Here in New York City, our trees aren’t invincible.
We actually have children and squirrels scurrying through our parks.
And the big amusement park over in Brooklyn, one of our five boroughs, is on the southeast side, not the west.
Such things are different in Liberty City.
“Grand Theft Auto IV” gets many, many things right about New York City, the metropolis upon which its Liberty City is based. And it gets some big things wrong that I can overlook.
But some of the game’s misrepresentations demand correcting. New York City, I will defend your rep, via a cheap numbered-list post.
“GTA IV” is — dare I say it — just a game. So it’s okay that it doesn’t have a Westchester County or any other land connected to its version of Queens (called Dukes)[EDIT: My mistake! I meant the Bronx/Bohan]. It’s sort of okay that Staten Island didn’t make it onto the Liberty City map. Some of these inaccuracies are forgivable, given that Rockstar Games did include authentic tai chi aficionados slowly twirling in Liberty Ciy’s parks and street preachers bellowing on the sidewalks. The developers really have made the most authentic video game city I’ve ever played darts in.
However, just as a major movie set in New York might convince some of out-of-towners to visit the Big Apple, “GTA IV” might bring some non-New-Yorkers to the real life Liberty City.
I don’t want you to come here with the wrong idea.
Here are eight things about New York City grossly misrepresented in Rockstar Games’ Liberty City:
1. We are not a car town: No sensible New Yorker uses a car as their primary means of transportation in the city, unless — maybe — they commute from the suburbs. Car ownership doesn’t make much sense. There are never any parking spots. Parking garages are prohibitively expensive. And, most importantly, the subway is a faster, cheaper and more efficient means of transportation. We don’t drive here. Niko, to be a real New Yorker, should rely on the subway. But what would he be left to grandly thieve?
2. The Met doesn’t have dinos: The big art museum on the east side of Liberty City’s Middle Park (aka Central Park) was designed by Rockstar to look like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s worth visiting. But don’t go there for the wrong reasons. “GTA” erroneously implies there are dinosaur bones on display in the Met. No way. Paintings, pottery and many an Egyptian sarcophagus, yes. Dinosaur bones? Try the American Museum of Natural History.
3. You can’t jog in Times Square at noon on a weekday: Take it from someone who works in Times Square that there are far too may tourists in Times Square to let someone jog on the sidewalks in the heart of the city. Liberty City just isn’t as crowded as the real thing.
4. We have lots of two-story tour buses: “GTA IV” includes sports cars, sedans, taxis, limos, garbage trucks, police cruisers, buses, motorcycles and more. But where are the red double-decker tour buses? This a drastic oversight. Every major thoroughfare in Manhattan has a roofless double-decker bus from Big Apple Tours or some other company. These buses are used to show visitors the sights. A guide stands on the top level with a mic in hand, pointing stuff out. Hey, Rockstar, if there was one signature New York City vehicle I wanted to commandeer right off a short pier in Liberty City, this was it. You let me down
5. We have baseball stadiums — two of them: In the Bronx and Queens we have baseball fields for two teams you may have heard of. I’m not much of a baseball fan, but I would still say that baseball is a key part of New York City culture. It divides the city into tribes. The frequent playoff and World Series appearances of the Mets and Yankees annually energize the town. Yes, the Liberty City Swingers are mentioned on in-game radio stations, but, 30 hours into the game, I have a feeling we’re never going to see a player or a field where they play. Liberty City just doesn’t feel like a baseball town. There may be no bigger piece of New York City culture missing from Liberty City than the Big Apple’s baseball heritage.
6. People don’t carry bags in their arms: This is subtle but crucial. In Liberty City, people carry brown bags full of groceries in their arms — the better to knock free in a demonstration of exceptional physics engineering. In New York City, bags are carried over the shoulder or by their handles in people’s hands. No one carries an armful of groceries, because no one carries that small amount of stuff. When we go grocery shopping, we go all-out.
7. People in New Jersey need to pay: All commuters in New York City were not created equal. “GTA IV” accurately depicts the free ride people driving from Manhattan to Brooklyn get as they cross via the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. The city does not charge for car travel between the real life Algonquin and Broker. Going from the main Manhattan to the east is free. Going from the main island to the west, though, costs money. I was born in New Jersey, the land to the west of Manhattan. I appreciate the state. But those people who live there have got to pony up. They do in real life, forking over tolls for bridge and tunnel travel to Manhattan. “GTA IV” does not depict this. The game implies that the citizens of New Jersey (Alderney in the game) are welcomed into Manhattan with no strings attached and no tolls charged — as if they were the equal of Brooklynites. That is so not true. We charge them to come here.
8. We eat bagels: Have I missed something or is it not possible to eat a bagel in “Grand Theft Auto IV”’s Liberty City? Niko can eat burgers, hot dogs and go to diners. But bagels? The most famous New York City food? Never fear, visitors to our town, we have bagels that can be eaten and enjoyed, whether Liberty City acknowledges it or not. Burgers? Waste of time. You can eat them in any town.
***
Those are eight differences between New York City and Liberty City. Eight truths non-New-Yorkers need to know.
Are you a local — possibly a developer at NYC-based Rockstar Games — equally motivated to address some of the gross misrepresentations of New York City in ‘Grand Theft Auto IV”? Stand in silence no longer. Speak out!
May 5th, 2008 at 10:22 am
This is rubbish what you are saying. You have the cheeck to criticises GTA4, you try making a better game!!! I’m sorry to be like this but you name me a better game based in New York.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:25 am
” “Grand Theft Auto IV” gets many, many things right about New York City, the metropolis upon which its Liberty City is based. And it gets some big things wrong that I can overlook.”
““GTA IV” is — dare I say it — just a game.”
…. OK, then why did you write this article again? I’m not entirely sure that GTA IV’s goal is to act as a tourist guide for NYC. Irrelevant article.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:40 am
you do realise that Liberty City is BASED on N.Y, it is not meant to be an exact replica. i mean for gods sake the Statue of Happiness (based on S.Liberty) is holding a cofee cup in her right hand. This articvle is pointless and you should have realised that rockstar deliberatley re designed N.Y to attract european users who think baseball is crap and they cut the traffic so that you didnt have to use a stupid bus or train.
May 5th, 2008 at 10:43 am
If you did some reading, you would notice that Rockstar talks about how they did not want to copy New York block by block because they wanted to add their own artistic value to the enviroment and atmosphere, they just used New York as a basic theme to build off of.
You should really do some reading before you attack a topic…
May 5th, 2008 at 10:51 am
This isn’t a New York City sim game, it’s a game about Liberty City, this article is pointless stop nit picking and write something useful
May 5th, 2008 at 10:53 am
@everyone
hmmm. I guess I should have used emoticons in this article. Or are all you commenters writing with tongue in cheek too?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:00 am
I liked your post Stephen.
I love GTA IV and it has me interested in reading a bit more about what NY City must really be like. Your post gave me a morsel of that information. Good job!
I don’t understand why commenters are saying you’re criticizing the game itself, I didn’t take it that way at all.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Areet then! you’ve forgot one thing though. Liberty city is NOT New York it is BASED on New York . weeyyyyy!
May 5th, 2008 at 11:01 am
I haven’t played yet. Can you get a ticket for honking your horn in Liberty City? Is there congestion pricing?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:04 am
~$#%~* goof
May 5th, 2008 at 11:06 am
Omg it’s supposed to be different
P.S. I live in New York and ther are tons of cars in the city from people from the suburbs visiting like me. I can never find a parking spot while I’m in the city.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:08 am
@yama
Thanks for clearing that up. Imagine how confused I’d have been if you hadn’t written that.
@vaterite
As you well know, NYC does not have congestion pricing. Bloomberg failed to get the State’s approval. As for Liberty City, I’m not sure. I don’t think they have a Metrocard system, which just seems downright fiscally irresponsible.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:18 am
you lot are stupid gta iv is a sick game
May 5th, 2008 at 11:20 am
you guys take things to faar it is a great game and ya it is supostue be like new york but it is a diffrent town called liberty city dumb ass
May 5th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Some people have too much time on thier hands, get a lie you sad geek!
May 5th, 2008 at 11:22 am
i thought the article was pretty good, i’m british, and i’ve never been to NY…jus nice readiin the differences, i dont know why everyone is being so critical
May 5th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Well, Stephen, if it’s any consolation, I enjoyed that.
C’mon people! The huge wave of 10/10 reviews has already been done, and endless rambling descriptive articles are pointless to the millions of us who’ve already played it extensively.
Obviously, Stephen is enjoying the game enough to have made these observations, so it’s not like he’s trashing it, or something. This was just a playful jab back at Rockstar by a New Yorker in the same spirit as the game’s tongue-in-cheek view of New York.
Anyway, I thought it was worth a chuckle.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:25 am
can I have my two minutes back?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:27 am
i understand what you are saying but thats why it’s called Liberty City because although it is based off of New York, it is still it’s own city
May 5th, 2008 at 11:35 am
It’s meant to be more of a representation of the US and New York in IT’S OWN GTA way, not as others have pointed out a clone of New York. And you don’t have anything to write about do you?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:39 am
I’m sorry Stephen you have people like this reading your article. It must make you a little saddened sometimes to think you wrote a pretty decent article (which it is, I’m not at all ragging on it) and then people reply like this.
I thought ’saurkrowt hawdawgs’ (an attempt at an accent) were the food of NYC?
May 5th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Man, these GTA fanboys are touchy. As a New Yorker, I enjoyed this post.
May 5th, 2008 at 11:55 am
You can’t be tongue-in-cheek with rabid fanboys.
On the other hand, GTA was started by a couple of Dundonians over in Britainland. Obviously, American culture is filtered down through the movies you guys make.
cheers
May 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Wow, I can’t believe this. Can I have your job? Even my mentally handicapped brother knows this game isn’t actually supposed to be New York City, IT WAS MODELED AFTER IT ALONG WITH SEVERAL OTHER MAJOR U.S. CITIES INCLUDING CHICAGO AND LOS ANGELES, NO %#%~ IT’S NOT EXACTLY THE SAME!!! You, sir, are a dumbass. Do some research next time before you write such an inane article. Better yet, give me your f—ing “job”. Don’t bother replying to this, there’s no way I’m coming back to this site. Ever.
Remember, I’m not coming back. Whatever you say in response to me should be directed towards everyone else unfortunate enough to stumble upon this ludicrous brain fart of yours. Don’t even bother explaining yourself. You failed.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Stephen,
Great article. I see that many of your critics have missed the point of your tounge-in-cheek comparison between Liberty and NY City. Also, in GTAIV I have been unable to trade stocks and other securities; something I ALWAYS do while in New York, what gives? Seriously, it was pretty funny…
For the record, fanboys:
1. Stephen did not state that his opinion of the differences impacted his perception of the game’s entertainment value.
2. Stephen did not imply that Liberty City IS New York; just that the city was the foundation for the game’s setting.
3. Based on the rants, woeful grammer, and excessive use of explicatives, half of you are not qualified to work at the Cluckin’ Bell.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
For what it’s worth, I enjoy these short articles, and I’m sure others do as well, although we may be in the vocal minority.
I have similar ruminations while driving around Liberty City. I definitely would have loved to see a Yankee Stadium somewhere, primarily so I could take a rocket launcher to it (go Sox!).
Keep up the good work; there is plenty of room for quick thoughts like this amidst your more serious pieces about violence and underage gaming.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
@Daniel
I’ll miss ya, man! This blog won’t be the same without you.
Or, actually, it will be. Which is why you’re not coming back. So sad.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Honestly, where do these commenters come from? Gamefaqs?
This blog somehow gets the most insane comments ever, and yet on other topics barely gets in one or two comments.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
first off, queens is inbetween brooklyn and NASSAU COUNTY not near westchester. harlem then bronx is connected in a sense to westchester, so check your geography or google maps, idiot.
secondly, yeah they modeled L.C. after NYC, they never wanted to copy.
they made a city that is amazing and something never seen, by the likes of people like you from jersey, go build some more landfills! get a life nerd instead of pointing out insignificant differences that make GTA immeasurable.
p.s. i hope you dot get paid for this, because you should probably take h.s. journalism or writing classes, you f-in clown.
May 5th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
@Chris
Good call on my Westchester-Queens mistake. I rode the Metro North from northern Westchester to Manhattan every day for four years in high school. I should know better how those two regions connect!
Oh, and sorry to let you down, but I didn’t get paid extra to write this piece.
Thanks for the feedback
May 5th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Well, the article was mildly amusing until I got to the comment section. Then I about died laughing.
Yes, if you are reading this and you are not the author of the article, chances are pretty good I am laughing at you too. It is also quite probable that you are too stupid to understand why.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
hahahha pwned!
May 5th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Yeah, I enjoyed the post as well. I don’t live in New York, but I have been there twice. Plus we always see it in some movie, so it’s kinda familiar already. I didn’t take it a a critic or anything towards the game, I think it’s pretty much the opposite.
RELAX, people, and enjoy! Life is short!
Plus, is there really need to INSULT Stephen? If you don’t like his post, his job, or himself, then go away.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
you suck, this article isn’t worth looking at. do some research.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
This has to be the worst game reviewer ever. EPiC FAiL to the fullest extent. mtv needs to FIRE this guy..
Stephen Totillo i want to take you out on gta 4 multiplayer with a rocket launcher. better yet i will use the bat. You will then get the nyc baseball experience you were bitching about.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
You forgot to include that R* didn’t include enough dead hookers on the sides of the street (or so I’ve heard).
j/k
Great writeup
May 5th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Hey Stephen–
I thought the first comment was a joke, but then I scrolled down and saw another twenty or so more and then it was just depressing. Between this and seeing the comments on Kohler’s Mario Kart review (171 last time I checked) it’s really quite a bleak picture of gamer culture. I wonder how many of these people are actually old enough to buy the game in the first place? Thankfully there’s still you and N’Gai to balance things out somewhat.
As for the actual article, I haven’t actually played GTA IV yet, but I have visited New York, and a few of these points definitely brought back some good memories. It’s probably a good thing that they didn’t base Liberty City entirely on New York though (as many posters were so kind to point out
), because otherwise you’d be stuck stealing only cabs, police cars, and those damn buses. And I never actually had a New York City bagel when I was there, so I guess I’ll have to rectify that next time I visit.
Thanks for the fun read, keep up the good work. :0)
May 5th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I hope people realize that there are some aspects of Liberty City that are very close to New York City. Rockstar chose to copy some parts and create others. I think all Stephen was mentioning a few things that would have added to the experience. Because, obviously, Rockstar wants people to feel like they are in NYC, otherwise what would be the point of copying any of it?
Also, The Hills gets more poignant commenters than this place, I remember when gamers prided themselves on their verbosity.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
GTA 4 is kick ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 5th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
GTA IS AWESOME IT KICKS ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 5th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
8 THINGS STEPHEN TOTILO GETS WRONG!
1. You are an id…
2. ..iot
3. New York is a fictional wasteland created by robots while Liberty City is NOT a fictional wasteland created by robots.
4. New York has “kids” and Liberty City does not. Well thank God because I would hate to pick up an “underage child”, have sex with it, and then shoot it with my uzi to get my money back.
5-8. Next time Liberty City is spelled N-E-W-Y-O-R-K, THEN you can complain all you must. Oh and I run in Times Square all the time, it’s not THAT hard.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Just another example of how MTV’s video game coverage is pathetic…
May 5th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
right…first of all this game has been highly anticapated for ages. You seem to miss out the quintisenstial essences of the game that needed to be sharper, E.g; improved weapon aim, upgraded melee combat, better car graphics. The fact whether a man can eat a bagle comes as something of minor importance, or the fact us the game players can see a pedestrian carry a full load of shopping, as opposed to a small bag of groceries as you put it.
This game has smashed a lot of expectations and has scored a 10/10 something which hasn’t been done in 7 years. I don’t think many if any will be put off by the unrealistic idea of man not being able to choose a bagle.
In any case, Houser (who happens to English, ergo doesn’t quite have the knowledge of the land seeing as he doesn’t LIVE THERE), has made a game to be SIMILARLY based on New York City. At no point did he ever say he was mimicing New York down to the last ‘bagel’. Without cars the game would be fruitless as the only, or more less, the only form of transport would be taxis and limos. Hardly excitable. This game brings great promise in terms of game play, and even if you don’t play/like the game its art in its own right and you and your pathetic article which you wrote to gain publicity can’t take that away from the public.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
This article sux!!!!!!!
May 5th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
your an idiot, its based on it not a replica stfu
May 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
See if you can catch this emoticon, chief. It denotes sarcasm:
Great article. : /
May 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
@the comments
The article is meant as a JOKE. It’s NOT a criticism of the game. Chill the hell out. How is it possible for people to be this dense?
*reads the URL* Oh. That’s right. MTV. No wonder.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I can’t believe all of you morons reacting so harshly to this tongue in cheek article. Man, I guess posting on the internet IS serious business.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Bravo! Top marks to the writer! Who ever said that Americans (New Yorkers even!) didn’t have a sense of humor or a sense of irony! I was worried when I started reading that this would just be a ‘dig’ at GTA IV - instead it brought a nice, huge smile to my face. That and to see that, by some of the responses already recieved, many people missed the point of the whole peice! (i.e. that is wasn’t trying to rip the p**s out of GTA IV but merely demonstraight how well R* did with their NY-a-like Liberty City and to highlight the diversity within the real NY!)
Cheers again - makes me wanna play GTA IV right now.. in fact.. I will. I wonder if I can add Jack Thompson as a friend..?!
:o)
May 5th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
These comments are… just… wow.
For whatever it’s worth, I enjoyed the article, Stephen. My dad grew up in Brooklyn, so I dragged him in to watch and give me some commentary on how well they captured NYC, and he too pointed out the lack of bagels.
Oh well - maybe in the expansion.
– chirs3