Where the game takes place

On 8 February Rockstar released the improved GTA IV official page, where they specified the map (see right). More landmarks are confirmed: Chrysler Building, Empire State Building, Flatiron Building, the Staten Island Ferry, MetLife ("GetaLife") Building. The elevated trains resemble the IND Culver Line in Brooklyn. As we reported in the "new stuff" section every street will have a name, some of them has been revealed: Ruby Street, Calcium Street, Silicon Street, Washington Heights and Quartz Street, Chinatown, Presidents City, Lancet, Hatton Gardens, Middle Park East. The name of the state in which Liberty City is located is called Liberty City State according to a license plate seen in the game.

The map will contain 5 bigger districts of New York City and a smaller part of New Jersey. In the game these districts have imaginary names: Manhattan as Algonquin, Brooklyn as Broker, Queens as Dukes, Bronx as Bohan and New Jersey as Alderney (Staten Island will not be included, because in the creators' opinion it would not be fun enough). So instead of having a whole state as in San Andreas we will only have one city, but Rockstar stated that it will be the biggest and the most detailed city in GTA history. At right you can see the map available from the official site with some added information, including a couple of useful places for going out with our friends and some characters' hideouts from where we will get missions.

These are the parts of New York City and New Jersey which will be in the game:

Although the map will be smaller than in San Andreas, it will be more exciting, more detailed. According to some news in this new Liberty City it will take about an hour to get from one side of the city to another. We will be able to go into much more buildings, however, not into any building of the city. According to Dan Houser there won't be any dead areas like huge deserts, forests, lakes, every single part of the map will be highly detailed. It is also confirmed that an area resembling Central Park will be in the game (called "Middle Park"). We will also have some of the sights like the Statue of Liberty (which is called the "Statue of Happiness"), Times Square (as "Star Junction") and DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) as "BOABO" (Beneath the Offramp of the Algonquin Bridge Overpass) in the game.  

A view of Algonquin: