Performance Now is the best system I've ever used. It turns a time-consuming process into something easy.
Reviews can be the toughest thing in the world.
Either the manager doesn't communicate as he should, or doesn't know what to say. I now look forward to annual performance reviews. I remove performance category titles to make the resulting text flow like a report. I use the Employee Log to track the plusses and minuses in between reviews. It's especially useful for probationary employees.