I think the first draft has Hicks far too gung-ho for the more chill, taciturn dude in Aliens, but I think the second draft underplays him a bit too much. He sort of stumbles on a lot of other characters already doing things until the last act. There were also scenes with him interacting with Bishop and the machinist in the first draft pre-outbreak, talking about what he's been through, which I think could've survived - and I dug the angle where Hicks meets the drunk Tully in the bar and discovers what's up in the labs.
While the first draft is amped-up teen fantasy in a lot of ways, I think the second draft is pretty great. If it had that zero-G finale and a bit more overt action in story (not gunplay) for both Hicks and the two aliens, I'd be very happy with it overall.
It's also worth noting that while her screen time is mostly (mostly) the same, Newt is gone by around the 30-minute mark in draft 1, and lasts til like an hour in in draft 2.