Nerf Rival Atlas XVI-1200 Review (9/10)

Twice the pain. All the fun.

I've covered most of the new Nerf gear already, the ones I haven't touched yet being the Mastodon, since it's so expensive, the Tri-Strike because it's pretty lame, and then there's this; the Atlas. This blaster been quite elusive to me for quite a while now and I just now found it after bouncing between several stores in search of it over the past month or so. This is the Rival line's first shotgun type blaster so lets see how it performs.

Size compared to a Rotofury.

The Atlas along with the Khaos are Rival's two newest additions and the former is special because it's a legit magazine fed pump action shotgun. The blaster is considerably more massive than you would think it is from the pictures; it's almost larger than the whole profile of a Rotofury for a blaster of similar role. It's very top/front heavy but the nice ergonomics of the Atlas help alleviate this greatly. Like the other Rival blasters the build on the Atlas is rock solid and the grips are large and comfy.

Magazine slots in the top nice and easy.

The Atlas feeds from a 12 round magazine that gives you a total of six shots since the blaster feeds two rounds at a time(The way it does this is pretty neat, I'll admit). The mag sits along the top of the blaster FN P90 style and is similar to Zeus in that respect. The Zeus's system for ejection however was pretty iffy and the Atlas does a much nicer job of making it practical. Again like the Zeus, the Apollo's seven round mag will not fit in the Atlas.

Blaster can be fired with the jam door open.

The feeding mechanism works by actually moving the barrel outwards while moving a clear holding tube upwards to connect with the mag; this pushes up a stopper and feeds two rounds into the clear holding tube. When the slide is pushed forward the tube lowers itself back down and barrel retracts, forcing the two rounds inside and sealing itself against the plunger tube with an o-ring. You can open the jam door and watch all this in action and it's pretty ingenious.

Internals: lots of gears with a huge plunger.

The Atlas performs at a level above most Elite blasters but still below the rest of the Rival blasters. Most shots fall in around the 40 to 60 foot mark, the wide gap in consistency varies due to a number of factors: a major one apparently has the do with the barrel to plunger seal not being perfect 100% of the time. Being a multi-shot blaster, the lower ranges along with the slightly worse accuracy doesn't really surprise me. The Atlas was primarily designed as a close range blaster but it packs enough power to be effective at upper mid range whereas similar multi-shot blasters operating off one plunger tube cannot. If you crack it open you not only see the cool feeding mechanism and bunch of  mod potential ruining gears, you find an absolutely colossal plunger tube. I didn't take it out to measure it or anything but it's one of biggest, if not the biggest plunger tube in a stock blaster I've ever seen. Modding this thing for darts would likely sacrifice it's key features and the gears make any more stress intensive mods pretty difficult. This is probably one to leave stock.

The Atlas is definitely one of my new favorite blasters. It's highly practical in form and function and the performance is very nice for what it is. It's not as powerful as the other Rival blasters but it fills a different role than them and I'd say it does a very good job at doing so. This is one of the few multi-shot blasters I've used that isn't a complete pain in the ass to use or maintain and I think it will be quite effective in close quarters situations. It's somewhat inconsistent ranges and ginormous form factor are it's biggest downfalls, which is why I'll only give it a 9 out of 10. It's very close to perfection and despite those faults I recommend it for anybody looking for a very capable close quarters blaster.

The Verdict

Class- Pump Action Shotgun

Range- Good, around 40 to 60 feet.

Size- Huge, similar to Rotofury in footprint but tons more bulky.

Reliability- Jams are possible but not too tricky to remove.

Ammo- 12 High Impact Rounds

Modding- Not much seems to be possible without ruining it's functionality.
Value- At $40, it's rather expensive compared to similar options but it's notably better.

Is It Better Than?

Double Dealer- Yes, the Double Dealer was one of the biggest disappointments I've ever reviewed. What looked to be a powerful spray and pray blaster turned out to be a jamming, underpowered mess that was a pain in the ass to use. The Atlas is infinitely better than this thing, lack of slam fire aside. Don't even consider it.

Roughcut 2x4- Depends, The Roughcut has a distinction of carrying a lot of firepower in a pretty manageable size. It's dual plunger tubes allow it to shell out punishment in a multitude of ways and the ranges are pretty nice. However it lacks the magazine fed convenience of the Atlas and the Rival blaster outguns the Roughcut at longer ranges. For the price, it's a must have for anybody but it can hold it's own against the Atlas.





Diatron- Yes, the Diatron is pretty much long forgotten about but it's a solid blaster despite how much of an oddball it is. It fire two shots at time at a respectable range albeit sluggishly. The priming bar is a weird setup and the internal magazine makes it somewhat impractical compared to the Atlas. Not to mention XLR Discs get thrown off by wind pretty easily.