Liberty City
Liberty City is a fictional city in Rockstar Games' computer and video game series Grand Theft Auto, which is based on New York City. There are three known versions of the city:
The Grand Theft Auto rendition, as a level in the original Grand Theft Auto (1997/1998). The Grand Theft Auto III rendition, featured as the setting of Grand Theft Auto III (2001), Grand Theft Auto Advance (GBA, 2004), Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP, 2005), and featured briefly in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) and a machinima based on the game, The Introduction. The Grand Theft Auto IV rendition, seen in the first trailer as being much more closely modeled after New York City, with such recognizable landmarks as the Statue of Liberty, Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building. In all renditions, Liberty City is primarily depicted as a large city with a sizable population (4 million in the Grand Theft Auto III rendition[1]), featuring a complete transportation infrastructure of roads and railways, and is located on a geographical configuration of shorelines and islands, similar to that of New York City. The city has been described as one suffering from crime and corruption, with the presence of organized crime, feuding street gangs, petty criminals, and rampant misconduct among city officials and law enforcement. Parts of Liberty City have also suffered major damage and loss from bombings, which are depicted as being orchestrated by local criminals. Some of these damages, however, have been repaired or resulted in complete redevelopment of an entire area.
Together with GTA, Liberty City is the most frequently featured fictional setting in the GTA series (Not including the London expansion packs for the original GTA, Liberty City was featured in four out of eight GTA games).
Liberty City is also located on the same fictional earth as Vice City, Carcer City and San Andreas in Grand Theft Auto. The same applies for the Grand Theft Auto III version and the locations from the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (as well as Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories) and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas prequels, although San Andreas was featured as a three-city state in San Andreas, as opposed to a single city.
Grand Theft Auto rendition
The map of Liberty City, as depicted in Grand Theft Auto.Liberty City was first featured in the original Grand Theft Auto. The city's geography and alignment of districts was more true to that of New York City, featuring two major mainlands with a Manhattan-like central island (which contains a large park at the center, a reference to Central Park), and several smaller islands along a river of the city, with the mainlands and islands connected primarily by road bridges. Train services with lines running in the city were also present.
Different neighborhoods of New York City and New Jersey were also spoofed, with naming similar to their real-life counterparts. The list of Liberty City's neighborhoods is as followed (north to south):
East shore Eaglewood Hackenslash Fort Law Schlechberg Guernsey City New Guernsey Central island Nolaw Island Height Park Island City (Lower Manhattan or Midtown Manhattan) Minor islands Law Island (Ward's Island and Randall's Island) Nixon Island West shore Estoria Kings Ardler Brocklyn Tellberg Brocklyn Docks Northwest shore Brix Island View
Grand Theft Auto III rendition
Overview
The map of Liberty City, as depicted in Grand Theft Auto III. Left to right: Shoreside Vale, Staunton Island, and Portland IslandThe second appearance of Liberty City is in Grand Theft Auto III, assuming a significantly different design from its original version. The location, circa late-autumn 2001, is often referred to as "the worst place in America" by in-game literature, for its rampant crime and corruption; gang wars, theft, and murder are endemic to everyday life to the point where police intervention has become nearly negligible. In addition to its appearance alongside Vice City and the state of San Andreas, the city is also located nearby Carcer City, which was featured in Manhunt, another video game developed by Rockstar Games. Little is known about Liberty City's early history, although dialog exists in GTA III claiming that the city was "a church, a cow pasture and three houses when the telephone was invented", and a map of the city provided in the packaging of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories claims that the city was celebrating its 200th anniversary in 1998, suggesting that the city was founded in 1798. The population of the city is given at 4 million, as stated in the game's manual, In addition, the city's media companies and properties are purchased by Love Media, a media conglomerate owned by Donald Love, after Love arrived to the city in 2001(Liberty City Stories suggests that the companies are independent prior).
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. The mayor of Liberty City, as of 2001, is Miles O'Donovan, although his first name was not revealed until Liberty City Stories. O'Donovan was preceded by Roger C. Hole, who was assassinated during his jog in 1998 by Toni Cipriani in Liberty City Stories, under orders from local Mafia Don Salvatore Leone. The death of Hole forced an election that would eventually lead to O'Donovan's victory, although it was also revealed that media mogul Donald Love was campaigning (unfairly) as a candidate in the elections.
Spoilers end here.
boroughs
The city is divided into three areas, or "boroughs", which in turn are separated into districts and neighborhoods. While the boroughs are different from one another, each borough houses one hospital, one police station and one fire station, with the former two serving as local respawn points in an event the player dies or is arrested, respectively. Note that bolded text in this section denote the names of the city's districts.
Portland Island
A rainy afternoon in the industrial district of Portland Island, with the Portland El in the foreground.Portland Island consists of an island at the eastern end of city limits, known as a primarily industrial portion of the city. Much of the island's industrial population is concentrated towards Trenton at the south of the island, and is within a short driving distance to Portland Harbor and Atlantic Quays, which serves as seaports to the island and the city. Non-industrial properties tend to reside towards the north and west sides of the island. Portland also operates an elevated train service with three stations (Rothwell Station in Hepburn Heights, Kurowksi Station in Chinatown, and Baille Station in Saint Mark's) that runs within the island.
Chinatown, located northwest from the industrial districts, consists of Chinese-owned properties, some of which are believed to be controlled by the local Triads. The Saint Mark's district is located on a steep terrain north from Portland Harbor, and is currently controlled by at least two Mafia families: the Leones and the Forellis.
Other districts of interest include the Red Light District, just west of Saint Mark's, which serves as a location for prostitution, strip clubs and pornography-related businesses. Hepburn Heights, located north to the Red Light District, is home to several public apartment buildings, and is also home to the Hispanic Diablos street gang. Harwood, located on the northern end of the island, is mostly underdeveloped, with only a few buildings (including the Head Radio broadcast station), a junkyard, and the Porter Tunnel's Portland entrance/exit.
An evening in Chinatown, Portland. Liberty City Triad members are also depicted, donning blue boiler suits and black bandanas.The remaining districts of Portland Island are sparsely inhabited: Callahan Point is located under and around the foot of the Callahan Bridge, which links Portland Island and Staunton Island; Portland Beach is an empty cliff-side beach located east of Saint's Mark; while Portland View consists of a tract of land and a stretch of road between Portland Harbor and Chinatown. Old platforms and train cars of a railway line are also found in eastern Harwood, as well as a tunnel running under the Saint Mark's district, which directly links Harwood with Portland Harbor. Portland Rock, a small island housing a lighthouse, may also be seen east of Portland Beach.
Based on industrial and mainly residential areas of New York City, Portland mostly resembles the areas of Queens, Brooklyn, and The Bronx that are located directly east outside of Manhattan. The "Portland Beach" area was created to look like the beachy areas in and around New York: Coney Island in Brooklyn and Fire Island, which are near the shores of Staten Island and Long Island, respectively.[verification needed] "Chinatown", obviously enough, takes its inspiration from the Manhattan neighborhood of the same name, the "Saint Marks" district shares similarities with Bensonhurst and Bay Ridge in Brooklyn, while "Trenton" takes its inspiration from New Jersey's capital city: it represents Trenton as well as any of New Jersey's several other industrial urban cities, such as Newark or Paterson. The "Red Light District" resembles Manhattan's 42nd Street of the 1980s
Staunton Island
The southern half of Staunton Island, as seen from an airport runway in Shoreside Vale's Francis International Airport.Located on an island between Portland Island and Shoreside Vale, Staunton Island is depicted as Liberty City's upscale central business district or city center (similar to New York City's Manhattan Island), housing the largest cluster of commercial and residential skyscrapers in the entire city. Taller skyscrapers are concentrated towards the south of the island, while low-rises and several of the city's major institutions (Staunton's hospital, sports stadium and university) are concentrated towards the north.
The skyscraper core of the island is located within the south Staunton skyscraper districts of Torrington (to the east) and Bedford Point (to the west). The tallest and largest building in Staunton (and the city) is depicted to be owned by the Jefferson St. Credit Union, which is connected to two other large commercial buildings owned by FCB Bank (which is the third tallest building in the city) and AMCO via skyways; all three buildings are located within the district of Torrington. In addition, a skyscraper resembling the Trump Tower is also present beside the Jefferson St. Credit Union building. Aside skyscrapers, Torrington also boasts a Yakuza-controlled casino at the southeast, and the Staunton branch and overall headquarters of the Liberty City Police Department (LCPD) complete with a helipad; Bedford Point houses the city's cathedral, opera house, art gallery, a Times Square-themed street, an Empire State Building look-alike (the second tallest building in the city) that dominates the district, and the Love Media building, the workplace and home of Donald Love. Several neoclassic-styled municipal buildings are also located within the two districts, which are nameless in-game, although one of the buildings located near the northern end of Torrington is suggested in the official GTA III website to be city hall, while another building on the northeast end of Bedford Point is described as "town hall" upon inspection of the game's internal data files. Based on the locations of the city's landmarks and spoofs within the both districts, both districts may be based on both Lower Manhattan and Midtown Manhattan.
The Newport district, located north of Torrington, houses several apartments and businesses, boating docks, and a multistory car park; the district is also under the control of the local Jamaican Uptown Yardies. Bordering the west of Newport is the Belleville Park district, consisting of Belleville Park, a play of New York City's Central Park, and blocks of buildings surrounding the park, including a shopping mall.
Fort Staunton, located north of Newport, is depicted as an area in the process of demolishing blocks of old buildings and re-developing the entire property with the construction of Staunton Plaza. Panlantic Construction, a division of an American-Colombian business conglomerate in charge of the area's development, is suspected by the LCPD to be one of the many fronts for the Colombian Cartel, and thus may explain the presence of Cartel members and gang cars in the area.
A view of Staunton Island towards the south from Cedar Creek, Shoreside Vale, depicting the city's stadium, a tower from the Fort Staunton contruction site (green, behind stadium), and the Shoreside Lift Bridge (right).The remaining districts towards the north house civic facilities and other structures: The Aspatria district in the northwest houses the "Liberty Memorial Colessium" (or the Bush Stadium), completed in 1923 and serves as the playing field for the Liberty City Cocks and Liberty City Beavers, both soccer teams,[2] and a waterfront park along its coastline; while the Liberty Campus district, located inland from the east of Aspatria, consists of campus blocks of the St. Matthias University (the facility was also dubbed Liberty City College). Rockford is primarily occupied by the Carson General Hospital, and an arms dealing business owned by Phil Cassidy, based on the northern tip of the district.
Based on the commercial area of New York City, Staunton most resembles the tourist areas and central business districts of Manhattan as well as urban shopping areas in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. The name is an obvious play on the real-life borough of the city Staten Island and business-oriented areas of urban New Jersey such as Newark, Hoboken, or Jersey City. "Aspatria" takes its inspiration from the Astoria section of Queens. "Liberty Campus" is a take-off on the typical Manhattan college campus, such as New York University (NYU) or Columbia University, while "Belleville Park" derives its name from the nearby Manhattan suburb of Belleville.
Shoreside Vale
Shoreside Vale, looking towards the southwest at night. The Francis International Airport (with a Theme Building-like terminal) is visible in the background.Shoreside Vale is a hilly and more rural area of the city, located on the west-most side of Liberty City, and is the only part of the city located on the mainland, with the entire area attached to a large body of land that creeps towards the north of Portland Island.
The area is the location of the Cedar Grove suburb (which takes its name directly from one of the Jersey suburbs) at the northeast, the Wichita Gardens housing projects at the east, the Pike Creek industrial district at the west, a dam (dubbed Cochrane Dam, named after Adam Cochrane, a designer working in Rockstar North) at the northwest and the city's airport, Francis International (featuring a structure based on the Los Angeles International's Theme Building). Cedar Grove is controlled by the Colombian Cartel, and Wichita Gardens is home to the Southside Hoods, consisting of the African-American Red Jacks and Purple Nines street gangs.
Shoreside Vale most resembles the farther away, more upper-class Long Island, Westchester, as well as suburban areas of New Jersey and the more affluent neighborhoods of New York City's Staten Island, which is relatively far from Manhattan. Francis International represents New York's three airports which are located on the outskirts of the urban city center and are closer to the suburbs than to the center of Manhattan.
Ghost Town
The Ghost Town featured in GTA III's intro movie, as seen when flying an airplane.Although not technically part of the city, a "Ghost Town" seemingly located in Liberty City exists as a hidden sector of the game, used only once in the bank heist cutscene at the start of the game's storyline. The Ghost Town is located behind Shoreside Vale, floats above the sea, is not solid and is reachable only by the Dodo airplane (which is considered difficult to fly), a tank (using the "flying cars" cheat code and continually firing the turret backwards), or by third party modifications, including one that creates a bridge linking the Ghost Town with the rest of the city. It does not reappear in the Liberty City Stories rendition of the city.
The Ghost Town is sometimes erroneously referred to as Carcer City due to that city being mentioned on one of the radio stations.
Transportation in and around boroughs
Like in the real-life New York metropolitan area and its surrounding communities, the three different boroughs of Liberty City are connected solely by tunnels and/or bridges, some of which were made unavailable for use during the duration of the storyline to prevent players from reaching other islands.
Bridges
The Callahan Bridge, linking the Portland and Staunton islandsLiberty City has two major bridges, each linking two boroughs: Callahan Bridge (also known as the West Port Bridge) and the Shoreside Lift Bridge.
Callahan Bridge is a four lane (two lanes of roads for each direction) suspension bridge, connecting southwestern Portland Island with east-central Staunton Island. The bridge was destroyed by a bomb in late-2001 by the Colombian Cartel, as they kidnapped a prisoner, possibly to prevent the police from pursuing them as they headed back to [[Staunton Island]. The bridge has since been repaired and is operational.
The second bridge, known as the Shoreside Lift Bridge, is a large four lane lift bridge connecting southeast Shoreside Vale with the west side of central Staunton Island. Before players unlock access to Shoreside Vale, the bridge was out of order when mechanical failure prevented the lift from functioning. Like the Callahan Bridge, the Shoreside Lift Bridge has since been repaired and is operational.
Road tunnels
Liberty City has one major road tunnel system, dubbed Porter Tunnel, possibly based on the Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel or the Big Dig, located in Boston. The Porter Tunnel is a primarily four lane underground and underwater road tunnel (the Staunton Island tunnel exit consists of only one lane for each direction), which connects all boroughs in Liberty City: Portland via Harwood, Staunton via Rockford, and Shoreside Vale via Francis International and Wichita Gardens. The tunnel was initially inaccessible, citing that tunnel construction was still incomplete and had been delayed several times. The tunnel would then be opened in phases: first with the segment linking Portland and Staunton, then the segment linking the Portland-Staunton exits to the Shoreside Vale exits.
In Shoreside Vale, entrances to two additional road tunnels may also be found north of Cedar Grove and Cochrane Dam, respectively. The tunnels were inaccessible in GTA III, but in Liberty City Stories, it is revealed that the tunnels can be accessed and connects to each other at an underground T-junction. The tunnel that branches off is signposted as leading to "Upstate" (presumably Carcer City), but is inaccessible.
Rapid transit systems
An inter-borough subway station (at Francis International, Shoreside Vale).In addition to road transportation, Liberty City has two subway and elevated train systems that run within the city, bearing similarities to the New York City rapid transit system. The inter-borough subway, an underground subway system that connects all three boroughs of the city, has stations at Portland (border between Chinatown, the Red Light District and Saint Mark's), Staunton (Liberty Campus and Bedford Point) and Shoreside Vale (Francis International). The Portland El, an elevated train service, runs its routes within Portland Island, with Rothwell Station in Hepburn Heights, Kurowski Station in Chinatown, and Baillie Station in Saint Mark's. The Portland El is claimed to have been introduced in 1930.
Both systems are not directly connected to each other, and there is no transportation hub where both trains networks may intersect. The trains run their lines 24 hours a day and no fare is charged for riding the trains.
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories rendition
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories takes places in the same Liberty City as in Grand Theft Auto III, but is set in 1998, three years before the events in GTA III. As such, the Liberty City Stories rendition of the city explains some of the city's characteristics in GTA III. At the time of Liberty City Stories, the city is officially declared "The least likely place to succeed in America" by an October 30, 1998 issue of the Liberty Tree.
Transportation status
Callahan Bridge and Porter Tunnel
In 1998, the city is depicted undergoing major changes in inter-borough road links. Callahan Bridge, which is expected to connect Staunton Island and Portland Island, is under construction, and is due to be completed in May 1998. The Porter Tunnel is also seen as mostly under construction, but is revealed to have completed segments linking the Shoreside Vale exits. The segment linking Staunton is unfinished but still accessible, as shown when Toni Cipriani is seen driving a van through the area to reach Fort Staunton in Staunton. Construction of the Portland segment, however, had yet to begin, as the area is still in the process of excavating a tunnel.
While no road links exist between Portland and the rest of Liberty City, the inter-borough subway system remains connected to all three boroughs, allowing pedestrians to travel between the areas with fewer restrictions.
Ferry services and strikes
The Liberty City FerryBecause road connections to Portland are unavailable in 1998, the island is initially accessible by car in ferries between Harwood, on the northwest end of Portland, and Rockford, on the northern end of Staunton. Two ferries travel alternately in opposite directions between the ferry terminals, and the service charges $25 for each one-way trip between the islands, as of 1998.
Protest and industrial action by Liberty City transit workers occur in 1998 as a result of the bridge and tunnel construction, as their completion would more or less render ferry services obsolete and unnecessary. Strikers form picket lines outside Portland's ferry terminal and harbor while chanting "Hell no Tunnel no!", shutting down transit communication between boroughs for periods of time: Firstly between Portland Island and the rest of the city with the temporary closure of ferry services, and lastly between Shoreside Vale and the rest of the city after the Portland protests fail and ferries resume operation, when unsatisfied remains of the group protest at an exit of the Shoreside Lift Bridge instead, disrupting bridge operations. The protests finally ends after newly elected Mayor O'Donovan promised "there will always be a ferry service in Liberty City."
Nevertheless, ferry services cease to exist by late-2001. While the Porter Tunnel is still unfinished at the time of GTA III, the completion of the Callahan Bridge suggestively put an end to ferries in the city. The Portland terminal would be the location of the Portland exit for the Porter tunnel by 2001, while Phil's arms dealing business, circa 2001, is located close to the former site of the Staunton terminal.
Landmarks
In Liberty City Stories, the city is in the process of constructing several buildings, including some of Liberty City's tallest. For example, the Jefferson St. Credit Union office building, which is the largest and tallest building in Liberty City in GTA III, is under construction in 1998 (with a large construction crane present at its top and only half the height it is in 2001), although it is indicated that it was simply an expansion over the building's existing structure as a few interiors of the building suggest the completed half of the building is operational. As such, the city's Empire State Building look-alike is the tallest tower in Liberty City during the game.
Other noticeable differences include the presence of scaffolding and a construction crane at the main entrance of the Liberty Memorial Colessium, suggesting that the stadium is either under construction or under renovation. A large apartment building in Hepburn Heights is also under construction.
In Staunton Island, a large cemetery exists south beside the Bedford Point Cathedral in Staunton. By 2001, a giant, square-sided and modern building with a sloped roof is built in its place, completely dwarfing the cathedral itself. During a 1998 radio show, a Chatterbox listener phoned in to tell Lazlow he is campaigning to bulldoze the church garden and make way for a concrete square, which would house Internet terminals and foosball tables for parishioners. As with the eventual ban of motorcycles, a real estate company, Jimmy's Commercial Real Estate, is behind this campaign's eventual success, citing that the city's "sick love of death" should be put to a stop and that a building be built in place "for the health of everyone". The construction of the building left the Cathedral with only a thin strip of burial ground on the north side of the Cathedral by late-2001.
In the duration of the game, several other buildings are destroyed or replaced by GTA III. Among them, the Doll House gambling den and brothel, and a Leone-owned factory at Callahan Point (replaced by a Triad fish factory by 2001, when it was also destroyed). Toni Cipriani's apartment in Saint Mark's, Portland would also be in the process of demolition by GTA III.
Perhaps the most notable demolition work in the city was that on Fort Staunton in northeast Staunton Island, consisting of several blocks of business establishments (including a diner), apartments, an opera house and a museum housed within the old fortress that gives the area its name. In GTA III, the area is completely cleared away for the Staunton Plaza, which is under construction in 2001. Liberty City Stories revealed that the area is imploded involuntarily by Toni Cipriani in 1998 with explosives, planted underground in several old and disused subway station platforms, on orders from Donald Love, paving the way for a new property development project. The bombing coincidentally cripples activities of the rival Forelli Mafia family, which conducted much of their activities in the area. Following the destruction of the district, the local media blames the origin of the explosions on the Forelli's underground arms stores beneath the district.
Fort Staunton's defunct subway stations, closed to the public, but accessible via the unfinished Porter Tunnel's Staunton exit is completely cut off from the rest of the subway line and contains older train cars. Seen in only one mission of the game, the stations are picked as prime locations to destroy Fort Staunton, and are located in three points beneath Fort Staunton. The stations are suggestively cleared away along with the remains of the devastated district by 2001.
Although the bombing is made possible by Toni, Donald and explosives specialist 8-Ball, the plans for the area were originally conceived by Avery Carrington, whose plans are stolen by Toni and Donald, as Avery is killed by the two after he exits Francis International with Colombian Cartel bodyguards. After the bombing, development of the site is indicated to involve Panlantic Construction, which remains tied to the Cartel in GTA III. Donald is forced to flee the city after the Cartel attempted to ambush and kill him, leaving Fort Staunton in possession of the gang up to the time of GTA III, when the Yakuza seized the district from them.
Gang control
1998 Liberty City contains a different distribution of gang activity, particularly with three Mafia families: The Leones, the Forellis and the Sindaccos, all of which assume a larger control on districts in Portland and Staunton than in GTA III. At the time, the three families are at war with each other. Massimo Torini and Salvatore's uncle, members of the Sicilian Mafia, seizes the opportunity by planning to have the families destroy each other, allowing the Sicilian Mafia to fill the void and control the city themselves. Their exploits end abruptly as they attempted to kidnap O'Donovan, the newly elected mayor of the city, to prevent him from dropping charges for Salvatore, who was released from prison on bail. The subsequent pursuit of the Sicilians by the Leones leads to the death of Massimo, and the Sicilian Mafia's retreat from the city.
In addition to Saint Mark's, the Leones have previously controlled at least the northern portion of Chinatown, which would eventually be under control of the Triads by GTA III, as a result of Massimo convincing the gang to seize control of the district to strain the three Mafia families' power. Despite Torini's death, the Leones lose Chinatown to the gang. Meanwhile, the Leones' had manage to seize the Red Light District and Hepburn Heights from the Sindaccos in 1998 before, then, losing Hepburn Heights to the Diablos by GTA III, which are also under Massimo's influence. The Leones' victory over the Forellis and Sindaccos has also allowed the Leones to remain as the dominant Mafia family in the city.
It is revealed that the Forellis are previously a formidable force against the Leones, with addition footholds in Fort Staunton, Newport, and Belleville Park in Staunton Island. In addition, Mayor Hole is on the payroll of the Forellis, creating trouble for the Leones. The assassination of Hole, the loss of Newport to the Yardies, and the implosion and destruction of Fort Staunton that has largely destroyed much of the Forelli's businesses and assets, decimates the gang's influence in the city, and left them with only Marco's Bistro in Saint Mark's as their turf by GTA III.
The Sindaccos conduct much of their activity in the Red Light District and Hepburn Heights, with additional drug dealing activities in Chinatown, a Leone territory. With the help of an inside man, the Leones annex the Red Light District, the Sindacco-own Paulie's Revue Bar (which the Leones would rename to Sex Club 7) and Hepburn Heights. This forces the Sindaccos to move operations to Staunton Island, where they faced conflict with the Forellis, resulting in an attempted truce between the two Mafia families by Paulie Sindacco, the head of the Sindaccos. The Leones sabotage the Sindacco's mediation efforts, further souring relationships between the two factions and resulted in the killing of Paulie. This deprives the Sindaccos of any more chances to establish control in the city, and thus may explain their absence in GTA III.
The Colombian Cartel, obviously affected by the status of Fort Staunton, also has a different set of turf in the city. The Yardies would acquire Newport as their turf from the Forellis, with the aid of Toni. The Yakuza would acquire Torrington as their turf after Toni and Leon McAffrey kill off the Sindaccos in the area, and the Southside Hoods would acquire Wichita Gardens as their turf after helping Toni kill off all the Forellis occupying the area.
Miscellaneous differences
Motorcycles are initially permitted in Liberty City. By GTA III, a citywide ban on the vehicle is imposed, explaining the absence of motorcycles in GTA III. The Maibatsu Corporation of America, known in GTA III for marketing the allegedly oversized Monstrosity SUV and is a staunch supporter for increased car use in Liberty City, is seen as a notable advocate and contributor to the ban, funding an organization dubbed "American Road Safety for Everyone" (ARSE) that has lobbied for the ban after "the successful banning of bicycles,"[5] and presenting a petition for the ban.
Police cars in Liberty City Stories are depicted assuming a marking and paint scheme that resembles those of the NYPD during the 1990s, although the game's version used a black-and-white color scheme, instead of blue and white. This design was originally planned by the game developer to be used for GTA III (which was, in fact, using a blue-and-white NYPD paint scheme), but was redesigned into a common panda-like black-and-white color scheme around the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City.
Spoilers end here.
Grand Theft Auto Advance rendition
Liberty City was also featured as the setting of Grand Theft Auto Advance, which was set roughly one year before the events in GTA III. In Advance, all three islands are featured, and the Callahan Bridge has been completed, but ferry services are absent. In Portland, an unusually long overpass exists spanning between one end of the Callahan Bridge to the blocked passage of the Porter Tunnel. At one point of the game, Liberty City is said to be affected by Bubonic plague.
Because of the hardware limitation of the Game Boy Advance, the city assumed a classical top-down perspective, with roads running only horizontally and vertically, while the overall design and identity of the city remains similar to other GTA III-era renditions. Top-down gameplay meant that height-dependent or underground elements such as subway trains and tunnels (including the Porter Tunnel) could not be implemented into Advance. Slopes are also absent in the Advance rendition.
Remaining Grand Theft Auto games set in Grand Theft Auto III-canon, while set in completely difference locales, still mention Liberty City in dialog or feature a part of the city for a short period of time. Also, protagonists featured in these games have prominent experiences with the city for a period of time.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Tommy Vercetti, having just been released from prison, was dispatched to Vice City in 1986 by Sonny Forelli, who was shown inside the Forelli-run Marco's Bistro at Saint Mark's, Portland, Liberty City. Tommy had also earned the nickname the "Harwood Butcher", suggesting that he had murdered several people in the Harwood district of Portland, resulting in his 15-year jail sentence.
The Saint Mark's district of Portland, Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as Carl "CJ" Johnson rides a taxicab (lower left) to Marco's Bistro (upper right), during a cutscene of the Saint Mark's Bistro mission. Note also the presence of fallen snow.In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Carl "CJ" Johnson returns to his childhood home in Los Santos, San Andreas after having spent five years in Liberty City, where he commits petty crime and worked for Don Salvatore Leone's son, Joey Leone. During the events of the game, Carl briefly returns to Liberty City to assassinate a high ranking Forelli Mafia member at Marco's Bistro, under orders from Salvatore Leone. The mission takes place in a section of southeast Saint Mark's, wherein Carl must fight through attacking Mafia members in Marco's Bistro and kill his target in the back lot of the restaurant.
Liberty City is also featured in The Introduction, a machinima prequel of San Andreas. Set immediately before the events of the game, The Introduction shows both Carl Johnson stealing cars and mugging people in Liberty City and Salvatore Leone making arragements for his participation in a casino venture in Las Venturas.
Spoilers end here.
Grand Theft Auto IV rendition
This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game.
It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as more information becomes available.
Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IVSeen in the first trailer released for Grand Theft Auto IV, Liberty City has been remodeled to look much more like New York City compared to its Grand Theft Auto III cycle renditions. Landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, Flatiron Building, and the MetLife Building (labeled as the "GetaLife" Building) are present, as well as a Times Square lookalike that features advertisements for the Liberty Tree. A rollercoaster called the "Screamer" appears to be based off of the The Cyclone of Coney Island. Bridges shown include the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge.
The game's Manhattan is compressed in size (as seen with the Empire State Building's proximity to the Brooklyn Bridge in the final shot), and the various landmarks are placed much closer to each other than in real life.