Grand Theft Auto IV
=== Setting ===
Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in 2008, in a redesigned version of Liberty City consisting of four boroughs, based on four of the boroughs of New York City: Broker (based on Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Bohan (The Bronx), and Algonquin (Manhattan). Adjacent to the city is the independent state of Alderney (Northern New Jersey). There are three minor islands present in the game: Charge Island (Randall's Island), Colony Island (Roosevelt Island), and Happiness Island (Liberty Island). Initially, bridges are locked down due to a terrorist threat, and players are constantly pursued by police if the bridges are crossed, but the blockades are lifted as the story progresses, allowing the player to traverse between islands. Grand Theft Auto IV takes place in a different storyline and timeline from the previous games in the series. However, the game takes place in the same canon as its expansion packs, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, and its successor, Grand Theft Auto V.
=== Plot ===
Niko Bellic, an Eastern European, arrives in Liberty City to meet his cousin Roman, pursue the American Dream, and to search for the man who betrayed his unit in a war fifteen years prior. Upon arrival, however, Niko discovers that Roman's tales of riches and luxury were lies concealing struggles with gambling debts and loan sharks, and that Roman lives in a dirty apartment rather than a mansion.
Niko defends Roman from his loan sharks several times, but is forced to work for Vlad Glebov, Roman's Russian loan shark. Niko kills Vlad after finding out he slept with Roman's girlfriend, Mallorie. After Vlad's murder, Niko and Roman are kidnapped by members of the Liberty City Bratva on order of Mikhail Faustin and his associate, Dimitri Rascalov. Faustin, not bothered by the murder of Vlad, hires Niko. Niko quickly learns that Faustin is a psychopath after being ordered to kill the son of Kenny Petrović, the most powerful man in the Bratva. After the Petrović family threatens retaliation, Dimitri convinces Niko to assassinate Faustin in order to prevent a gang war. When Niko meets with Dimitri to collect on the assassination, Dimitri brings Niko's former employer Ray Bulgarin instead, who accuses Niko of stealing from him a few years earlier. When Niko truthfully denies the allegation, a firefight ensues, allowing Dimitri and Bulgarin to escape.
Niko and Roman are immediately forced to flee to Bohan after their apartment and taxi company are destroyed by Dimitri's men in arson attacks. However, things go poorly as well in Bohan: Dimitri's men kidnap Roman in a failed bid to lure out Niko, who rescues Roman. Furthermore, Niko's girlfriend Michelle reveals she is a government agent and entraps Niko into working for her company, known only by its cover: United Liberty Paper. Niko kills several known or suspected terrorists for the agency in exchange for the file of the numerous crimes the police have on him and the promise of assistance in finding the traitor of his unit.
The Paper tracks down the man responsible for Niko's unit's betrayal, Darko Brevic, and brings him into Liberty City for Niko to decide his fate. Having dealt with his past, Niko is summoned by one of his employers, Jimmy Pegorino, who demands one final favour: to help with an extremely lucrative deal on heroin in collusion with Dimitri. Niko must either strike a deal with Dimitri, or exact revenge on him.
Should Niko go through with the deal, Dimitri again betrays him and takes the heroin for himself. At Roman's wedding, an assassin sent by Dimitri kills Roman with a stray bullet. After Dimitri kills Pegorino, he is in turn killed by a devastated and vengeful Niko. Should Niko choose to exact revenge, he ambushes and executes Dimitri. At Roman's wedding, Pegorino, furious after Niko's betrayal, targets Niko in a drive-by shooting, but ends up killing Niko's new girlfriend, Kate. With Pegorino targeted by the entire Liberty City underworld, Niko tracks him down and executes him.
violence, comedy