In some ways the revisions provided more of a character arc, admittedly turning him from your average every man to a low IQ comic relief may have been a let down for him. But the arc shows someone who's affiliated with the company, sees the error of their ways and rebels.
In Alien, Ash who we discover is a droid, robotic soulless company drone spying for the company to ensure the capture of the Alien regardless crew survives. Though he conveys a form of pity to the crew. "I can't lie to you about your chances but you have my sympathies."
In Aliens Burke is a company member who at first seems innocent reveals, he's human, relatible, has a job on the stake, he appears as he says "I work for the company but don't let that worry you I'm really an ok guy."
Until he reveals his true intentions wanting to obtain Alien specimens as the cost of Ripley, Newt and the Marines lives. He flees cowardly shutting the door on Ripley only to end up taken by the Aliens, in a deleted scene Ripley finds the cocooned Burke who's been impregnated and she gives him a grenade as a mercy killing.
With Aaron he's a staff working for the company approval of their intentions as long as he gets out alive he has a wife and a kid to go back home to afterall. However when witnessing first hand the extent of how evil they're are, lying to Ripley about performing surgery to remove the Alien embryo to save her, shooting Morse in the leg for intervening, he rebels hitting Michael Bishop (Or Bishop II as credited) in the head, mistaking him for a droid,
His rebellion costs him his life but shows a form of redemption after his alliance with the evil Weyland Yutani company. That's an interesting arc, too bad they dumb down his character