Grand Theft Auto IV The City
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Broker |
Dukes |
Bohan |
Algonquin |
Alderney |
Broker is Liberty City's equivalent to Brooklyn. Attached to Dukes (Queens), Broker (known also as King's County) shares the distinction with Dukes of being the only two boroughs of Liberty City's (or New York City's) five boroughs to be attached to one another. The line between where Dukes ends at its south end and Broker begins at its north end is somewhat nebulous, but two good ways to figure it out is to either go south of the Algonquin Dukes Expressway, or to draw an invisible line from the southernmost section of the Francis International Airport, which brings you to almost identical geographic points.
Broker is the very first borough you visit in the game. Niko arrives from Eastern Europe in Broker, he has his first safe house with Roman there, the first missions in the game occur there, and you meet your first friends (Mallorie, Little Jacob) and enemies (Dimitri, Faustin) there. So, you'll find that you'll explore it pretty efficiently from the get-go. Considering it's somewhat of a hub of activity for you early on, you'll find it well-stocked with places to visit and other important locations of interest. For instance, Broker has two police stations, a hospital and a firehouse. But it also has an eatery in the 69th Street Diner, a couple of bars, a clothing shop, a bowling alley, billiards, and even an internet café. That's a whole lot for what is, indeed, the game's second smallest borough (only Bohan is smaller).
Outlook Park is a large outdoor park located in the center of the borough. Soldiers Plaza at the northeast end of the park is the main attraction there. Broker Navy Yard on the west side of the borough is where some action goes down at various parts of the game. Otherwise, you'll find Broker to be a rather densely-populated borough with plenty of buildings and roads to explore. And for the inherent criminal inside all GTAIV players, there are two especially important landmarks you'll want to make note of—a weapons shop off of Tutelo Avenue, and a Pay 'N Spray at the south end of Outlook Park off of Gibson Street.
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Broker |
Dukes |
Bohan |
Algonquin |
Alderney |
In New York City, Dukes would be Queens, but in Liberty City, Dukes is Dukes, one of the first two boroughs you're able to access in the game. Just like its real life counterpart, Dukes is attached to Broker (Brooklyn) making them the only two boroughs attached by land, though one major piece to the geographic puzzle is missing in GTAIV—Long Island attached to the associated boroughs on the east. Regardless of that rather large hole, there's a lot of consistency in how Dukes is presented. Just like its real life counterpart, Dukes is a mixture of suburbia and a more urban element, and there's lots to see and do.
Dukes features two hospitals, two police stations and a firehouse, but perhaps its most important feature is the Francis International Airport, which dominates the eastern segment of the island Dukes shares with Broker. Dukes Boulevard, which is the biggest road in the borough, provides massive straight-aways and is a major artery of the borough, allowing you to get virtually anywhere. As it travels north to south and east to west, it also surrounds the major environmentally sound haven in Dukes, Meadows Park. Meadows Park doesn't only have a whole lot of grass. It also holds two tourist traps—the Monoglobe (a shout out to the real life Unisphere) and the Liberty State Pavilion Towers.
As for entertainment and leisure, Dukes has plenty to do. You can play darts and get drunk at the Steinway Beer Garden off of Yorktown Avenue on the western side of the borough, while you can satiate your hunger at both a Cluckin' Bell and a Burger Shot. Dukes plays an extremely important role early in the game, since you can only explore Broker and Dukes initially. It also serves as a major conduit between Broker and Bohan, and has three bridges stemming off of it leading to Colony Island and Charge Island (which both end up in Algonquin), as well as the Dukes Bay Bridge, which leads to Bohan. It's a sort of central connection between several boroughs in Liberty City and you will find yourself traversing it often in the game's early going.
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Broker |
Dukes |
Bohan |
Algonquin |
Alderney |
Since Liberty City is clearly based off of New York City, Bohan is just as clearly based off of the Bronx. Located north of Dukes and Broker, just as the Bronx is located north of Queens and Brooklyn, Bohan has little of actual value to Niko. It's close on its southwestern end to Algonquin (another similarity their real life counterparts share), meaning its proximity to places of great importance in the game is relevant and obvious. This is especially true because of the fact that you will have a safe house on Bohan for a vast majority of the game, but will do very little in the borough otherwise. But as far as visiting the small borough for missions or other adventures, you simply won't find yourself doing it too often.
There is a point of interest in Bohan worth mentioning though, and that's The Triangle Club located off of Altona Avenue. The Triangle Club is the game's largest strip club and is a favorite place to visit for many of your friends. So, if you're picking up anyone in Broker or Dukes, all you have to do is cross the Dukes Bay Bridge and you're almost to the strip club (this is especially convenient for friends like Packie and Little Jacob). You can also play a mean game of QUB3D there if you're feeling up to it.
There are other points of lesser interest in Bohan, but nothing worth mentioning at length. There are two Burger Shots in the borough, as well as a fire station, hospital and two police stations. Otherwise, there are few roads or areas worth exploring, though the Northern Expressway and Grand Boulevard, both on the north end of the island, are worth driving down for some extreme straightaways. But the three major things about the Bronx—Yankee Stadium, Fordham University and the Bronx Zoo—are all missing their Liberty City counterparts.
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Broker |
Dukes |
Bohan |
Algonquin |
Alderney |
Algonquin is Liberty City's equivalent to Manhattan, perhaps the most densely-populated island in the entire world. Rockstar has done a magnificent job of recreating such an environment and atmosphere in GTAIV, with endless amounts of people and cars crawling all over the island. And at the very middle of the island is their version of Central Park, aptly named Middle Park. But there's much, much more to see in Algonquin than a huge park and lots of people and their vehicles. So much more.
Let's start with the basics. An island borough as big as Algonquin is going to require some civil servants. That's why they have a staggering seven police stations and two each of hospitals and firehouses. The former statistic makes Algonquin the safest of all of the boroughs, with an incredibly high number of police cars on the streets and policemen scouring the sidewalks. Crime in Algonquin is never suggested if it can be committed elsewhere, but as you've likely guessed, you're not going to have much of a choice in the matter. In fact, with the borough's two Pay 'N Spray locations and a weapon shop (located very close to the southernmost Pay 'N Spray on Hell Gate), crimes committed can easily be eradicated with a simple fixing of your car or exacerbated with the purchase of some heavy artillery. Just some food for thought.
Manhattan is chock full of things to do, and GTAIV catches the essence of that when you're in Algonquin. Algonquin is staggering enough when you simply drive around and look at all of the skyscrapers, people and attractions, but you can entertain yourself in myriad other ways. There's plenty of places to eat, for instance—there's a Cluckin' Bell, three Burger Shots and five other assorted eateries. You can go to a comedy club, a bowling alley, and a club. There are three bars, one of which you can play darts at. An internet café and three separate clothing shops round out the money-intensive Algonquin experience.
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Broker |
Dukes |
Bohan |
Algonquin |
Alderney |
At first, it appeared that Alderney was based off of New York City's own Staten Island. After all, the game's four other boroughs have clear parallel boroughs in real life, and Staten Island had yet to be represented. But once you arrive at Alderney late in the game and get a chance to explore it, you realize it's not Staten Island, but rather Northern New Jersey. It's situated in such a way in relation to Algonquin that its status as Northern Jersey is a given, but there's much more than just that which gives it away.
Alderney is extremely industrial and is, perhaps, the game's most suburban borough with no area that's overtly urban. The streets are relatively scattered and far away from each other compared to the more congested boroughs elsewhere in the game. Furthermore, it's an isolated borough, with only a bridge and a tunnel leading to Algonquin. This makes it the only borough of the five boroughs in GTAIV to lead to only one other borough (Algonquin can hit Bohan, Broker and Dukes, Bohan can hit Algonquin and Dukes, and Dukes and Broker touch each other not to mention their connections to Bohan and Algonquin respectively).
Useful attractions in Alderney are decidedly scattered. You can find three police stations, two hospitals and even a pair of firehouses. Otherwise, though, things are pretty barren. A strip club called Honkers is located off of Roebuck Road at the south end of the borough, while a Burger Shot and two other random eateries are located at the north end of the borough. Hooligans and criminals can easily run amok in Alderney, however, for there's two Pay 'N Sprays and two weapon shops in the borough. An internet café at the center of the borough off of Vituilo Avenue caps it all off, in case you wanna browse the perverted internet or find yourself an equally perverted date.
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