Real journalists don't review alpha games.
Pure Male Bovine Excrement.
Minecraft was in Alpha, and it was reviewed extensively. It was one of the reasons why I bought in at that stage of development.
Kerbal Space Program was in Alpha, and it was reviewed extensively. It was one of the reasons why I bought it at that stage of development.
Space Engineers, Valheim, Fortnight, Subnautica, the list goes on and on. If they're taking players money, then reviewing them should be fair game for journalists.
The only "playable Alpha" game I know of that
insists that it's unfair to review the game (but paradoxically claims it
is a playable game when taking your money) is Star Citizen. A continuously crowdfunded development project that despite not having delivered the game back in 2014 when they
promised they would, not only continues to enrich the Roberts Clan through a despicable and duplicitous Hollywood Accounting shell company shuffle, but is now paying millions in dividends to those same individuals, in a particularly egregious and utterly unethical abuse of the crowd funding model.