Compile is a game-with-content since the basic ludemic operations (flip, shift, cover, draw etc) are concatenated in various combinations into cards so that they can sell cards endlessly. I don’t like that. But for a game-with-content it’s unbelievably bland. Cards don’t have their own flavor or even their own name.
But oh, how fun and good the core game play is inspite of that (and the off-putting AI theme). I love playing it.
Another drawback is that it’s also a challenging game of memory and prediction and tempo/sente that I wouldn’t pick when I just wanted light-hearted fun with a friend that’s not that into games. But Forth programmers should feel right at home.
What makes it so much more fun than Battle Line et al is the protocol limitation and how you can rearrange protocols. A version of this with the regular French-suited deck would still be fun; you can only play cards for their full face-up value in the matching lines but if you have control you can rearrange protocols when you refresh or compile.