Liberty City: Difference between revisions

[[Image:Staunton.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Liberty City]]

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.

== Grand Theft Auto III rendition ==

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

   

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

The Callahan Bridge, linking the Portland and Staunton islands Liberty City has two major bridges, each linking two boroughs: Callahan Bridge (also known as the West Port Bridge) and the Shoreside Lift Bridge.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

== Grand Theft Auto Advance rendition ==

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.

== Minor role in other Grand Theft Auto-related games ==

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.

== Grand Theft Auto IV rendition ==

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.

{{GTA}}