Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto IV revisits Liberty City as a way to usher in the company's HD generation of gaming. The metropolis Niko Bellic moves to in the 2008 title is infinitely more detailed than the prior iteration of the New York-inspired city in 2001's Grand Theft Auto III.
Anybody born in the Big Apple or who has lived there for a significant amount of time will appreciate the attention to detail Rockstar put into Liberty City and how accurately it represents the real-life inspiration. The respective cities do not carry the same name, but the 10 locations and details below will be immediately familiar to any New Yorker.
10 Firefly Island
Firefly Island in Broker is Liberty City's version of Coney Island, the iconic amusement park on the beach in Brooklyn, complete with a boardwalk, Ferris wheel, and a roller coaster, the latter of the two standing in for the Wonder Wheel and Cyclone, respectively. In real-life, the surrounding neighborhood is home to a large Eastern-European population, making it an appropriate place for Niko Bellic to visit.
9 Columbus Cathedral
It would not be an appropriate representation of New York if it did not include a stand-in for St. Patrick's Cathedral. Players cannot enter Columbus Cathedral, but it is impossible to miss it during a drive. After all, few other buildings have a similar architectural style. Coming around at night also presents the cathedral in a different, more beautiful light.
8 Star Junction
Time Square is a well-known location all around the world, but only residents of the city will have an intimate knowledge of the eight-block area.
Especially in the center, virtually every detail of the space has a real-life counterpart, from the LCPD substation to the locations of the billboards. While Times Square has changed in the more than a decade since the game's release, much of it remains the same.
7 Pigeons
New York certainly does not have a monopoly on what many consider flying rats, but pigeons are an undeniable facet of living there. Any resident who has occupied a building has a story about one or more flying through an open window and causing a ruckus inside an apartment. To this effect, it is extremely satisfying to blow them away as a collectible. Of course, this behavior is not condoned in real life, but Grand Theft Auto IV is a virtual environment — and Niko Bellic is a psychopath.
6 Grand Easton Terminal
Like New York City, Liberty City's boroughs are connected by an extensive subway system. One of the major hubs in the fictional environment is Grand Easton Terminal, which is based off of Grand Central Terminal. Unfortunately, players cannot go inside the architectural marvel. The inside of Grand Central is a wonder to gaze upon, and a virtual approximation would have been similarly eye-popping. Perhaps Rockstar Games will remedy this if they return to Liberty City in the future.
5 The Boroughs
The 2008 PS3 and Xbox 360 game interprets four of the five boroughs of New York City. Algonquin is Manhattan, Bohan is the Bronx, Dukes is Queens, and Broker is Brooklyn. Bohan is the smallest, and Algonquin is the largest. Some of the names are also loosely connected to the real life location. Algonquin refers to a Native American language and group of people who once populated much of the United States, and Dukes is a position of nobility like Queens. The only borough missing is Staten Island.
4 Rotterdam Tower
Rotterdam Tower most closely resembles the Empire State building, which was the tallest building in New York City at the time of the game's release. During a helicopter ride with Brucie Kibbutz, he says "If I were that big chimp, I'd climb it too," an obvious reference to King Kong and the iconic ending where the titular character climbs the building with the main heroine.
3 Steinway Projects
Steinway Projects is the game's interpretation of the Queensbridge Houses. The area is notable in real life for being home to Nas, famous for 1994 legendary hip-hop album Illmatic, and group Mobb Deep, most known for their hit "Shook Ones (Part II)." Both artists have songs featured in the game's the Beat 102.7 radio station. The player can enter many of the buildings in this area, and a couple of Most Wanted missions found in the police cars' database take place in these projects.
2 Alderney
Not every area of the game's environment is a part of Liberty City. Alderney is the game's equivalent of New Jersey, an entirely separate state. The entirety of New Jersey would be too much for a single game, so this part of Alderney mostly covers a representation of Newark. The place is sometimes referred to as New Guernsey, an area from the first Grand Theft Auto which also served as the game's New Jersey counterpart.
1 Cleethorpes Tower
Lyle Cleethorpes is the beneficiary of generational wealth. While the character and family is a more generic parody of the extremely rich in America, Cleethorpes Tower is clearly based off Trump Tower. The game jokes that the top floor features a balcony where guests and residents can literally spit on the poor walking on the street below. Players are unable to enter it and indulge in this pastime for themselves, however. It would be quite hypocritical of Niko to do this anyway.