For other characters with the name Claude, see Claude (disambiguation).
Claude Speed is a character appearing as the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto 2.[1] He is also featured in the GTA 2: The Movie promotional short film, used to promote the in-game features and gangs.
History[]
Background[]
Little history is given for the character in GTA 2. According to various pre-release previews, including the ones listed on GTA2's website (which has been shut down due to end of support for the Adobe Flash Player), Claude Speed has just been freed from prison and awakened from cryogenic sleep with a bad case of amnesia shortly before the events of the game.[2][3][4][5][6]
DMA Design had previously released a promotional movie for the game, which was also compiled into the opening cinematic of the game, depicting a live-action rendition of Claude Speed committing several criminal acts, similar in all Grand Theft Auto games. In the movie, Claude is seen performing jobs for several crime bosses, before being shot by an assassin sent by the Zaibatsu Corporation, whose van and merchandise were previously stolen by Claude. Close inspection of Claude Speed's rap sheet in the intro movie reveals that he is 28 during GTA 2, which is either set in 1999 or 2013.
During the course of the game, Claude starts his career as a simple thug; however, he was soon hired by the major gangs that controlled Anywhere City. Claude secretly worked with all of them and in the end managed to kill all of their leaders, and later flees the city with the money he earned. Claude goes to prison during the mission Penal Ties! on orders of Rednecks leader Billy Bob Bean.
Events of GTA 2: The Movie[]
The movie rendition of Claude Speed was portrayed by English actor and model Scott Maslen. In the film, Claude is first casually walking down the street before breaking into a run when he discovered himself being chased by a large group of people. He escaped by stealing a van owned by the Zaibatsu Corporation, which earned him a mark for death from the Corporation's higher-ups. Over the course of the film Claude's various exploits are shown, including driving while taking drugs, getting into a police chase, getting a car sprayed, drug running, and rescuing a group of trapped people dressed as monks from a van and killing the owner.
"Pursuit and escape"[]
The film opens with overhead scenes of a city as police chatter is heard, revealing that criminal has evaded them. It then cuts to Claude Speed striding on the streets, only to be chased by a group of armed gang members (implied to be Rednecks, based on their choice of baseball caps and plaid shirts; one of them is wielding a chainsaw). Looking to escape, Claude carjacks a parked van, throwing its occupant out and driving the vehicle away, shaking off his pursuers.
"The Assassin is activated"[]
While in the van, Claude, to his joy, discovers boxes of Zaibatsu Corporation drug shipments inside. With his newly discovered loot, Claude stops to break into a black sedan, load a few of the boxes into its trunk, and takes off in the stolen car, abandoning the van. However, Claude's act has been reported by the driver of the van to the Zaibatsu, and an informant depicted as a homeless person updates the Zaibatsu on Claude's whereabouts and change of vehicle. The Zaibatsu Corporation promptly obtains a record of Claude, and dispatches an assassin (who doubles as a janitor in the company) to kill Claude.
"Cop chase"[]
Meanwhile, Claude discovers a police car tailing him, resulting in a chase that lasts for a period of time. After the police car spins out of control, allowing Claude to escape, Claude seeks refuge in a paint shop, where his car is resprayed with a white body color. This allows him to slip through police detection, and continue to go about his business.
"Meet the boss"[]
Claude arrives at a hideout for a group of Russians at a harbor, demanding that they help him kill a member of the Rednecks. As the Russian mob boss is about to turn him away, Claude produces two packets of the Zaibatsu drugs to the boss. To the boss' approval, the deal is sealed. As Claude heads to his next destination, he decides to consume some of the drugs himself, with less-than-desirable results...
"Basement and baseball"[]
Still under the influence of the drugs, Claude makes another stop, this time an underground Yakuza haunt, where an unknown individual is in the process of being tortured with baseball bats. With two boxes of Zaibatsu drugs to show, Claude is asked by a Yakuza boss to help locate and rescue a fellow associate, in exchange for a monetary reward. Claude complies and leaves, as the tortured prisoner is bludgeoned in the head with a hammer by the boss.
"Shoot him when he's down"[]
With the Yakuza boss' order in mind, Claude locates a step van stopping at an intersection, exits his car and guns down the driver, shooting him three times and spitting on him. Claude then proceeds to open the van's cargo hold, revealing a group of people dressed as monks, presumably meant to represent the Hare Krishna gang. Claude finds his man, and returns him to safety, where Yakuza members greet him with open arms. Claude leaves to prepare for his next job as night approaches.
"Elvis"[]
Using the step van acquired in his last mission, Claude arrives at a storefront to pick up the Russians, as promised. They are heading to a bar where Elvis is performing a gig; the bar scene reveals Redneck members with Yakuza members celebrating the recent rescue of their cohort. Claude and the Russians arrive, as Claude paves the way for the Russians to storm in and provoke a firefight that presumably results in casualties on all sides. Claude walks away with a grin on his face as a Russian is seen gunned down.
"Crime does not pay" and death[]
As Claude attempted to hijack a parked car on the street, the assassin sent by Zaibatsu approached him from behind through a darkened back alley and shot him three times in the back with a silenced pistol. Claude was thrown forward by the impacts from the bullets and, with no time to react, he looks down at himself in shock and briefly seems to brush the hood of the car in an attempt to stay upright before falling backwards onto the pavement and presumably dying from his injuries.
Relation between the Movie and the Game[]
It is not clear how the promotional movie relates to the game story (as before or after he awakened from the cryogenic sleep), although it's more likely that the movie was made simply to promote the game. The movie shows many features seen in the game, such as the car jacking feature, the respray shops, and the appearance of some gangs seen in the game: the Zaibatsu, the Yakuza, the Rednecks, people being abducted and converted by the Krishnas, an Elvis Impersonator, and Claude Speed starting a gang shootout between three gangs at the end.
The mention of cryogenic sleep is also accurate to the game's retro-futuristic world, where human clones and sci-fi power cores exist.
Events of Grand Theft Auto 2[]
Downtown District[]
Speed is first seen at the church in Jesus Saves in Avalon, where he is introduced to the Downtown District and the three gangs who control the district: the Japanese Yakuza gang led by the Zoo Family, the corporates of the Zaibatsu Corporation, and the Loonies, a group of lunatics from the mental asylum.
On his own, Speed decides to infiltrate all three gangs at the same time and work for each of them in exchange for money, and at the same time against them to earn respect from their rivals. He begins doing easy jobs for each gang boss via payphones in each gang turf. The Yakuza boss Johnny Zoo first hires him to pick up Doctor ZitZaki and drive him safely to the new Yakuza J-Lab, after learning that the Zaibatsu Corporation have found out about his experiments; and helping the Yakuza inside man Hiroshi escape the local police after he illegally transferred money to Johnny Zoo's bank account.
In the meantime, Speed is also hired by one of the Zaibatsu Corporation bosses, Trey Welsh. He first hires him to kidnap a man known as Shady who sold Zaibatsu information to the police and to crush him alive in a car crusher owned by the Zaibatsu company, and later delivering some brand new Zaibatsu merchandise to their dealers around town.
Speed is also hired by Elmo from the Loonies gang to blow up the radio transmitter at the Futuro FM Headquarters after the Zaibatsu company started advertising their new drugs on the station, and later hires him to use explosives to blow up a Pizza Cake restaurant, which ends up failing, although Speed successfully destroys a Pizza Cake delivery van shortly after. After earning enough respect from each gang, Speed is hired for more difficult missions. Johnny Zoo hires him to destroy the Loonies' "Happy Gas" tanks at the Sunnyside Asylum after they refused to pay the money they owe to him, saving Gama Rei from a group of hitmen sent by the Zaibatsu, and eliminating a traitor who has been selling his secrets to the Zaibatsu.
Trey Welsh hires Speed to kill the boss of the Yutes gang who has been stealing and scrapping Zaibatsu cars for money, blowing up a garage owned by the Loonies gang after they slipped some of his narcotics in the water supply, and stealing a bank van in order to pay off a cop.
In the meantime, Elmo tells Speed to meet Cosmo Trouble who has a proposition for them; however, it turns out to be a Zaibatsu ambush. Ultimately, Speed survives the ambush and kills the Zaibatsu hitmen. Elmo also hires him to destroy the Yakuza J-Lab and steal a Dementia Limousine from a police impound garage. At some point after earning maximum respect from each gang, Speed is hired for more risky jobs.
Johnny Zoo hires Speed to steal a SWAT Van from the local police, in retaliation for them impounding his favorite car. However, the military force is sent to blow up Zoo's collection of exotic cars, but are stopped by Speed as he blows up their Tank.
Trey Welsh later hires Speed to find the Zaibatsu biologist Doctor Cubana, who has been kidnapped and is being tortured by the Yakuza inside an armored car. He is told to blow up the car with Cubana inside to make sure he won't give any information about the Zaibatsu. He is later hired again to steal used bank notes for Trey Welsh, to be used in his contraband drug operation.
Elmo also hires Speed to kill various random taxi drivers around town and scrap their cabs for refusing to give him a ride. After that, he hires him to cause a gang war between the Zaibatsu and the Yakuza. Speed steals a Zaibatsu Z-Type and uses it to run over and kill Johnny Zoo's men, and later steals a Yakuza Miara and kills a group of Zaibatsu Z-Men in the same way. Eventually, all three gang bosses find out that Speed has been working behind their backs all along. They start hunting him around town and eventually find him. Ultimately, Johnny Zoo, Trey Welsh and Elmo are killed by Claude Speed shortly before he moves to the Residential District.
Residential District[]
Arriving at the Residential District, Speed decides to work for the gangs controlling the district and do the same as he did to the previous gangs.
He begins working for the three gangs who control the Residential District: the Rednecks gang from the Mobile RV Park led by Billy Bob Bean, the Sex and Reproductive Systems (SRS) Scientists led by Dr. LaBrat, and another boss of the Zaibatsu Corporation, Red Valdez. Once again, Speed works for each of them, and at the same time against them.
Billy Bob hires Speed to cause some trouble on Zaibatsu and SRS turfs, kill a group of each gang, and destroy the gates of The Village owned by the Zaibatsu Corporation.
He is also hired by Dr. LaBrat at the SRS Scientists Research Center to pick up four Zaibatsu operatives using a cab and use a crane to dump it in the sea with them inside. He also asks him to kidnap groups of Rednecks and Zaibatsu Z-Men and deliver them to the Scientists Research Center to be killed by Dr. LaBrat's SRS Clones as part of a test experiment.
Red Valdez of the Zaibatsu hires Speed to steal a new Flamethrower prototype made by the SRS and use it to burn several Rednecks alive at the Mobile RV Park, and also steal a Pickup owned by a Redneck known as Jungle Montana and use it to blow up the SRS Clone Test Center. After earning enough respect from each gang, Speed is hired for more difficult missions.
Billy Bob hires Speed to swap a police chief's new Benson with another one rigged with explosives in order to kill him, kill Zaibatsu's well-known mercenary Flambo Cortez, and steal a Tank from the Camp Banks Army Base to be gifted for Jungle Montana.
LaBrat hires Speed to kill several people at The Village owned by the Zaibatsu, kidnap an old Redneck known as Gran'pa to be used in experiments, and protect the research center's generators from a group of drunk Rednecks.
Valdez hires Speed to infiltrate the SRS Scientists Research Center and destroy their cold fusion generators, steal contraband from both the SRS and Rednecks which is being transported around town, and attract attention from the police forces in order to steal a SWAT Van and a Special Agent Car for him.
At some point after earning maximum respect from each gang, Speed is hired for more risky jobs.
Billy Bob sends a group of Rednecks to help Speed destroy five SRS Scientists' Meteors driving around their turf. Later, Speed is arrested on purpose in order to infiltrate the Alma Mater Prison and kill a few prison guards inside, cause a riot and open the prison gates as part of a revenge plan by Billy Bob.
LaBrat asks Speed to help him test a remote-controlled Taxi on a test track inside the SRS Scientists Research Center, which he later uses to pick up and kill three Scientists who betrayed the SRS. After that, he is hired to go to the H2000 Water Company's hydroelectrical power station and destroy four turbines and a generator.
Valdez tests Claude Speed by sending him to The Mall to kill a group of SRS Scientists without vehicles, and later asks him to create a diversion by stealing a Special Agent Car from the police station, then luring the cops away until the job can be finished. At some point, Billy Bob, LaBrat and Valdez connect the dots and realize they are being played by Claude Speed and all three bosses go after him. Speed kills all of them in self-defense shortly before leaving the district.
Industrial District[]
Speed moves to the Industrial District and once again decides to scam the gang bosses around the area for money while also putting their gangs against the other ones in order to weaken them. He is hired by a Hare Krishna monk known as Sunbeam to dispose of a Zaibatsu construction firm which is constructing a shopping mall near the Krishna's Vedic Temple, and also to scrap three police cars as revenge by Sunbeam after the local police began halting the Krishna program of automotive clearance.
Another Zaibatsu Corporation boss, known as Uno Carb, hires Speed to deliver three stolen cars and two prostitutes to the Zaibatsu Power Core safehouse. He also kills two Russian gangsters and starts a war between the Hare Krishna and the Russian Mafia.
A Russian gang boss named Jerkov also hires Claude Speed to join forces with the Russian Mafia of Anywhere, the Kovski Bratva. He informs Speed that the R. S. & L. Bows meat company offered to supply Jerkov's restaurant with hot dog meat if he supplies them with a cheap source of meat. Under Jerkov's orders, Speed steals a Bus and uses it to kidnap a group of civilians from a bus stop. He then delivers the civilians to the R. S. & L. Bows Meat Processing Plant, where he oversees the Kovski gangsters brutally killing the bus passengers in the meat grinder and gunning down the ones who try to escape. Shortly after, Speed delivers the processed human meat to Jerkov's restaurant. He also kidnaps and drowns a group of Zaibatsu dealers under orders of Jerkov. As the Industrial District gangs begin to trust Speed, he is hired for more difficult jobs.
Under orders of Sunbeam, Speed kidnaps four groups of Kovski gangsters in order to convert them into Hare Krishnas, rescues a group of kidnapped Krishnas being kept hostage at the DeCon Labs, and stops the Krishna's Grand Master assassination after killing the hitmen sent by Jerkov.
Carbine hires Speed to eliminate a dealer working for the Russian Mafia and steal their truck loaded with contraband reactor fuel for the Zaibatsu, start a gang war between the Krishnas and the Russian Mafia by running over their members using their rival gang's cars, and retrieving the Zaibatsu AI Brain Units from a Russian gang lock-up.
Jerkov also hires him to destroy four law enforcement vehicles in order to extort protection money from the city's emergency services, killing a group of Krishna hitmen and their leader Nova Bright, and destroying three Tanks sent by the Zaibatsu to destroy the Russian Mafia cars after they lost a poker game against Jerkov. After earning maximum respect from each gang, Speed is hired for more risky jobs.
Sunbeam hires him to rescue a group of kidnapped Krishna monks being kept hostage by the Zaibatsu at their power plant in Tower Square and destroy a Power Plant owned by the Russian Mafia. He also steals a Tank for Uno Carbine; however, it turns out to be booby-trapped by the military, so he asks Speed to steal another Tank from the Army Base, which he does successfully. In the meantime, Jerkov hires Speed once again to cause a massacre at the Vedic Temple with the help of Russian gangster Ivan and other members. He later destroys the Zaibatsu Power Core generators and captures an informant to be killed by Jerkov's son for spreading information about his mother.
Eventually, all of the three gang bosses realize that they are being tricked by Speed and go after him. Sunbeam, Uno Carb and Jerkov are all killed by Claude Speed, shortly before he leaves town with all of the money he earned by scamming every gang in the city.
Personality[]
Claude Speed is a sociopathic character with little to no moral conscience of his actions. He will work for anyone who will give him the needed money or resources and will be ready to manipulate, betray or attack anybody who is between him and his goals. Part of his bold character depicts him mocking or spitting over enemies he has killed.
He also worked for various gangs simultaneously, managing to manipulate each of their leaders, turning them against each other and, in the end, eliminating them all. He is an expert of a variety of weapons, from simple pistols to even rocket launchers. He's an avid smoker (as seen in-game) and drug user as well.
The movie's version of Claude Speed shares some generic physical characteristics with Claude of the 3D Universe games, including: his black jacket (made of cloth in GTA 2 and leather in Grand Theft Auto III and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas); t-shirt (white color in GTA 2 and black in GTA III and GTA San Andreas); cargo pants (black color in GTA 2 and dark khaki in GTA III and GTA San Andreas); and slicked hair. The movie version, however, was also depicted speaking and displaying an array of emotions, a characteristic never seen with the Claude from the 3D Universe.
Appearance[]
Claude is a tall Caucasian male in his late twenties. He has a somewhat muscular build with brown hair and is sometimes shown with a faint 5 o'clock shadow.
In both the live-action cutscenes and some promotional art, Claude was originally depicted as having a hairstyle that is slicked into a faux-hawk, wearing a full black cloth jacket and black cargo pants.
However, his close-up 3D images depict Claude with his hair slicked back and his clothing consisting of a dark blue jacket with loose black jeans. Furthermore, his in-game sprite shows him wearing body armour or a sleeveless vest on his torso (just so players can see what Claude's arms are doing), and some of his death sprites show him with tattoos. In GTA 2, only three character models are displayed in a different colour palette: gangsters, civilians, and police. Claude uses a "gangster" sprite.
Despite the alternative looks of his signature outfits, the only clothes that never change on Claude are a white T-shirt and black motorcycle boots.
Nicknames[]
In GTA 2, Claude Speed's in-game name is simply given as a myriad of nicknames from nine bosses of seven gangs:
- "Gecko" by all three heads of the Zaibatsu Corporation (Trey Welsh, Red Valdez and Uno Carb).
- "Jumbo" by Elmo, head of the Loonies.
- "Kosai" by Johnny Zoo, head of the Yakuza.
- "Rooster" by Billy Bob Bean, head of the Rednecks.
- "THC-303" by Dr. LaBrat, head of the Scientists.
- "Comrade" by Jerkov, head of the Russian Mafia.
- "Grasshopper" by Sunbeam, head of the Hare Krishna.
- "Kiddo" or "Kid" by the Guider.
Murders Committed by Claude Speed[]
GTA 2: The Movie[]
- Unnamed truck driver – killed in order to save a kidnapped Yakuza member.
Grand Theft Auto 2[]
- Shady (killed under orders from Trey Welsh for giving Zaibatsu information to the police)
- Doctor Cubana (killed under orders from Trey Welsh to prevent him from leaking Zaibatsu secrets to the Yakuza)
- Yutes Boss (killed under orders from Trey Welsh for crushing Z-Type cars)
- Three high-ranking Yakuza members (killed under orders from Elmo)
- Three high-ranking Zaibatsu members (killed under orders from Elmo)
- Yakuza traitor (killed under orders from Johnny Zoo)
- Johnny Zoo (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
- Elmo (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
- Trey Welsh (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
- Chief of the Anywhere City Police Department (killed under orders from Billy Bob Bean)
- Alma Mater Prison guards (killed under orders from Billy Bob Bean)
- Flambo Cortez (killed under orders from Billy Bob Bean)
- Three SRS Scientists traitors (killed under orders from Dr. LaBrat)
- Dr. LaBrat (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
- Billy Bob Bean (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
- Red Valdez (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
- Nova Bright (killed under orders from Jerkov)
- Agent Alpha (killed under orders from Jerkov)
- Agent Kappa (killed under orders from Jerkov)
- Agent Epsilon (killed under orders from Jerkov)
- Jerkov (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
- Sunbeam (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
- Uno Carb (killed in self-defense after discovering Claude's betrayal)
Mission Appearances[]
Grand Theft Auto 2[]
- As the protagonist, he appears in all missions.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- He is the only named character in Grand Theft Auto 2 to feature in artwork.
- He is the last GTA protagonist to have a joke button in his controls (which is used for belching and farting).
- Claude is absent in the Game Boy Color version of GTA 2; there are instead six optional protagonists to choose from, similar to the original GTA.
- If the player remains idle for a while, Claude will draw a cigar and start smoking, like regular pedestrians do.
- In GTA 2: The Movie, Claude's main car shown almost throughout the film is a BMW 525i (E39). Originally black, he drives it to a paint shop, and changes it to white, in order to hide from the police that were chasing him.
References[]
- ↑ Renamable unique player character and promotional film lead character confirmed as the same character by multiple pre-release reviews originally available on GTA2.com using information given by Sam Houser, including The Adrenaline Vault's August 1999 preview by David Laprad.
- ↑ GOURANGA! – GTA2 Information (Archived)
- ↑ GTA2 previews – Archived
- ↑ Grand Theft Auto 2 - The Adrenaline Vault. Preview by David Laprad, Aug 14 1999 - Archived
- ↑ (Archived)“As in the original game, the player is cast as a lowlife criminal who has just been woken from a long cryogenic nap in the local poke. A nasty case of amnesia prevents the player from remembering exactly what he or she was incarcerated for, and in truth it probably doesn't matter—what player wants to wade through a cheesy story when there is mayhem to be had?”— CGO's Grand Theft Auto 2 Preview, Dec 8 1999
- ↑ “After waking up from many years enforced cryogenic sleep you have escaped from a prison you can’t remember being locked up in or for what crime. Who put you to sleep? Who cares, you’re body feels like a used condom and you’re still in this urban hell hole. The only thing you know is that every bad guy has got worse, new gangs have appeared from nowhere and all your old privileges don’t mean shit. Get some drugs to keep yourself sane then start working again to get out of the city at any cost. Every man for themself, because no one is going to do you any favours.”