Doom 2 Speed Run Record Broken by Zero Master
If you were thinking about breaking Doom II Ultra Violence's 2010 speed run record of 23 minutes and 25 seconds, then you'll have to check the news -- Zero Master has made it harder by setting a new world record.
Eurogamer reports that pro Doom player Zero Master has shattered the speed run record of Doom II: Hell on Earth. Doom II's Ultra Violence mode was cleared with an ease that must come from hours and hours of playtime. Looper, the previous record holder, was left in the dust by Zero Master's 22 second improvement. Since this is a speed run, there was no need for gathering items, finding secrets or slaughtering excess enemies -- glitches and exploits are allowed and encouraged. We should note that the Ultra Violence difficulty is only the second hardest setting of the game, with Nightmare being the highest.
Zero Master is not the ego maniac you would think a record breaker would be. In fact, he was the first to show up on the Doom World forums to go over what he though he could have done better. Overall, Zero Master feels that he lost 25-26 seconds in his overall playthrough that could have made his record breaking time even more impressive. He also admitted that, while it took 10 years to break the previous record, he doesn't think it will take quite so long for his 23.03 record to be broken.
Either way, Zero Master is still planning to attempt to break his own record, specifically focusing on level three, where he feels his predecessor, Looper, completed more efficiently than he did.