Anywhere City

“With the crime rate soaring and bio-chemical dependency in healthy proliferation, you are about to have the time of your life. The city is on the edge of collapse, with law and order beginning to break down completely. People are running wild, half-addled on food-additives and semi-legal pharmaceutical pills. A giant corporation controls every aspect of society, from entertainment to organ transplants. Everything is polluted, dirty, unpleasant. Life has never been cheaper.”

—Official Grand Theft Auto 2 manual.

The city of "Anywhere, USA", colloquially known as Anywhere City, is a city featured in Grand Theft Auto 2.

Description

It is likely named after the ambiguous futuristic setting (most likely in the years of 2013, or 1999, although there are multiple inconsistencies to what date GTA 2 is actually set in) and for not bearing resemblance to any real city in particular. Anywhere is simply referred to as "The City" and "The Town" in-game.^[1]

Anywhere City is a retrofuturistic metropolis, with an aesthetic reminiscent of stereotypical cyberpunk settings as seen in movies like Batman, Blade Runner and Akira. The traffic consists solely of retro-modified classic cars and trucks designed up until the late '60s and much of the architecture is distinctively postwar, contrasting an old-world culture with the otherwise futuristic and technologically advanced setting.

The intro movie was filmed in New York City, but this doesn't necessarily imply Anywhere City is New York, as there are multiple disparities between the intro of the movie and the actual game, and the official GTA 2 Design Document confirms it is not based on any real-life city in particular. Nonetheless, the mapping of the city bears similarities to Liberty City in the 3D Universe, as they were both directly split up into Industrial (Portland), Commercial (Staunton Island) and Residential (Shoreside Vale) districts. From a development history perspective, it's fair to say Anywhere City defined the thoroughly organized city mapping that would become standard in later games.

Influence

“Modeled on the apocalyptic visions of the future from the 1970s and 1980s, the city for GTA 2 is a fully dysfunctional urban hell. Like all cities, it has a fully international flavor and each different group in the city wants to control something.”

—Official GTA 2 website.

According to the GTA 2 Design Document shared by the DMA Design programmer Mike Dailly, Anywhere City's variety of unique, different areas are loosely inspired by various neighborhoods of different real-life American megalopolises (taking Los Angeles' areas as one of their many references), with a wide range of districts – varying in prosperity, housing, industry, retail sites, docks, green areas, etc. – and areas inspired by upper class Beverly Hills, seedy Hollywood, and shopping areas of Venice; however, unlike the original GTA, Anywhere City is not intended to mimic any particular real-life city. ^[2]

The dark retro-future environment of the city is inspired by Frank Miller's Hard Boiled comics and Terry Gilliam's 1985 film Brazil, for a moodier and more atmospheric look and feel. ^[3]

Districts

Anywhere City is divided into three districts: Downtown District, Residential District and Industrial District. All districts are patrolled by the Anywhere City Police Department.

Downtown District

Main article: Downtown District

The Downtown District is the first district Claude finds himself in. Here are the major office buildings and high flats, as well as a university and some outdated small docks. The game begins here and Claude can start taking missions from gang leaders, who ring certain telephones around the district. In this district, Claude works for the Yakuza (led by Johnny Zoo), the Loonies (led by Elmo), and The Zaibatsu Corporation (led by Trey Welsh). The maximum wanted level is 4 and therefore the highest police force encountered is the SWAT.

Residential District

Main article: Residential District

The Residential District is the second district Claude explores and is full of blocks of flats and shops. The police headquarters, the Alma Mater Prison, a military base, the Zaibatsu Village, the Mobile RV Park and the SRS Scientists laboratory are located in the Resident District. Here, Claude works for the Scientists (led by Dr. LaBrat), the Rednecks (led by Billy Bob Bean) and The Zaibatsu Corporation (led by Red Valdez). The maximum wanted level is 5 (6 in the PSX version, and when leaving the army base in the tank during the Tanks-Giving! mission), and therefore the highest police forces encountered are the Special Agents.

Industrial District

Main article: Industrial District

The Industrial District is the third and final district Claude explores. The Industrial District mainly consists of factories, although there are also blocks of flats and a small village in the northwest, Mad Island. Mad Island is populated by a gang which always attacks Claude, regardless of Claude's respect level. Here Claude works for the Hare Krishna (led by Sunbeam), the Russian Mafia (led by Jerkov) and The Zaibatsu Corporation (led by Uno Carb). The maximum wanted level is 6, leading to an army chasing Claude.

Unseen Districts/Areas

In the promo movie, a place by the name of Chernobyl Docks was mentioned, but it's not found anywhere in the game. It might've been a beta district.
In the files, there are a few other districts mentioned, though they don't appear. It is implied that they would be part of the Downtown District. They are named:
- Barking^[4]
- Kyabetsu^[5]
- Romanova^[6]
- Azimuth^[7]
On the promotional website, an area called Noxxa is mentioned on the Zaibatsu section. It does not appear in the game itself.
On the promotional website, an area called Little Nagasaki is mentioned on the Yakuza section. It does not appear in the game itself.

Gallery

The starting location in the downtown district.

Trivia

The districts of Largo and Stromberg are named after villains from the James Bond franchise, namely Emilio Largo (from the novel and film Thunderball) and Karl Stromberg (from the film The Spy Who Loved Me).
The city can be seen in a screenshot of GTA 2 shown on a computer in the TW@ Internet Cafe in Grand Theft Auto III. This is technically the only "appearance" of Anywhere City outside of GTA 2.
In Grand Theft Auto V, the Furore GT's description on Legendary Motorsport mentioning "Nowhere, USA" is a reference to the car's previous appearance in Grand Theft Auto 2, set in "Anywhere, USA".

References

↑ Journal: Chapter 1 - "Caymen, Anywhere, USA"
Journal: Chapter 2 - "Disgracelands, Anywhere, USA"
The Zaibatsu Corporation website, "PO Box 478967809790890709 Noxxa, Anywhere, USA"
↑

“A corrupt megalopolis such as Los Angeles, with a wide range of districts - varying in prosperity, housing, industry, retail sites, docks, “green” areas etc. We won’t base it on one particular real life city because the game fails in comparison, but we can take inspiration from LA’s various districts – upper class Beverly Hills, seedy Hollywood, shopping areas of Venice etc.”

—GTA 2 Design Document - The Place
↑

“The look will be dark retro-future (ref: Frank Miller’s Hard Boiled and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil) for a moodier and more atmospheric look and feel.”

—GTA 2 Design Document - The Look
↑ Audio Files:
The police scanner file for Barking
↑ Audio Files:
The police scanner file for Kyabetsu
↑ Audio Files:
The police scanner file for Romanova
↑ Audio Files:
The police scanner file for Azimuth

[1] Journal: Chapter 1 - "Caymen, Anywhere, USA"
Journal: Chapter 2 - "Disgracelands, Anywhere, USA"
The Zaibatsu Corporation website, "PO Box 478967809790890709 Noxxa, Anywhere, USA"

[2] 

“A corrupt megalopolis such as Los Angeles, with a wide range of districts - varying in prosperity, housing, industry, retail sites, docks, “green” areas etc. We won’t base it on one particular real life city because the game fails in comparison, but we can take inspiration from LA’s various districts – upper class Beverly Hills, seedy Hollywood, shopping areas of Venice etc.”

—GTA 2 Design Document - The Place

[3] 

“The look will be dark retro-future (ref: Frank Miller’s Hard Boiled and Terry Gilliam’s Brazil) for a moodier and more atmospheric look and feel.”

—GTA 2 Design Document - The Look

[4] Audio Files:
The police scanner file for Barking

[5] Audio Files:
The police scanner file for Kyabetsu

[6] Audio Files:
The police scanner file for Romanova

[7] Audio Files:
The police scanner file for Azimuth

[1]