I think there's just more clever camera work in Aliens. There aren't as many full bodied shots and they spent more time working with puppets than people in suit

I think there's just more clever camera work in Aliens. There aren't as many full bodied shots and they spent more time working with puppets than people in suits. The last scene with Ripley fighting off the Alien in the airlock looks especially terrible. The alien just looks like a pile of latex. Its laughably bad by today's standards.