First Aliens left saliva everywhere, so do the A:R ones. What's wrong with that? It's one of the very first qualities of the Alien.
The hands "lack articulation" but that doesn't have nothing to do with the design. It's like saying that the first Terminator sucked because Arnie's fake head was too fake.
The head is still very long and "phallic" (although if they didn't tell me I wouldn't even see the first Alien with those subtleties). If you see the tubing is still here. It's not so evident and spreaded as in the first Aliens, but is still here (look at the forearm for example, it's here althoug a bit difficult to see).
And I literally have enough to hear Velociraptors as "inspiration" for everything. A:R Aliens have nothing to do with the Velociraptors. Nothing. They don't look alike. They share only a slight resemblance in the legs because of the joints.