Since I did Tomb Raider 3, I decided I may as well do Tomb Raider 2 as well. My main worry was actually the giant spider section in the Temple of Xian, but after some "training" I was able to do it without even skipping a beat, however I then found out I could completely bypass it anyway! I also thought it would be much harder because there are so many enemies, after a few levels though I realised that they wouldn't be too much of a problem, especially as they dropped so much stuff. Thanks to "Raj" on the www.Tombraiderforums.com for posting the mega shortcut for Temple of Xian, and also "Hest" on the same site for giving me some competition and advice in the first couple of levels, finally thanks to "Tomb Raider Master" (again from that site) for a method to get down the pit in the Maria Dora with minimal damage. Thanks to Radix for accepting it despite the dodgy quality in places.

Although I've encoded it exactly the same as the TR3 run there seem to be a lot more quality issues, luckily they only happen in small sections and generally only at the start of levels. At the end of Segment 4 and 10 an FMV cut off Fraps (yet other FMV's didn't), so I had to append a short section to each, which is why the transition between levels on those look very immediate.

I thought I was picking up too much stuff throughout, but I nearly had ammo issues at the end, luckily there was just enough. I also pretty much ran out of small medikits, although I still had about 8 large medikits.

At a guess I think this run is closer to "perfect" than my Tomb Raider 3 run is, but I imagine there's still plenty of room for improvement. I encountered some invisible walls that seem to get you when you jump away (any direction) from some switches and while experimenting I noticed that they are not present in the playstation version of the game so people using that verison have an advantage. Of course, on the other hand the PC version has weapon and medikit hotkeys.

Here's individual level comments, I also realised that on the TR3 run I did not say which segment was which level, so I've also specified the segment here for quick reference, and my finishing times:

The great wall-Segment 1-3:52 : I had some competition here, which made me optimize this as much as possible, in terms of my intended route this is almost perfect other than some small fumbles and a couple of optimizations I overlooked at the time.

Venice-Segment 2-5:28 : The twin galaxies record is 4:14, I was baffled by this, but hest found out that it was perfectly possible if you avoided killing as much as possible. However, I had to kill some people for supplies later, so I considered this time ok. The main trick is swimming under the door so the clock on the mined door does not activate (which allows you to skip the speedboat).

Bartoli's Hideout-Segment 3-8:00 : Near the start I take a detour for the automatic pistols, as they are very helpful in this level. I skip most of the chandelier room by getting the key early and running through the fireplace (getting hurt lots in the process). As you will see using the detonator key is so easily skipped that it almost makes you question its use in the first place :) .

Opera House-Segment 4-4:17 : After getting to the roof I safely drop down into the pit of broken glass for a quick way into the main room of the Opera House, then I do a moderately hard curve jump to get to the boss room and bypass fighting him.

Offshort Rig-Segment 5-13:01 : No real shortcuts here, I do think you can avoid turning off the propellers with a hard curve jump, but I didn't experiment with it too much.

Diving Area-Segment 6-15:37 : See Offshore Rig :) . I do realise I did the "slime pit" jump a bit slow (rather than a shimmy and then a backwards somersault I could have just jumped without grabbing). I also think it may be possible to get across the water early in the saw room, although I didn't test too much.

40 Fathoms-Segment 7-6:34 : The video quality at the start is terrible, but not much is happening there anyway :) . I skip pushing a switch with a curve jump, and also just run through the flames rather than doing the timed run, I think it may be possible to get all the way through without being set on fire (I get about half way), but whether I do or not doesn't matter much anyway.

Wreck of the Maria Dora-Segment 8-6:55 : I skip most of the level by pulling a block through flames; after two levels of this I'm pretty glad I picked up plenty of medikits :) .

Living Quarters-Segment 9-11:23 : I pick up the harpoon gun by mistake while trying to get some ammo, but I guess having all the weapons adds completeness :) . I do almost miss a switch in a room I flood, but the door jogged my memory so I didn't lose much time. I skip the middle part of the level with an easy jump (and use a small curve jump to skip moving a block). I do kind of bad in the sloping room (where I take a while to get past the pit with the collapsing tile). I think it is possible to jump right to the exit somehow, but all my attempts fell JUST short.

The Deck-Segment 10-9:08 : For this level I skip the start then do it partially backwards, I do accidently pick up some harpoons, and I nearly got lost in the big cave after going on the raft, but I manage to make it look intentional (and I would probably have run out of Uzi ammo later without making this mistake anyway) :P . I think there is probably some way to get the storage room key without doing the detour for the cabin key.

Tibetan Foothills-Segment 11-11:57 : I take some parts quite slowly with the snowmobile as it is easy to kill yourself with mistakes. I skip most of the "ramp" room, and also skip getting the bridge key. The black snowmobiles are easy to kill if you find the right position as they seem to follow a semi fixed path.

Barkhang Monastery-Segment 12-24:42 : I was surprised by the time to :) ; longer than Tinnos! But it makes sense as it is a huge level. There is a hard curve jump I could do to skip shimmying to the windows at the start, but it was very hard for the time it saved (around 10-15 seconds), so I decided not to. I almost forgot where the last prayer wheel is and going to that place was just a blind guess (as there was nowhere else to go). I get the trapdoor key before draining the large chamber of water as it is quicker (and safer) to swim than walk. I also try and get the gemstones (and clear the whole "entrance" area of prayer wheels) before going further in.

Catacombs of the Talion-Segment 13-8:12 : This level was annoying as I had to do an insanely hard curve jump near the end (I manage to make it look pretty easy in the run, but it's not) that's almost luck based, but it saves about 2 minutes. I had to save in various positions and attempt it about 50 times before I worked out some kind of method (in a save that is off the bottom), which is why my save count massively increases when I save after this level. How many Yeti you have to fight in the "prison" seems luck based as once I had to only fight one, but this time I had to fight three.

Ice Palace-Segment 14-6:41 : The bells are quite luck based as it depends on the pistol spread and I take ages to hit the second bell, I should have probably restarted but the rest went well. I skip using the Tibetan Mask, but I have to pick it up to open the way further. The bit where I'm chased by tons of Yeti and boulders looks pretty cool :) . The boss goes down easily with seven grenades, but I had eight and missed with one, which I could have saved for the dragon or something.

Temple of Xian-Segment 15-6:41 : Yes, I go the same time for two levels in a row :) . A very hard curve jump skips 90% of the level, kind of a shame as it removes the edge from the games toughest level. I go the wrong way after climbing up a ladder, but recover pretty quick.

Floating Islands-Segment 16-13:52 : I almost had ammo troubles here, but ran away from just enough enemies to avert it. I could have curve jumped down onto the bridge rather than use the zip slide, but it's hard and I would rather get the flying warrior and boulder traps out the way sooner rather than later.

Dragon's Lair-Segment 17-3:21 : I accidently pick up a small medikit off a Ninja (which is useless at this point). The Dragon can be quite lucked based as it's very hard to dodge the flames up close.

Home Sweet home-Segment 18-(No time given) : I think the goon's appearance is time based, therefore I go and turn on the stereo as I don't think it loses me much time and is fun :) . There is a long gap where no people come; I'm not sure if there's a way to speed up their appearance.

Final stats:
Final Time: 2:44:02
Secrets found: 0
Kills: 226
Ammo used: 6531
Hits: 5776
Health packs used: 26.5

From my times in the earlier levels I was hopeing for a quicker time than the current TR1 run, but I guess levels like Barkhang Monastery prevented that.

I discovered a way to get around TR2's broken screen recorder support thanks to Hypercam, so I did this rerun simply to submit a MUCH better looking video. Along the way I also discovered a few quirks to the Assault Course, and seem to have sussed it out now (and have edited the tips to reflect that). Thanks to BallofSnow and Nate for helping work out the compression of the run and the Mikeuyama and the rest of the SDA staff for accepting this run, also thanks to FirebrandX and Shin Sato for helping me get this time with the help of their videos.

On the HQ video you might notice some liney crap on Lara (lower video quality helpfully hides them), this is a result of antialiasing, but I decided the visual improvement of having it turned on far outweighed this small problem. There's also a tiny green line in the top left corner (apparently some Hypercam thing), but it's barely noticeable.

Here's a breakdown of the important notes on each part (the things that may not come through on the video. In order obviously):

As long as your start is decently straight it doesn't seem to matter too much (E.G. it doesn't have to look PERFECT) the important part is that it is lined up towards the left/middle for the slope jump setup, of course you'll probably want to get it as straight as possible just to be sure.

The dive at the water also doesn't seem to matter, but as all the record videos I saw did that it's better to be safe :) .

The slope jump had me stuck for awhile, but I got it down good eventually. For optimal time you MUST jump from the top half of the lower block of the slope, though as long as your jumping is constant and you land in the right spot how straight the initial jump is doesn't matter (as shown in the video). The slope jump is still one of the toughest parts though and might take you quite a few attempts to master.

Despite how it may seem, this method of jumping from the bridge to the water is definitely the optimal one (standing jumps, entering the water as soon as possible etc are slower).

When you are swimming aim for the transition between the shallow blocks to start wading the fastest.

The ladder grab MUST be done so Lara's left foot is exactly at (or a few pixels off) the edge, this doesn't just make the climb left faster; it also speeds up the bit where Lara is "shifted" up. If you are visibly off to any degree you may as well forget about 1:03:9 and get back to the start to try again.

The zipline grab is done by angling left a certain way and holding walk at the same time then letting go of walk and pressing grab right as you stop, if you get it right you will instantly grab and not fall off.

You let go of the zipline somewhere around the far edge of the black block on the ground, it's pretty obvious when you get it right as you go flying right through the finish, so you shouldn't really have to press any other button after letting go of the zip but you may as well hold forward throughout to be safe.

This zipline trick has a quirk; the special release never works the first time the mansion is loaded, you have to have used the zipline at least once after loading the level before you can get a 1:03:9 (if you don't you will get a time of around 1:04:5-6, which shows how important it is).

As a final note, there is an annoying bug on the zipline where if you let go at the wrong time and bash your head on the archway action "breaks" and you have to reload the mansion before you can use it again, just a warning (in case you think your buttons just broke or something).

The slope jump, ladder grab and zipline grab are by far the most difficult parts, now I have more experience with it, I would rank the ladder grab as the hardest part, since it has to be so accurate.

So now you can go get it yourself with minimal pain ;) .