Unfortunately, Roman’s American Dream is purely that - a dream - as although Niko does finds his cousin in charge of a taxi firm, he also finds him heavily in debt, unpopular and in trouble with several local criminals. To make matters worse, Roman is living in a place where only the strong survive, a place which has appeared in the GTA series before but never quite like this - this is GTA IV’s Liberty City.
The Liberty City that appeared in GTA3 was influenced by Chicago and New York as well as other US cities. GTA IV’s Liberty City, on the other hand, is purely homage to New York. Rockstar has resisted updating their vision of Portland, Staunton and Shoreside Vale. Instead they’re creating their own version of the Big Apple, and four of its boroughs.
