The game that made millions of people take wailing on a toy guitar too seriously is back. On Nov. 7, RedOctane’s “Guitar Hero II” arrived in stores riding on the star power of its predecessor. Bust out a bottle of Ibuprofen and get ready to work those tendons as you dance your fingers up and down the Fisher Price-looking fret board.

For those unfamiliar with the game, or too cool to pose as a rock star, here’s how it works: The game is played with a miniature plastic guitar modeled after a classic Gibson. Your thumb flicks a strum bar while hitting combinations of the five multicolored fret buttons aligned on its neck. Like in “Dance Dance Revolution,” the screen tells you which buttons to push. Keeping up with the buttons displayed, and maintaining a rhythm, is the backbone of play.

Any veteran faux rocker can attest to slowly adapting to the game’s button combinations, which increase in complexity with the difficulty level. This squeal fails to make current heroes noobs again. The mind-boggling addition of three-button combinations isn’t so boggling, and is easily learned.

Featuring even more songs than the original, the new set list won’t disappoint callus-fingered fans. Grunge slithers into the squeal with bands like Nirvana, Butthole Surfers, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains and the Foo Fighters.

For those of you trapped even further in the past, the game continues its museum-like tour of the music of yesteryear: Stray Cats, Kansas, Allman Brothers, Heart, the Police, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Rolling Stones and, the hardest song of the game, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.”

Keeping its finger on Internet culture’s pulse, RedOctane added Strong Bad’s “Trogdor” as a bonus track. “Burninate the peasants” with slippery use of the whammy bar, and this track is timeless.

The new tracks aren’t the only proof that RedOctane understands its fans. Advancements in the multi-player mode will quell any declaration of “Shenanigans!” after a sweaty-palmed guitar face-off. Pro face-off mode allows players to each play the entire song side by side; unlike “Guitar Hero I,” where each player played different segments of the song — always causing whining about one person getting more notes.

Stats are a new addition helping to quell similar excuses. After finishing songs players can see what percentage they hit of each verse, chorus, solo and other categories, helping to prove who’s the real (insert best guitarist here).

If a pretend guitar-off isn’t your bag, then play in a pretend band in the cooperative mode. The cooperative mode allows players to either play lead or bass guitar. If you’re playing bass, be ready for a lot of mouth breathing while you strum away at the same pattern of four notes for four minutes, much like real bass players.

In comparison to multiplayer mode, career mode is only slightly tweaked. It’s still used to unlock new characters, bonus tracks and equipment. But now, you must choose to appease, or torture, your crowd with an encore after defeating a section of songs. Because RedOctane’s makers aren’t communists, “Free Bird” is appropriately the final encore of the game.

Turn your Iron Maiden-paraphernalia-laden living room into a venue and your cardigan-clad emo friends into greasy-haired metal head bangers who thrash creaky plastic toy guitars with this new release.

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