I have DEFCON, First Strike Classic, ICBM, and Nuclear War Simulator, all worth owning, but each with their own point of view.
If you want a game, get ICBM. If you want a data tool to see, "What would happen if?", get Nuclear War Simulator. ICBM is fun and interesting, Nuclear War Simulator, while having some game elements, is more of a hardcore, scenario modeling analysis tool. Both are worth having, but with different focus.
In Nuclear War Simulator, it's entirely up to you to develop your attack plan based on available intel, and then execute the madness.
The intel for creating an attack plan could be better, as ET2SN pointed out, but the title is still being developed, so I reckon that will get smoothed out as development continues.
But where it really shines is analysis of the aftermath. When you examine the results, you get to see just how awful a nuclear exchange would be.
