty City, it would
    seem, is from Francis International Airport in Shoreside Vale. The
    convoy on the other hand is heading away from Shoreside Vale and in to
    Portland. With the Porter Tunnel still being completed, there's no way
    to get to Shoreside Vale except via the Callahan Bridge, and they're
    obviously going the wrong way. According to the cutscene, the prisoners
    were going to Liberty Penitentiary, which doesn't actually exist in the
    game. The best place I'd want those criminals is police HQ in Staunton
    Island, but that's where the convoy departs from. 

 3. The Liberty City bank job gang and the police would have found it
    awfully hard going to and from the Liberty City bank - it's in the
    "Ghost Town" behind Shoreside Vale. For more information about the
    mysterious "Ghost Town" check out the excellent FAQ by Codewiz11 on
    gamefaqs.com (See section 3. Assorted GTA Related Links for a website
    URL). There *are* branches of 'Liberty Bank' in Chinatown (Portland) and
    Belleville Park (Staunton Island) but it's definitely not the same
    building.

 4. If anybody is wondering why Liberty City needs a lift bridge, look no
    further than Portland Harbour, there are a couple of huge cargo ships
    moored there. What's unknown however is how they could actually get out
    in to the ocean what with Liberty City's unusually strong currents and
    sewage pipes on all sides of the three islands. The ships themselves do
    feature in the main game. One is the Emergency Vehicle Crane ship (Which
    isn't included in the plot) and the other is for the mission "Bomb Da
    Base" (Which is).

 5. It should be noted that the Hidden Packages, Rampages, Unique Jumps,
    Both Import/Export Garages, Emergency Vehicle Crane, Vigilante,
    Paramedic, Fire Fighter, Taxi Driver, Offroad and RC Toys missions that
    crop up in the game aren't actually anything to do with the plot. I
    thought this might be obvious but apparently it's not.

 6. There's one thing that bugs me about GTAIII and that's the fact that
    Claude doesn't say *one word* all through the game. Did he develop a
    speech impediment from being shot and betrayed by Catalina, or is he
    just a super cool character who prefers his actions to speak for
    themselves? The mind boggles. I have to admit, I've been gaming for a
    long while now and this is the first time I can possibly think of
    where I've played a game of such depth with such an enigmatic character.
    <Answers on a postcard if anybody can think of one. In fact, Samus from
    the original Metroid came close. It was a delightful surprise to find
    out the main character was female>

 7. Both the Maibatsu Monstrosity as seen in the game manual and the
    Maibatsu Thunder advertised on the radio aren't actually in the game. A
    lot of people including myself have been searching for it for ages, but
    to no avail. The Maibatsu Monstrosity we see in the game manual looks
    suspiciously like a Landstalker anyway.  

 8. Another one from the game manual, any citizens wanting to sign up for    
    the military will have a difficult time - The Liberty City Army and Navy
    recruitment office is nowhere to be found in the game. While it doesn't
    affect the plot, it makes you wonder where all the army soldiers come
    from when you have six stars. 

 9. One of the things I really love about this game is the humourous
    atmosphere of Liberty City. Take the time to listen to the radio
    stations, especially Chatterbox. You'll hear some things related to the
    plot. Also check out the mock-up movie posters dotted around the city,
    especially in and around the subways, the one for 'Badfellas' has
    someone that looks suspiciously like Joey Leone who in turn looks like
    (I reckon) the actor Joe Pesci. 
   
    My favourite radio excerpts in particular are....

    A caller called Jane is concerned about her son '...running round the
    house collecting gold coins' after playing videogames. I'd interpret
    this as being a nod to Nintendo.

    The commercial for "Liberty City Survivor". I wonder if the main
    character ever thought about giving it a go, he seems to be adept at
    causing carnage. Finally, as we see in GTA:LCS, Liberty City Survivor is
    available as a link-up multiplayer game.
 
    The guy who exercises his constitional right to use a machine-gun.

    Fernando Martinez (Radio show host in GTA:VC) advertising 'Fernando's
    New Beginnings'. Fernando isn't the only radio star to appear in GTAIII
    and GTA:VC, Lazlow is on V-Rock in GTA:VC but got kicked off, and ends
    up in Liberty City after a brief stint in San Andreas in 1992. He's been
    in Liberty City for at least three years, going by GTA:LCS in which he
    first appears on Chatterbox

    The 'Sue Your Boss' commercial. If only it was true :o)

    Maria calls in about the crush she's got on someone who doesn't talk
    very much. Guess who? She also mentions her old boyfriend, Salvatore
    Leone.

    The advert for Ares running shoes and their child labourers, voiced by
    an actual child for added poignancy '...last week I made a dollar'.

    Reed Tucker, author of the self-help book 'Karate And Digestion', has
    had the brainwave of putting martial arts and organic foods together.
    Sheesh....

    The caller who talks about the NSA and conspiracies shouts "Free Kevin!"
    at the end of his call. Kevin Mitnick is a real life man who has 25
    alleged federal computer and wire fraud violations still pending against
    him (See section 3. Assorted GTA Related Links for a website URL).

    Toni Cipriani is another character who calls in, he's got some issues
    about his mother.

    In the Pogo The Monkey commercial, the website pogothemonkey.com
    actually exists in real life (See section 3. Assorted GTA Related Links
    for a website URL). Other adverts also have real life websites too.

    Two other really funny calls are the woman from the '[C]itizens [R]aging
    [A]gainst [P]hones' and a guy who eats squirrels and other animals. The
    woman prefers to send notes by carrier pigeon instead of using a phone,
    the squirrel guy comments that some of the pigeons he's eaten "....come
    with notes attached, like a fortune cookie with wings".

    Go to GameFAQs for the Chatterbox script by Packing Heat (See section 3.
    Assorted GTA Related Links for a website URL).

10. A few people have emailed me asking for information on Carcer City and
    the Glory Hole theme park that are mentioned on the radio. For one
    thing, just like the Maibatsu car(s), neither exist in the game so don't
    bother looking for them.
    Carcer City is the city where another Rockstar masterpiece, Manhunt,
    takes place. It's all just part of the Rockstar world, Look in Zero's
    shop in GTA:SA and you'll spot some Manhunt action figures, and look in
    Misty's bar in San Fierro, SA to spot one of the "Cerberus" characters
    adorning the wall. Nice injoke, see? 
    The Glory Hole theme park is apparently in the state of San Andreas
    according to a radio excerpt in GTA:LCS.
    In the GTA:SA mission 'Architectural Espionage' a scale model of
    Carcer City can be found on the top floor of the Las Venturas Planning
    Department, along with a poster on the wall of blueprints for the
    Starkweather mansion. I've no idea why I didn't mention this in previous
    versions, put it down to my flesh eating virus and schizophrenia.
    I'm not sure if Gary Shaver, a shamed politician, is mentioned in
    Manhunt, but if he was I missed it. He gets a mention on one of
    GTAIII's radio stations and the radio presented hopes '...they find
    those missing witnesses soon'. Quite apt for a Rockstar game, don't you
    think? It's been strongly hinted that the Grand Theft Auto games and
    Manhunt are set in the same virtual universe, so even if a cross-over
    game featuring characters from both games is unlikely, I think we can
    expect to hear more about Carcer City in subsequent GTA games. In fact,
    if Rockstar ever make Manhunt 2 I'd expect to hear a lot of news about
    Liberty City, Vice City or San Andreas and any GTA characters.

11. Another (Great?) injoke: A large advertising hoarding near the Staunton
    Island lift bridge bears the legend "See You In Miami" with a jet liner.
    This could be interpreted as a clue that GTA:VC was in development.
    Alert reader Naomi82 emailed me to say that a similar sign is to be
    found near Francis International Airport, Shoreside Vale.

12. Naomi82 also noticed this: The Mr. Whoopee music for the ice cream truck
    is the same as in GTA2. Nothing to do with he plot, I know, but it is a
    nice jolly little jingle. It's come to my attention that this music was
    taken from 'Body Harvest', one of the last games by DMA Design released
    only on the N64. 'Body Harvest' has been billed as being one of the
    first 3D games to utilise the go-anywhere "sandbox" gameplay that has
    become so popular.

13. One of the (First) TV adverts for GTAIII has a couple of inconsistencies
    but nothing too major. There's just a few cosmetic changes but one
    really big thing: Right at the end of the advert is a scene of Claude
    cocking a shotgun and pointing it at some mafiosi inside Salvatore's
    "Gentleman's Club". This cutscene never made it in to the game, but it
    makes me wonder what it was about. It's a possibility that Rockstar
    could have had this as an alternate mission to "Last Requests". Instead
    of blowing Claude up in a car, they could have tried the classic
    firing-squad assassination (But he would of course have escaped). If you
    search on YouTube for GTAIII trailers you can find this bit of footage.

14. Take a look at the american.gxt file on the actual game disk itself
    using a PC or Mac and have a read through it. There's some text in there
    from what looks like some cutscenes. I've made a new section to list
    what was removed and tweaked. Nothing remains of Darkel though, sadly,
    although images of him were left on the disk. You might also want to try
    doing a Google search for something like "GTA Mission Transcripts" and
    see what you find. I still remember seeing at least two websites that
    have a semi-detailed run-down of what was omitted from the GTA games.

(e) Unanswered Questions
    --------------------

 1. I have to add this as even for a video game it doesn't make any sense.
    Why would all the separate gangs hire a man whose been working for their
    enemies? Trust and loyalty are two very important factors for any
    criminal organisation, these gangs don't bat an eyelid. The one
    exception is Kenji Kasen, who at least needs convincing that Claude is
    as good as his reputation, despite being recommended for employment by
    his *sister*.

 2. Another mystery is the turf war between the Red Jacks and the Purple
    Nines. If they're fighting for ownership of Wichita Gardens, why do both
    gangs come to each others aid when Claude attacks them? They even drive
    the same vehicle too. The mission cutscenes suggest that the Red Jacks
    win the turf war (And also initiate the "Purple Nines Glitch") in the
    end but both gangs are described in the manual as "South Side Hoods",
    which would make it quite a bizarre conflict. D-Ice does actually state
    in the mission "Uzi Money" that you should be careful not to
    accidentally kill any Red Jacks, so it could be just a misunderstanding.

 3. In the credits section of the game manual are two characters called
    "Curtly" and "Darkel" listed under the cast section. Does anybody know
    who these characters are? If they have speaking roles they must have
    some significance to the plot, and I'd really like to know where they
    crop up. See section 2h. (a) for a deeper analysis. There are even
    images of Darkel left on the game disk, and he also appears on Rockstar
    North's official website. I'm really going to have to have a good look
    on what's left on the game disk when I get a chance, it might even have
    some mission script left in involving these characters of other omitted
    things. Unless Rockstar want to release a "Director's Cut"....

 4. What was in the package Claude rescued for Donald Love? As Darrel
    Hoffman points out: 'I think they were making a nod to [the film] Pulp
    Fiction, and that suitcase with the glowing light inside it that's never
    really explained'. Darrel also mentioned on the a.g.g-t-a newsgroup that
    Ray and Donald's missions could be further related: 'As a matter of
    fact, it occurs to me that Ray's other missions may also be related to
    Donald Love. First you kill the witness. Then you - well, kill the
    witness again because you f****d up the first time. Then you gather and
    destroy the evidence. Then you help get Ray the hell out of town because
    the feds are on to him now. All of this may be related to a big cover up
    of something that would be potentially embarassing to Donald Love...
    Still doesn't explain the oriental gentleman or Love's disappearance, or
    the mysterious box, but I have some feeling it's all related somehow...' 
    Me too, the package must have something *really* desirable for the
    Columbian Cartel to muscle in and steal it. Maybe it's just a matter of
    convenience, Claude wouldn't have found the Cartel hideout and the
    contruction site if they hadn't nicked it from the airport to begin
    with.
   
(f) Cameos
    ------

 1. I was going to leave this for the GTA:VC plot guide, but I suppose it's
    relevant here. On the main eastern island of VC there's a shop a little
    way south of your main hideout (The Ocean View hotel) called "Rockstar
    Video Games" that has some GTAIII characters in the window. 8-Ball, El
    Burro, Kenji and Maria all make an appearance. The images used are from
    GTAIII's loading screens. Claude also appears in a poster at the Ocean
    View Hotel, wielding a machine gun ('Rat-ta-ta-ta-ta')

(g) Film References
    ---------------

 1. On the Gamefaqs message board, a few people have wondered where Rockstar
    got the idea for the RC Toyz missions. It struck me that this could be a
    Dirty Harry film tie-in as it borrows closely from the last film 'The
    Dead Pool' (Which also features a young Jim Carrey). The  reason? The RC
    Toyz mission follow closely to a chapter the film where the baddie is
    trying to kill Clint Eastwood using RC cars packed with explosives. Pure
    speculation I know, but I think it's quite a coincidence that one of the
    largest objects in the game is named after Clint's character also (The
    Callahan Bridge).

 2. I've got a feeling that the 'Borgnine Taxi' you get as a reward for
    completing 100 fares in the "Taxi Driver" side mission is named after
    the actor Ernest Borgnine. Ernest Borgnine, after all, was a cabbie in
    John Carpenter's 'Escape From New York' (And Liberty City is based
    heavily on New York in case you hadn't noticed). Similarly, a car called
    'Bickle 76' is given as a reward in GTA:LCS for completing the same side
    mission. As you might know, Travis Bickle was Robert De Niro's character
    in the 1976 Martin Scorsese film 'Taxi Driver'. Travis was also one of
    the names of the characters in the original GTA, which was obviously
    inspired by gangster films (Quite a few starring Mr. De Niro in fact). 

 3. Claude's quest for revenge seems to be patterned after 'Death Wish'
    starring Charles Bronson. 

 4. Ray Machowski reminds me of, well, just about every bent cop bearing a
    grudge against Internal Affairs in just about every film featuring a
    similar plot line,

 5. Salvatore Leone's paranoia is most probably based on Veto Corleone from
    'The Godfather'.

 6. <From Darrel Hoffman> The mysterious package that Claude rescues for
    Donald Love is a very obvious reference from 'Pulp Fiction'. After all,
    in both storylines we never get to see what's actually in them.

2h. Mistakes
    --------

None yet. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2g. Mission Order 
-----------------

This is the order of the missions I used to to the plot synopsis. As I
stated before, the other miscellaneous stuff (Hidden packages, etc.) aren't
really anything to do with the plot so despite sidetracking between missions
to complete them they are not included here. The missions marked with an
asterisk aren't actual storyline missions (They don't count towards 100%
completion) but they are important in advancing the game.            

Portland:
--------

Opening Mission: Give Me Liberty (*)

Luigi Goterelli: Luigi's Girls
                 Don't Spank Ma Bitch Up
                 Drive Misty For Me
                 Pump-Action Pimp
                 The Fuzz Ball

Marty Chonks: The Crook
              The Thieves
              The Wife
              Her Lover

Joey Leone: Mike Lips Last Lunch
            Farewell 'Chunky' Lee Chong
            Van Heist
            Cipriani's Chauffeur
            Dead Skunk In The Trunk
            The Getaway

El Burro: Turismo
          I Scream, You Scream
          Trial By Fire
          Big 'n' Veiny

Toni Cipriani: Taking Out The Laundry
               The Pick Up
               Salvatore's Called A Meeting
               Triads And Tribulations
               Blow Fish

Salvatore Leone: Chaperone
                 Cutting The Grass
                 Bomb Da Base
                 Last Requests

Staunton Island:
---------------

Asuka Kasen: Sayonara Salvatore
             Under Surveillance
             Paparazzi Purge
             Payday For Ray
             
Ray Machowski: Silence The Sneak
               Arms Shortage
               
Asuka Kasen: Two-Faced Tanner
             
Kenji Kasen: Kanbu Bust-Out
             Grand Theft Auto
             Deal Steal
             Shima
             Smack Down

Ray Machowski: Evidence Dash
               Gone Fishing
               Plaster Blaster
                
Donald Love: Liberator
             Waka-Gashira Wipeout!
             A Drop In The Ocean

Shoreside Vale:
--------------

Ray Machowski: Marked Man             

Donald Love: Grand Theft Aero
             Escort Service
             Decoy
             Love's Disappearance (*)

Asuka Kasen: Bait
             Espresso-2-Go
             S.A.M.

Catalina: Ransom (*)

King Courtney: Bling-Bling Scramble
               Uzi Rider
               Gangcar Round-Up
               Kingdom Come

D-Ice: Uzi Money
       Toyminator
       Rigged To Blow
       Bullion Run
       Rumble

Catalina: The Exchange

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2h. The Cast Of GTAIII 
----------------------

A lot of games companies use real life actors for the voice overs in video
games but before GTAIII and it's subsequent sequels I've never seen so many
in one game.

Salvatore Leone - Frank Vincent

Luigi Goterelli - Joe Pantoliano 

Toni Cipriani - Michael Madsen

Joey Leone - Michael Rappaport

Maria - Debi Mazar

Donald Love - Kyle Maclachlan

Ray Machowski - Robert Loggia

8-Ball - Guru

Ma Cipriani - Sondra James

Asuka Kasen - Liana Pai 

Kenji Kasen - Les Mau

Catalina - Cynthia Farrell

Miguel - Al Espinosa

El Burro - Chris Phillips

D-Ice - Walter Mudu

Curtly - Curtis McClarin

Darkel - Bill Fiore

Marty Chonks - Chris Phillips 

Curly Bob - Hunter Platin

King Courtney - Walter Mudu

Misty - Kim Gurney

Phil Cassidy - Hunter Platin

As mentioned in section 2e. Random Musings, I've got no idea who the
characters Curtly and Darkel are, but see section 2h for some details, some
sketchy, some possibly provable. I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could
tell me who they are.

Quite a few of the above have appeared in other games too. Check out the
IMDB for a history.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

2i. So What Exactly Did Go The Way Of The Dodo?
-----------------------------------------------

In this section I'm going to attempt to list what was missing from the final
finished GTAIII. Some of it is very relevant to the plot, but there are some
points which are just interesting concerning the end product's gameplay.  

There is no way of absolutely knowing the truth about what was removed or
why some things were changed in the final versions of Rockstar's games, but
fortunately there are loads of development shots and several videos that
show early footage.

Kudos to WeirdAlFan27 for making a video of development shots and footage,
it was most helpful.

(a) Curtly And Darkel
    -----------------

As I mentioned in the above section, these mysterious characters appear in
the credits but there are no mentions of them in the actual game. Exactly
why they were removed is a matter for big discussion, but I've obtained
information that appears to have come from an official(ish) source.

Darkel was originally a terrorist living as a bum in Portland. It's rumoured
that his missions were going to include blowing up a school bus, flying a
Dodo plane in to the Love Media building and using molotov cocktails to burn
pedestrians.

One person who's been in contact mentioned that the Rampages in the finished
game were originally going to be side-missions, and that Darkel would have
proper mission strands later in the game. This does make some sense, but not
if you consider that Rampages are akin to the Kill Frenzies that appeared in
the original GTA, GTA:London and GTA2.

Considering that this game was released just over a month after the
September 11th World Trade attacks, this does have some creedence. However
it does seem like a very late decision considering how long the game was in
production, thus I think that these mission(s) were removed much, much
earlier.

One rumour (And I have no way of proving or disproving this without knowing
from the men themselves) is that Bill Fiore, who voiced Darkel, made some
suggestions to Dan Houser about Darkel's missions and was promptly fired on
the spot. What exactly this was about I have no idea, but it is quite
interesting. I wonder exactly what else was missing if they omitted one
whole character?

If Darkel and his related missions were removed at the last minute, this
might explain why he still appears in the credits.

There's also a (Rather convenient) theory that the Love Media disaster was
the reason for Donald Love's disappearance, and that Darkel may have been
responsible for giving you the say-so to take out other well-known
characters. 

"Darkel" could be an acronym: <D>onald (Love)
                              <A>suka  (Kasen)
                              <R)ay    (Machowski)
                              <K>enji  (Kasen)
                              <EL>     (Burro)

Out of these characters in the finished released game, Donald Love
disappears mysteriously ("Love's Disappearance"), Asuka is killed by the
Columbian Cartel ("Ransom"), Ray escapes the feds and leaves Liberty City
("Marked Man") and Kenji is assassinated (By Claude, "Waka-Gashira
Wipeout").

El Burro is the only possible character who could survive, and yet the only
time we see him in the game is on a loading screen.  

As for Curtly, nobody has anything on him. His name hasn't even appeared on
any of the message boards and forums I've pored over for research. 

(b) The Full-Winged Dodo
    --------------------

What adds even more creedence to the reasons why Darkel was removed is this
little nugget of information - The full-winged Dodo did once exist in the
game.

I can't possibly think of better proof than this:

In the first couple of pages the game manual you'll see an image of Claude
standing with an AK47 with the El Train tracks behind him. Look just to the
left and under the tracks and you'll spot the deleted plane.

I'm just guessing here, but the full-winged Dodo, if it behaved like it's
cousins in GTA:VC and SA, would have been a dream to fly.

Liberty City, on the other hand, isn't exactly great to fly around. Sure, it
would make getting to the Ghost Town and other secrets a lot easier, but
what exactly else is there to do? 

Most of the tall buildings in Staunton Island, for example, only go up a
certain way before they become "hollow" (In which you can pass through them,
instead of colliding), so it could just be that Rockstar couldn't be arsed. 

In GTA: Vice City, this is technically the same case. Even flying the Rhino
tank (Which can go much higher due to it's unique method of propulsion)
about the ceiling height is much, much lower. This game funnily enough
features the Skimmer, a full-winged sea plane. Coincidence?

One of the reasons I read on the Gamefaqs message board is that Rockstar had
major trouble implementing proper air vehicle physics. The clipped-wing Dodo
is still very much flyable, it just takes a bit of getting used to.

(c) Weapon Damage
    -------------

Take a look at the development shots for GTAIII and you might notice
something different. In a nutshell, weapons used to damage walls and cars
with visible gunshot marks.

There are some shots on www.gouranga.com that feature a car with bullet
holes peppered across the windshield.

I've got a feeling that this was removed due to speed problems. During a big
firefight with the law either on foot or in a vehicle the game slows down
dramatically. This was probably removed as the extra holes and other damage
the game had to plot would have slowed down the game too much and made it
unplayable.

On another point, Try and get the law to fire at you through a breakable
window. For some reason, their bullets don't break the windows. Yours do.

I assume this was omitted for the same reason.

This was later fixed, or at least modified, with GTA:VC. It's possible to
use the sniper rifle and all the heavy machine guns to take out all the
windows on vehicles, and this includes sniping the driver and passenger.  

The same also applies to GTA:SA, which uses a heavily tweaked and later
version of the RenderWare engine.

I'm guessing that Rockstar really investigated just what the RenderWare
engine was capable of, hence the extra gameplay features aiming for
proper(ish) realism.

(d) Blue And White Police Cars
    --------------------------

Rockstar changed the colour of the Police cars and Enforcer SWAT vans. You
can see them in early preview shots, the manual and even the introduction
movie left in the game.

It's rumoured that they were changed after the 9/11 attacks, but according
to an interview I read the stuff that people thought was changed because of
9/11 was changed much earlier.

GTA:LCS does feature the same missing police cars however, they are coloured
black and white with the distinctive 'LCPD' logos.

(e) Claude's Shoes
    --------------

A small difference, but Claude has some fancy shoes in the shot at the front
of the manual (Blue with a yellow "swoosh"). My theory is that this was
taken in a development shot, as the general area looks bare, the full-winged
Dodo can be seen and the policeman in the background is using animation not
seen in the final game.

(f) Liberty City Layout
    -------------------

The layout of Liberty City itself went through many changes during
development and if you look at early development shots and video you'll see
a few things that were very different in the final game.

Fortunately there are a lot of early development shots and beta videos on
the Internet. Many thanks to WeirdAlFan27 for making the comparison video
available on YouTube.

An early version of the map has Francis International Airport situated to
the north of Staunton Island, on the site covering all of Aspatria, Liberty
Campus and Fort Staunton. In it's place on Shoreside Vale there was what
looks like another apartment project, similar to what exists in the finished
game in Wichita Gardens. Whether this actually modelled or was just
blueprinted is unknown.

The Callahan Bridge also doesn't appear to have been added to the early map
that was found on Gouranga! and it's my guess the residents of Liberty City
had to rely on the Porter road tunnel a lot more. It's not on the map, but
the lift bridge connecting Staunton Island and Shoreside Vale can be seen in
many development shots. The Callahan Bridge was probably added as it's
unrealistic to have an island cut off with no easy transport routes (That
said, in GTA's timeline the ferry service would have been operating, but
factual answers are rarely entertaining).

The area in the Red Light District where the subway station is was
originally different too. In one shot you can clearly see an El Train
station above where the entrance to the subway should be, and at street
level the surrounding area is bare. In fact in other beta shots there isn't
any evidence of an inter-island subway, so I find myself wondering if the El
Train was originally planned to go all the way around the city. No shots
exist of any elevated tracks in Staunton Island or Shoreside Vale, so if my
guess is correct the idea was dropped pretty early and the subterranean
subway implemented.

Sticking with Portland, a few screenshots of Chinatown have a small grass
square with two statues instead of the Punk Noodles building.

(g) Mission Arrows
    --------------

The arrows used to denote a mission vehicle were originally red instead of
blue.

(h) Vehicle Variations
    ------------------

Some cars in the development shots and even later movies (Like the E3
preview) have some odd coloured cars. You can distinctly see a garish yellow
and blue Stallion, a maroon Kuruma and a purple Cheetah.

Some vehicles had what I assume is last-minute modelling. In WeirdAlFan27's
video there's a comparison of a development Infernus and the finished
version.

School buses were once available. There are many shots of these in early
shots and a few wrecked buses can be found at the car crusher in Harwood,
Portland. A rumour circulating on the Internet states that children were
once going to be pedestrians and this apparently explains the presence of
the distinctive vehicles. Another rumour also stated a mission given to you
by the infamous Darkel involved planting a bomb on a school bus, collecting
kids from a school and detonating it. I find this very hard to believe, as
GTAIII had censorship issues from the off. I very much doubt something as
severe as (a) Having kids as pedestrian cannon fodder, and (b) Blowing them
up for a terrorist would be allowed in a game even now.

There are at least two vehicle models that were omitted. Pictures, again in
WeirdAlFan27's video, show the Luton (Ford Transit box van) and a Panto
(Ford Pinto). My educated guess is that the Luton didn't match the other
American trucks in the game and thus would have looked out of place and the
Panto was just another mediocre car, which the game already had plenty of.

Some vehicles also had a name change:
 
                      +---------------+--------------+
                      | Final Version | Beta Version |
                      +---------------+--------------+
                      |   Manana      |   Ariant     |
                      |   Moonbeam    |   Aster      |
                      |   Sentinel    |   Beamer     |
                      |   Cheetah     |   Dyablo     |
                      |   Patriot     |   Hum Vee    |
                      |   Infernus    |   Rocket     |
                      |   Kuruma      |   Sentinal   |
                      |   Stinger     |   Shark      |
                      |   Blista      |   Space      |
                      +---------------+--------------+

(i) The Head-Up Display
    -------------------

The HUD went through some changes too. The map was blue instead of orange,
and the development version has a life bar next to it instead of the
numbers used for health in the final version. Other than a map the HUD also
only had the time of day and money displays instead of what was used in the
final version. 

I think this was changed to make it easier to see; The final version uses
the Pricedown font whilst the development version just has some generic
font. Plus there was no display for a wanted level or what was weapon was
currently selected.

(j) Police Helicopter
    -----------------

Originally all white instead of a light blue and white colour scheme. This
was probably changed at the same time as the other police vehicles.

(k) The Pricedown Font
    ------------------

It appears that the font used for the GTA logo and in-game (Ray Larabie's
Pricedown) was only added quite late in to development.

(l) Claude
    ------

Our silent protagonist had several different looks during development. Some
early shots look very cartoonish and one even has him looking like Matt
Damon. It's pretty clear that Claude's final look was finally decided on
quite late in to production, as seen in the E3 preview video (The earliest
released gameplay footage).

(m) "Full Gore" Mode
    ----------------

This was only altered slightly and is in the final game. Basically, With
weapons aimed with crosshairs, like the M60 or sniper rifle, you had the
ability to shoot the limbs off pedestrians. There is also slightly more
blood than in the finished game.

X-Box and PC gamers have this switched on by default, but the PS2 lacks it
without using a cheat code. Entering the code doesn't give you a 'cheat
activated' message like the other codes though, perhaps this was to get past
the censors.

(n) Crosshairs
    ----------

At some stage in development the first-person perspective when using the M60
or sniper rifle was changed.

(o) 8-Ball
    ------

In early shots 8-Ball looks distinctly white instead of black. Some
screenshots show him and Claude in orange prison overalls, like in the first
mission of the final game "Give Me Liberty", so this must have been a late
decision. His hands are still bandaged too.

(p) Player Name
    -----------

DMA Design originally planned an option for the player to enter their name
before the game would begin, similar to GTA and GTA2. The default name was
apparently Claude, so this explains why his name appears in the american.txt
file that the game uses.

This might also explain why Claude stays mute throughout the game and in his
GTA:SA cameo. Rather than being talked to by name some characters refer to
him as 'Fido' (Maria) and the simple 'Kid' (Toni Cipriani).

(q) Lighting Effects
    ----------------

You can see in the pictures that the game generally looks too bright, so I'm
guessing that the lighting effects plotted by the engine were not
implemented until it funtioned properly with properly modelled map to roam
around.

You can see the big difference in the pictures and the E3 video - The video
looks much more impressive. What puzzles me slightly is that the first
published promotional shots of GTAIII looked absolutely gorgeous compared to
development shots.

(r) Perfect Quadruple Insane Stunt
    ------------------------------

The following section is by Robert Allan Rusk and he has kindly allowed me
to include it here. 

'One of the things GTA3 players like to do is to get the best Insane Stunt
possible. The best I have done is a Perfect Triple Insane Stunt. This is
about as high as most players have gotten. There was talk about whether or
not you can do a Quadruple Insane Stunt but no one has ever reported doing
one and everybody said that there is no such thing.

But while perusing the "american.gxt" file on the PS2 version (with the disc
inside my Mac), I came across this listing of Insane Stunts:

     >> Insane Stunt
     >> Perfect Insane Stunt
     >> Double Insane Stunt
     >> Perfect Double Insane Stunt
     >> Triple Insane Stunt
     >> Perfect Triple Insane Stunt
     >> Quadruple Insane Stunt
     >> Perfect Quadruple Insane Stunt

As you can see, there is a Quadruple Insane Stunt listed. But since no one
has ever reported doing one I have come up with two possibilities: One, that
Rockstar took out the Quadruple rating (but left the text) or two, that the
requirements for a Quadruple Insane Stunt are so high that no one has
figured out how to get it yet.

If anybody has managed to get either a Quadruple Insane Stunt or a Perfect 
Quadruple Insane Stunt I'd like to hear about it and how you did it so I  
can put it in future revisions.'

I vaguely remember seeing this when I had a look at the american.gxt file,
but never took the time to go through it properly.

(s) Mission Text
    ------------

What follows is just some quoted text that was removed from the game but was
left on the game disk. Thanks again to Robert Allen Rusk for taking the time
to go through the american.txt file and make it readable. 

'If you place the PS2 version of GTA3 in a computer and look around on the
disc you may find a file called "american.gxt". If you open it in a text  
editor you will find all sorts of gobbeldy-gook. But if you manage to clean 
out some of the weird symbols, you may find some interesting stuff.

Stuff like text from missions and phone calls that were abandoned in the  
early stages of development but were left within this file because the 
programmers could slow down the progress of creation if they tried to remove 
it.

I copied some of the best stuff and cleaned it up so they can be presented
here.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Here's an alternate version of what the angry store owner says to you during
"Shima" (Kenji Kasen):

Owner: "I can't pay you and I wouldn't pay you if I could! Some young gang 
       just jacked out the place! They took everything! You guys are
       useless. What kind of Yakuza are YOU anyway...? This ain't what I pay 
       you goons for. If I wanted this kind of protection I'd have used the
       god damn police service."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Here's an alternate version of what Maria says at the end of the game:

Maria: "I broke a nail, and my hair's ruined. Can you believe it? This one
       cost me fifty dollars! I was so scared, but then I thought to myself,
       you're a big girl now. Oh we're going to have such fun, cause, you
       know, my sister said she wanted to come to stay with her two kids, 
       because her husband's playing around again and..XXXX"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I wonder where this was supposed to go:

"BETRAYED BY HIS LOVER CATALINA AND LEFT FOR DEAD. CONVICTED AND SENTENCED,
HE BEGINS HIS JOURNEY TO LIBERTY CITY PENITENTIARY. BUT ONLY ONE THOUGHT
BURNS IN HIS CRIMINAL MIND......REVENGE!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is only a part of some of the interesting stuff that is found in the
"american.gxt" file. It's not an easy thing to sort through but it is cool to
look around and see all of the stuff they left behind "on the cutting room
floor".'

(t) XBox And PC Differences
    -----------------------

Nothing too major here, but the XBox and PC versions was changed slightly.

>> 'Catalina looks very different in the Xbox version. She has a different 
   hairstyle, a very revealing top, a tattoo on her lower back, slight panty 
   exposure (Around her pant line), and a navel ring. 
  
>> The dialogue in the cutscene for "Under Surveillance" (Asuka Kasen) was 
   changed. She mentions that the federal agents are doing the surveillance 
   instead of the Mafia. However, while the spoken dialogue was changed, the 
   subtitles were not thus making the cutscene awkward.'

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                        3. Assorted GTA Related Links
                        =============================

GameFAQs GTAIII page - www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/31127.html

GameFAQs GTA:VC page - www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/33074.html

GameFAQs GTA:SA page - www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/game/914983.html

GameFAQs GTA:LCS page - www.gamefaqs.com/portable/psp/game/925776.html
 
Rockstar Games - www.rockstargames.com

Rockstar North - www.rockstarnorth.com

GTAIII Official Homepage - www.grandtheftauto3.com

GTA:VC Official Homepage - www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/

GTA:SA Official Homepage - www.rockstargames.com/sanandreas

GTA:LCS Official Homepage - www.rockstargames.com/libertycitystories 

GTA:VCS Official Homepage - www.rockstargames.com/vicecitystories  
                                                                 
Pogo The Monkey - www.pogothemonkey.com

Liberty Tree Newspaper - www.rockstargames.com/libertytree

Love Media - www.lovemedia.tv

Dormatron - www.sleepofflard.com

PetsOvernight.com - www.petsovernight.com

Various Recommended Fansites - www.gta3.com                       
                               www.gouranga.com
                               www.gta.sky-scraper.com
                               www.gta-3.com
                               www.gta.pl
                               www.gta-vc.com
                               www.gta3warehousecoalition.com
                               www.thegtaplace.com

GTAIII Trailers and Preview Movies -

www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/grandtheftauto3/mediahtml?mode=trailers

Kevin Mitnick - www.kevinmitnick.com

Internet Movie Database - www.imdb.com

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                            4. ....And The Outro
                            --------------------

Phew! That's it for another update. I doubt that there's a lot more to add,
but if there is I'll upload it to Gamefaqs.

My GTA:VC guide is almost finished and a refresher playthrough of GTA:VCS
will be started soon to get all the cutscenes and missions onto VHS.
Fortunately, due to me making strategic saves, it won't take me as long as I
won't be side-tracked by things like Red Balloons and Rampages.

A plot guide for GTA:SA will also eventually come to fruition. Seeing as
GTA:SA is the longest GTA game with many off-shoots from the plot, I think
if I work non-stop it will be finihed by the next millennium.

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                            5. About The Author
                            -------------------

I'm 24 and live in Wimbledon, South London in England.

I'm heavily in to music; The Who, The Small Faces, The Kinks, Paul Weller,
Ocean Colour Scene, The Bluetones, Supergrass, The Ramones, The Jam, The
Clash, The Buzzcocks, The Velvet Underground, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin,
Queen, to name but a few. My all time favourite song is 'Waterloo Sunset' by
The Kinks.

I also love films and have quite a large collection, and spend most of my
free time either gaming (Playstation2, Gamecube, PC, Acorn and retro games
between 1980-1995) or reading. At the moment I'm reading Elmore Leonard, but
also like my Terry Pratchett, Robert Rankin, Douglas Adams and other
humour/fiction.

When I'm not womble hunting on Wimbledon Common, chain smoking, getting
pissed, topless go-go dancing or lying about my achievements, I'm in
training to be the first man to wade the English Channel. I'm also
apparently an entrant in next year's Crufts.
   


'Never consider mortality. Consider immortality'.



Cheers,
Rob White
a.k.a Happy Womble
 



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