ACM is an Aliens game indeed. AvP 1 and AvP 2 were Aliens games as well. They followed the established "route" of Aliens (the movie) such as the guns, the xeno behavior, the tech, etc. A:I is an Alien game, that's why it can't be directly compared to ACM because it differs on conceptual level. The whole approach is different.
By the way I am not calling the game rubbish so far. But I didn't praised it either, because I haven't played it yet. I'll rather keep on eye on its bad things so I can be aware of those when I start playing (such as the AI), rather than being blinded by the (few) amazing things and when I see something bad to be disappointed greatly