To the Five Boroughs

Things will be different. Rockstar North has wiped the slate clean, shutting the book on the Grand Theft Auto III trilogy and choosing to start anew. Gone are the days of zombie-like pedestrians, robotic law enforcement and stale surroundings. Liberty City has returned as the setting for Grand Theft Auto IV, but this isn't the Liberty City that we have embraced for over half a decade.

Bigger, grittier, and more brutal than ever, Liberty City is back with a vengeance in Grand Theft Auto IV. Four of the five boroughs of New York -- plus a portion of New Jersey -- have been recreated from the bottom up in an attempt to finally nail the atmosphere of New York City. Brooklyn has become Broker. Queens has become Dukes. Manhattan has become Algonquin. The Bronx has become Bohan. And New Jersey has become Alderney. (Although Staten Island has no counterpart in GTA IV, the reasoning from Rockstar is justifiable - it just wouldn't be any fun to play.)