Considering that an Early Access game isn't a finished product anyways, that statement doesn't make sense.
Let's take Divinity Original Sin for example, which is in early access at the moment. I could ask around and I am pretty sure that there are a lot of people which could already tell me what the games strengths and weaknesses are and if you can expect that the game will be a total bugfest at release or not.
Same with Xenonauts. I played Xenonauts in early Access for quite a while now. I could give you a detailed review now, you don't need to wait until the game is officially release next week.
Without Early Access we are back at the "Release-Surprise": Besides of a few press people nobody will be able to tell you if the game is any good or not until release. Which helps creating games like Aliens: Colonial Marines. Sure, you can say that you should never buy a game at release and always wait for reviews.
All I am saying is that Early Access gives the Advantage of having big amount of feedback much earlier and it helps a lot to have a good picture of the game before it releases.
Personally I didn't like Grimrock 1 much. It was great on the tech side and the riddles were nices. But as DArtagnan already mentioned it was a disappointment on the story and exploration side. In addition I found the combat being too arcady.
So until it releases I guess I will have no idea if this is a game I should look forward to.
@forgottenlor
I don't think that MMX is a particularily good example as they did not do a good job with their early access and also not with communicating.
The content shown in the Early Access version was a limited Demo. And this Demo did show the most simplest dungeons and no intelligent riddles at all. That's two things which made the release thing great.
In addition they did a bad job in communicating: They stopped updating their Early Access Demo several months before release and did not think they should mention that they improved the movement right away. Or the change in ranged attacks, in animation speed and whatnot.
That said, the Early Access gave me a good impression of the game anyways. Not the best - which was their fault and not the fault of the EA model - but I could already tell, how combat works, how the general mechanics and feel is of the game. It didn't change too much regarding core game mechanics.
Same as Limbic Entertainment I don't get why there is all the hate for Early Access. It almost only brings advantages for players and developers. The only disadvantages are that you might get Story Spoilers before the game is even released and that a bad version of the game and bad communication can cause a negative word of mouth snowball-effect which can't be stopped anymore even if the game improves a lot afterwards.