I read your whole post, but this stood out as strange to me. I found the sense of place to be far better in Knight than in any other Arkham game as far as proportions go. None of the games have environments that feel naturally designed, as they're all entirely built for gameplay purposes. Even still, the streets here are actually super narrow to the point I can't imagine there being any two-way traffic, so the wide-street thing doesn't match my experience. Still, traversal has never been more fun in the series if you want to deal with it, and if you don't, it takes little time to get from one place to another. The watchtowers/checkpoint designs benefit greatly from existing in the open world too as there's always a handful of options for how to approach them. That's where the gameplay shines, and shows the potential for more challenges/stories within the city. A truly seamless experience where the player could enter interiors from multiple points would be great. Having the choice of using the Batmobile, gliding, roofhopping and/or using the grapnel at any point outside lets the player make great use of the space. Still tons of room for improvement/refinement/reworking, but it's the best it's been so far.
Thought Conroy was way better here than in the past two games, if only because there's stuff that happens that actually warrants some kind of emotional response. There's seriously one line in Asylum where he sounds angry (about not letting Joker get away with the takeover when talking with Oracle) and one where he sounds sad/despondent (during the first Scarecrow thing), and everywhere else, he's completely flat. In City, his angry voice is dopey and not threatening at all. Knight is nowhere near Conroy's normal performance level, but it really seems the best in the Arkham series.
