Sometimes, to amuse myself, I make up little stories as to why an escape game protagonist might have ended up in his or her current situation, or flesh out in my mind the scenario that is already given. I've come up with pretty fun and random stuff... 
never, however, have I concocted anything as sublimely bizarre, as cheerfully surreal, as what Gump has created with Charisma.
In Charisma, you play an orange-jumpsuited, blue-afroed dude who is trapped within what appears to be a combination living room/recording studio. There is a second gentleman inscrutably watching you from behind a glass partition, his hand poised above two buttons. He, for whatever reason, is not going to be of any help (and, in another departure from reality, smashing the glass and demanding he release you is not an option). So, it's up to you to explore the room, figure out what he wants and, eventually, set yourself free.
You probably won't find this last task too tough. While Charisma's puzzles are nicely concocted and enjoyably creative, they are also fairly simple "connect item A to object B to solve C"-type problems. The game is also quite short, and (assuming you don't run into undue difficulties) will probably take you about 20 minutes to solve. Despite these things, however, Charisma is probably my favorite GUMP production; this is mainly due to its joyful, strange, utterly out-of-nowhere ending. I won't go into detail, but I will say this: it might take you a few times to get right, but it's worth it.
Like all of Gump's other games, Charisma is quite polished and professional-looking, with cleanly stylized graphics and a flawless interface. The quirky soundtrack nicely fits the game's overall theme, and there's a helpfully-provided save feature. All in all, everything just works really nicely together, creating a seamless whole. Enjoy!
Time to make some beautiful music:
Cheers to Diandra and Martha for sending this one in! =)
Walkthrough Guide
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I think I can write a walkthrough for this, no problem. And you know what happens when SonicLover writes a walkthrough...
Jeff said I was losing charisma, so he locked me in the recording studio until I could satisfy him. As the lead singer for the band, it's important that I be on top of my game, but still, isn't that a bit harsh? I mean, the studio wasn't even ready for recording yet, so I had work to do.
First, I followed the tradition of many room-escapers and searched the wastebasket for something useful. Lo and behold, there was a piece of paper with some chess pieces on it. Nothing else of note was visible from the couch, so I turned right. Now I was facing the mic stand, but there was no microphone. Peering behind the plant pot, I found an odd square piece. Pocketing that, I backed away and turned right again to face Jeff in the mixing room, then right again to face the green cabinets.
A blue key lurked under the red and blue books, and a star-shaped piece rested next to the right speaker. The key matched the right cabinet, inside which was a CD with an interesting design on it. This design was the combination for the dial safe to the right; left button to turn left, right button to turn right, read from the outside in. But really, who else uses that safe? How hard is it to write "R7 L9 R6 L6" on a pice of paper instead of hiding it on a CD design?
But I digress. Opening the safe, I found a mic and a hexagonal piece, and on the ceiling of the safe I discovered a gold coin. That was all of interest in there, so I closed the safe and turned right. The picture on the wall corresponded with the paper from the trash. I can't say I know why Jeff threw away something so important, but it was a magic square: every column and row added to 24. Thus, queen-rook-knight-pawn-king became 5-1-3-6-6, the combination for the keypad safe by the cabinets.
The keypad safe contained a lever that didn't work and a red key. While I was over there, I opened the CD player and put the CD in, then put the mic in the stand and practiced our lyrics, only to have Jeff buzz me before I reached the second verse. Apparently my charisma was still lacking. No problem; I have my ways.
The red key didn't match the cabinets, bit it worked in a keyhole in the floor near the picture of the chess pieces. Now the lever in the keypad safe worked, revealing an energy drink machine where the keyhole had been. I habitually checked the coin return chute for loose change, and found a yellow key instead, which matched the left cabinet. Inside I found a box with three slots, in which the three yellow shapes I'd found fit nicely. Pressing the latch button, I recovered a silver coin.
The silver coin and the gold coin entered the vending machine's coin slot, and I purchased one of each kind of Energy Z and opened them both. The blue I drank myself; the green I poured into the soil of the flowerpot as part of my good luck ritual. With that done, I went back to the microphone and sang my song again. This time, Jeff accepted it with an O, and let me out. "Pa-Pa-Pa Supercar" will be the best hit ever to grace the music stage, I'm sure of it!
Posted by: SonicLover
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November 5, 2008 3:28 PM
Walkthrough!!!!!
Pick up the paper from the wastebasket next to the couch.
Open the paper and solve the puzzle (changes every game).
Each picture corresponds to a number.
It is a magic square.
figure out which numbers the pictures need to be to make the square correct, and remember them!
Open a safe. (changes every game)
The top safe needs a 5 digit combination.
There were 5 pictures in the paper puzzle.
There was a picture with five symbols above the green chair.
Use your head...
Get the red key out of the safe.
Use the red key on the trap door next to the green chair.
Pull the lever inside the safe where you got the red key from.
Get the blue key from between the leaning red book and the blue book.
Use the blue key to open the right cabinet.
Get the CD.
Open a safe (changes every game)
The bottom safe is a dial combination lock, the left button moves the dial left, the right button moves the dial right.
Look at the cd
There are multiple diagrams
a dot represents a button push
use your head...
Get the microphone out of the safe.
Get the gear piece out of the safe.
taped to the top inside of the safe is a gold coin, get it
Go to the vending machine and get the yellow key from the coin return.
Use the gold coin to get the green drink from the vending machine.
Use the yellow key to open the left cabinet.
take the puzzle box from the cabinet.
Get the star piece from next to the right speaker in the bookshelf
Get the square piece from behind the sunflower
Look at the green drink and pop the top, then pour it on the sunflower.
Put all three puzzle pieces in the puzzle box and get the silver coin.
Use the silver coin on the vending machine to get the blue drink.
look at the blue drink and pop the top, you will drink it.
Put the cd in the cd player in the bookshelf.
Put the microphone in the mike stand.
click the microphone
Congrats!
Posted by: GonadTheBarbarian | November 5, 2008 4:03 PM