This level is 95% strafing skill, the remainder consisting of aiming skill, perseverance and general luck. The world record has been 0:27 for an exceptionally long time - the longest-standing world record ever, excluding Duel Agent. Many, many people have 0:28, which is toughish to get, but worth a lot of points, making it a worthwhile target. Only go for 0:27 if you badly need the world record and you're prepared to put a lot of effort in.
For this level you need an encyclopaedic knowledge of the layout, the positions of every Skedar, every last chink of rock in the walls to avoid. You also need to be able to go through the motions of completing the level almost in your sleep. No messing - the time you get depends wholly on how fast you are. One more point - the more times you switch strafe direction, the more time you lose. On my 0:27 I only changed once. Dark Avenger has done it with none at all. Where, and when, will be explained later.
Wait in the cinema until you hear the distant explosion. This explosion creates smoke that will confuse you and slow you down later in the level - waiting means it'll fade by the time you get there, which is a good thing.
Immediately swivel the stick right a bit and left-strafe for the gap in the rock straight ahead. You need fast movements on the stick so you can re-algin your course correctly at every corner as fast as possible. Each turn should be as close to a right angle as possible. Turn up the short path, keeping slightly to the left so as not to catch your head on the rock to the side. Turn a little more at the end to aim diagonally across this small area, aiming along the left side of the big block here. Quickly turn left at the corner and fly through the hole WITHOUT GETTING STUCK ON THE WALL. You have no idea how many points getting stuck will cost you. Every second counts.
As soon as the broken edge of the hole flashes past your vision, whirl right ninety degrees, then instantly left again to move through the chicane and jump off the very small ledge at 0:09 or less. 0:08.6 is theoretically possible, 0:08.9 is what I had on my WR run. Turn left just as you jump off. All this should take place at high speed - pass hole, right, left, left, in about as much time as it takes to read it.
Head slightly diagonally along this passage towards the corner. Whirl right at the end and crossing the bridge at 0:12.7-0:13.0. (Sometimes you get caught on the bridge. This is a pain but there's nothing that can be done to guard against it. It's just luck. Quit and restart.) Along the bridge corridor, you should be hugging the inside line as close as you dare, to save time. Believe it or not, speed PD involves sticking to the racing line! Continue to left-strafe along and here's where you'll meet your first Skedar.
There are a multitude of places where the Skedar can be, only two of which are good. The first one is if he comes around the corner early. You'll see him coming, your auto-aim will lock on, and you can shoot once. You MUST get him in the head to be certain of catching his Mauler when he drops it, although you may get lucky if you only get a limb shot in. You may change course briefly to get a shot on it if that's what it takes, but make it as quick as possible. Once you've shot it, continue to strafe around the corner, and hope you collect the Mauler. The second good place is if you round this corner and the Skedar is just arriving at the next corner, near the rotating horizontal bars. If he is here, shoot once with your Phoenix just as you whirl right to keep strafing. If done correctly, the Skedar will be hurled right and you can pick up the Mauler as you flash past. In both cases, you will probably be hurt a tiny amount by the Phoenix explosion. Ignore this. However, IT IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE THAT YOU DO NOT BREAK STRAFING. There's no way you can hope for anything less than 0:30 if you do. You need to hold C-up and C-left throughout the whole manoeuvre of shooting the Skedar, and whether you collect its weapon or not is in the lap of the gods.
Once you've got the Mauler, you can ignore the rest of the Skedar. Turn left and head along the inside of the corridor with the rotating bars. Usually the second Skedar is halfway down this corridor, but he can be ignored. The third one is most commonly found just rounding the end corner. Sometimes he stands right at the corner and you'll have to go out of your way to steer around him. Turn left at the end, and stay on the inside line. Note: these two Skedar can be anywhere in these corridors. You have to respond to circumstances, just stay on the inside line and dodge them. More important than WHERE they are is HOW MANY there are. Explanation later.
Moment of truth time. If the fourth Skedar is in this last corridor, that means the door is shut and the best record you can hope for is 0:29, most likely 0:30 or slower. However, if, as you left-strafe along the inside wall (mind the little sticking-out chunk on the left, it's the most infuriating piece of scenery in the whole game), you have only met THREE SKEDAR, that means you're in luck. The fourth one will be behind the door and hopefully, he will open it for you just as you arrive.
Switch to your charged Mauler on the approach to this door, and listen for the tell-tale sign of it opening. If you're lucky, just as you arrive the door will be open completely and Skedar number four will jump out into the corridor, twist to face you, and shoot. As he jumps out, you can quickly swivel the stick left and right to dodge through the door and carry on left-strafing along the wall, then turn right at the end and carry on.
If you're unlucky, there will either be no Skedar to open the door for you, or he'll open it but only partially, then stand there blocking you (and sometimes, slapping you). In this case you just have to shoot him and jump through the gap, hoping for a 0:28 at best. Sometimes, on rare occasions, you will only meet one Skedar on the approach to the door. This means all three of the rest are bottled up behind it. This sometimes means you can't get through but sometimes you can slip effortlessly through a gap to the other side.
Ideally the door is wide open, and this is required for a 0:27. However, you should take it as it comes. Make the best of a bad situation. Your target time for a 0:27 is to cross the doorframe at 0:20.8 or lower. 0:20.3 is best.
Zoom around the corner and left-strafe along facing the wall, which has two things sticking out from it, which you should avoid making contact with as this will slow you down. At the far end you will find the first Skedar you killed has now reincarnated. He may slow you down or boost you, but either way he stays out of your way, so just ignore him. Switch to right-strafing at lightspeed at the corner, so that you cross the next area while facing the King's hiding place. Aim upwards as you run, and shoot the King in the face the microsecond BEFORE you catch sight of its head - this takes into account the tiny time delay between squeezing the trigger and shooting. The shot should be at exactly 0:25.71 or less to ensure the King is dead at 0:27.
